Did you see “The CCTV Traffic Wardens” on Channel 4 last night?
It was filmed in Bristol.
Here were the most “interesting” bits…
– The UK has the most expensive car parking in the world;
– Last year councils handed out £270 Million in fines to drivers;
– The camera car featured in the program issued £35,000 of tickets in 2 weeks.
– Shopkeepers feel their businesses are under attack.
The program showed officials vilifying someone who stopped to spray deodorant as if he was some kind of menace to society.
However, he wasn’t actually in the way, slowing traffic down, or causing any sort of problem to anyone — except for the traffic officials it would seem — whilst stopped for all of 30 seconds in a loading bay.
They lifted a mini after stating as a matter of fact that it was causing a mile long tailback.
It would be easy to look at the edit and think “fair enough”, however when you looked at the footage closely (I rewound it quite a few times, exciting life I have!), it was clear that the mini was doing nothing of the sort.
The traffic was still flowing side by side in the 2 lane road, as it would have been had the mini not been there.
The jam was in fact caused by the traffic lights leading on to the roundabout at the end of the road…
The irony is that the flat bed truck used to remove the car DID cause a tailback!
CCTV operators then took great pleasure in ticketing a delivery driver in a LOADING BAY while he was making a delivery to a local business. Seems the problem is that he was unloading rather than loading.
Likewise with a DHL driver who had taken pains to park in such a way as to not hold up traffic whilst delivering stock to a local business, but was ticketed none the less.
Incidentally, the law states that loading bays can be used when heavy purchases are being carried to a car.
Don’t get me wrong here – I hate traffic jams with a passion and especially when they are caused by people being selfish or stupid.
However, in all of the above examples — which seem to be the vast majority, assuming the program was representative — this was absolutely not the case.
In my opinion it’s big brother gone mad.
If you are out and about in Bristol, be warned!
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I drive a black cab in London , we are all under siege from the Councils . I recently successfully fought a ticket all the way to the adjudicator .When I won I was refused costs against the Council (Westminster ) although my time and expenses cost me about £ 150 , I am now considering taking the Council to the small claims court to recover my costs …… Ant thoughts on this action ?
Peter
You should be able to claim back your legitmate expenses which were directly incurred ie train fares/mileage etc, you will not however be able to claim for your own time spent in preparing your case or attending the hearing. I would get back onto them and stand your ground, they will always try it on. if half just walk away they are quids in.
You’re wasting your time mate. The small claims court will take note that you were refused costs by the adjudicator. Unless you can show that Westminster were vexatious and time wasting in contesting your appeal (the adjudicator obviously didn’t think so) you’ll get nowhere with this.
You should pursue your claim. You must read this at the Local Government Ombudsman’s site:http://www.lgo.org.uk/news/2013/mar/redbridge-council-asked-review-bailiff-procedures/
I know the person that successfully fought LB of Redbridge on this. Good-luck!
yes peter do that.
1st send the council an invoice for your costs with i.e. payable within 30 days. Should they ignore this a letter of intention to claim through the Small Claims Court, within 14 days of sending this letter you can download a claim form and send it to your local court. Good luck.
Richard
Shepway Council in Kent (Fokestone) has imposed a very unpopular scheme to rake in the money it lost in Govt. grants. But it allows people with Blue badges to park on ANY double yellow line for up to 3 hrs.
even if they are causing an obstruction, are parked dangerously, or illegally e.g. On roundabouts and within 15 ft of junctions – makes no difference, the Parking Wardens ignore the most blatant and dangeous parking imaginable, so long as you display a blue badge. PS. Kent CC hand out blue badges like confetti. Moral – get a Blue badge and beat the Traffic Wardens and the traffic Police, it seems.
Parking charges in Torquay are so excessive that they are leading to business closures. Traffic Wardens target schools for easy pickings.
Has any local authority thought of the impact they are having on small businesses, with parking restrictions and excessive Business Rates. Most of us need to stop for a paper, packet of fags/sweets or other various very quick purchases. A short stay of say 15 minutes would help most people not hinder like local authorities seem to want to do.
Colin- ‘letter of the law’, most laws are outdated. Common Sense doesn’t apply in this country,as All Councils are run by the Government,as they hand out the funding to the Councils and tell them to cut back on essential services, if they put in enough parking for cars to access this would relieve the need for people to park outside of the shops they are shopping at, this would also make traffic flow better no cars supposedly blocking the roads….
Why is that rare commodity ‘common sense’, almost always replaced by what is alleged to be ‘the letter of the law’ in such cases.
This does not surprise me.
£270 million in fines seems ridiculous… I understand fines for dangerous or reckless driving… but for unloading in loading bays… parking in certain places… come on….
If people are not seen to be causing a problem then no problem in my eyes.
One extreme to the other
We have a road near us in East Reading, part of the A329
Its one of the few main A roads around with speed humps, (and used by buses / emergency vehicles) and there are always cars double (and even triple) parked along it, including at times a Domino’s ‘artic’ doing deliveries to the local shop
And yet the police / council do little to nothing about it even though it causes tailbacks 2-3miles long
We could with something like the article shows around here, oop’s sorry forgot we do have a camera van in Reading – but how can one place get away with it but not another?
Cheers
I didn’t see last night’s programme Adam but there is little doubt that this type of practice like the speed cameras is designed solely for the purpose of raising revenue. It has nothing to do with road safety or in the case you quote impeding or stopping the flow of traffic. Local MP’s need to be petitioned and asked to help end such pracices by raising such issues in the House
Yes I agree. Local councils have gone mad in persecuting drivers. I just wish we all had the bottle to not pay. The courts would break down under the pressure. I’m sure councils and the government rely on our fines to bring in revenue. This should not be the case.
I was dropping a passenger at Feltham Rail station and did not even enter the Bus Stop but was ticketed by Hounslow Council. I took the case all the way to Adjudicator but funnily enough one day before the hearing, the council dropped the case.
Mind you I had photographed all the signs which were facing the pavement showing CCTV cameras in operation.
Best part till last, the passenger had got out in the road and they said I was at the bus stop.
Come on Hon. Eric Pickles, kick these money grabbing CCTV cameras out
Interestingly, bristol camera cars do not stop, merely drive by, and view the video and issue tickets back in the office. In my local town, we have 5 camera cars, but they always stop to give tickets, and are most active at weekends. My local churches, on sunday morning are no stop zones now. In the first year of camera cars in my town, there was one car. It earned enough to buy 2 extra for the next year.
In my vast experience with tickets and the likes, traffic wardens and their superiors are NOT the most educated of people, they are in their minds there to distribute tickets and maintain targets and their existence, not to understand or see reason, they are normally very low educated people, or people who seriously lack social skills, i mean who else would do a job like this, the goverment really need to get a grip, i was fined £100 £60 if i paid within 14 days for parking in a huge car park which was virtually empty BTW at the farest end of the car park as i have a large new 4×4 and it doesnt quite fit into a single bay, so for 20 mins tops i double parked at the bottom end of the car park where there were no cars and hey presto bang your trusty warden left me a little sticky ticket on my window, then went and hid in his car at the other end of the car park, but i found him, i had parked in the same car park before and received a dent and scratch on my drivers door were someone in another car bashed their door into mine, hence why i double parked, i wouldn’t be selfish enough to go there during busy periods and do this i purposely go late in afternoon 30 mins before shops close to avoid busy car park and damage to my car ;(
I think Leeds uses the city cctv to dispatch traffic wardens on mopeds to any car which they can ticket. I was given a ticket 10AM on a Sunday morning on a deserted 4 lane, one way street in Leeds whilst I exchanged a faulty AV amplifier which weighed in at over 20 kilos. I stopped at the far end of a deserted taxi rank for about 10 minutes. After that, I will never shop in Leeds city center again.
The sooner city centers turn in to ghost towns the better, then the council will be happy.
Unfortunately they see it as black or white – no middle ground!
You were doing the good thing of buying from a shop and giving business to them rather than the Internet. Buy online next time the courier charge to send amp back will be cheaper than parking ticket!
I’ve watched a parking warden try to ticket a low loader trying to recover a broken down electric milk float before and the warden wondered why the drive got annoyed after 15 mins of discussing it! Would of only taken 5 mins to finish what he was doing!
More generally, local councils seem to be an institution unto themselves. Rather than care about local businesses and residents they just see them as cash cows. I’ve had a few brushes with a council and have come across obfuscation and been told outright lies. I know a councillor whose term for anyone who complains is ‘a nutter’.
Somehow I think we must get what we deserve.
Haven’t councils been warned from central government that they should not see the motorist as an easy target for raising cash for their coffers? I didn’t see the program but it doesn’t sound like Bristol is that much different from anywhere else in the UK these days. The motorist is seen as an easy target and will remain so until we start fighting back in sufficient numbers.
I think the councils forget that they are voted in to represent the people (including motorists) yet all they seem to do (along with the politicians in Westminster) is to try and squeeze all of us for more and more money.
I’m all for charging people when they have done something wrong but issuing fines for something when whatever that perceived problem is not causing harm, delay or whatever to anyone else is ludicrous.
Just one of the many reasons why i have lived in France for the last 15 years if you are not in a major city, park where you want we don,t pay road tax and fuel cheaper than the uk.
So come on then, why are we all sitting here watching tv and complaining? We have a voice, a pair of feet and common sense, get up, form a group and bloody march on these councils.
It’s up to us, or it will get worse, we are a troddon on country, time to kick back.
Bloody right Angela!
So here’s a suggestion. YOU get up, YOU form a group…. and YOU lead by example, instead of being yet another example of “someone should do something”?
I parked for 5 minutes outside M&S in Warwick, I purchased milk and nothing else. When I returned to my car the traffic warden had given me a ticket because he saw me go straight into the store without paying and displaying. The particular car park allows 15 minutes for free, but apparently you still need to print out a ticket (which is not at all clear) In spite of confirming how quick I was and admitting that I was entitled to 15 mins free parking he issued the ticket. I appealed to the council and they said that IF that conversation had taken place the warden would have written it in his notebook. As he hadn’t the fine still stood! Its hard to have the energy to continually fight and escalate fights. Why can’t people just behave reasonably and honourably? I’m afraid I now boycott the shops in Warwick. Sorry shopkeepers…but I think you all need to take the council on!
I live in Bristol and am a disabled driver. Not long back I was driving in Fishponds trying to get to a garage to fill up with petrol but the traffic on Fishponds Road was atrocious, and I ran out. Rather than block the road I rallied into a loading bay and the traffic was able to move unrestricted. I cannot walk very far so I had to use my mobile to get my daughter to bring fuel to me. The car was there for about 20 minutes. About a week later I had a ticket from the council for parking in a loading bay and when I explained what had happened giving my Blue Badge number and fuel receipt and they told me “I had a duty to make sure my car did not run out of fuel and to pay the fine”
Talk about profiteering! What a load of selfish morons!
Ordinary, law abiding citizens are being victimised by the very councils they vote in. I have been the victim of a CCTV car that was operating at 0730 on a Sunday morning outside my local newsagents, while I was buying my Sunday newspapers. I was there for 5 minutes, on a single yellow line because all of the parking bays were taken up by the residents who live above the shops. I was not causing an obstruction, or holding up traffic. This is blatant profiteering by the council with absolutely no regards to the misery they inflict on their constituents daily lives, or the impact they have on local businesses. The use of these methods for revenue collection should be subject to a vote by the local constituents, not automatically adopted by power crazy local officials who obviously do not realise that it makes their boroughs an unpleasant area to live in. We motorists need to unite to combat these measures, as most of us would rather pay a little more council tax and have a pleasant, relaxed life without ‘big brother’ breathing down our necks constantly waiting for us to put a tiny foot wrong in some way and ending up with a huge fine for what amounts to an extremely minor aberration.
The programme was an insight as to how far this country is prepared to use the motorist as a way of collecting revenue. I do not condone all of the actions of those who were flouting the law but I thought that the fines issued were nothing short of a disgrace.
come on you all must pay for your sins¬¬
parking in the wrong place is a sin to the traffic wardens ( get a ral job ) how to piss people off at christmas.
who gives a crap as long as you are not causing a nusance to any other driver or blocking junctions
or parking outside schools
hay is just another goverment way to scam you out of hard erned cash
how many police officer do you see handing out tickets for parking on double yellows and they have more powers
lets face it they have better thing to do
un like the jobsworth (traffic warden )
Police officers don’t issue parking tickets – and haven’t done so since parking enforcement was de-criminalised in 1994.
The underlying point you seem to be making is that common sense should prevail. We do need parking, speeding, and whatever else laws because some people are just plain antisocial and there needs to be ways of stopping that (though social pressure seems to have been far more effective than drink-driving laws in cutting that curse down); but there also needs to be commonsense in applying those rules. Wardens shouldn’t be rewarded for the number of tickets they give out. It seems our laws used to be based on reasonableness rather than letter of the law, makes one wonder how much of it is just down to revenue generation.
The very fact that year on year they profiteer more PROVES that traffic wardens are ineffective. Else they’d issue LESS fines the following year.. Scrap the traffic wardens, though I’m not sure what else they could possibly do!
Wardens aren’t rewarded for issuing tickets. They are, however, given targets. An ex employee of mine used to be a Westminster warden and was told to issue a minimum of four tickets per shift. If he didn’t he was hauled up before his supervisor. Common sense went out of the window when parking enforcement was de-criminalised in 1994.
Councils are being squeezed to make savings therefore they get their shortfall by penalising the motorist; its a very simple and easy way to make money for them. However, I also blame the British public because we have forgotten how to fight back, or we do not have the bottle to fight for our rights anymore. As long as they (councils / Government/s) think they can get away with it they will simply stomp all over us. True what an earlier post said if we all refused to pay then the courts would be in turmoil and so would the greedy councils.
I have often been told by traffic wardens when I stop outside my wife’s shop that loading bays are for wagons and vans!!
But in last night’s TV program they stated that in the Highway Code Loading bays are there to load or unload heavy objects no matter what the vehicles is
I find the whole ticket and traffic penalties DAY LIGHT ROBBERY and is ANOTHER thing killing the High Street and putting up unemployment The FACT is local authority don’t have the sense to realize the damage they are doing to our society their income is falling from Business rates and falling council tax income is directly linked to fewer businesses being able to trade and more and more proper jobs being lost forever
It should be legal to tar and feather these short sighted idiots
Shame I didn’t see the programme, but I wouldn’t worry as very soon no-one will want to visit Bristol anyway. The “new” mayor now wants to close all 23 public conveniences so who will want to visit a city where the streets run with urine!
The Sainsbury’s car park in my home town is adminstered by Euro Car Parks and if you lose the entry ticket you are expected to pay for a replacement. You are given an invoice which my advice is to ignore, I have, as it is not a PCN. You will not be taken to court to pay it. http://www.appealnow run by Barrie Segal is a very useful website for helping with challenging PCNs or anything to do with parking.
I object to Hospitals charging for parking visiting people who are sick or an appointment, but now the NHS rely on this money to help replace funds that the government have taken off them? my local employs a firm to run it for them? who ticket as many as possible as that’s what they earn, normal monies go to the hospital while tickets go to the firm putting them on cars? it is wrong, when either you are worried about a relative or an appointment, and get faced with a £60 fine that jumps to £120 if not paid in 14 days.
keep up the good work
If ever you cop for a ticket in a hospital car park or in fact ANY private car park simply ignore it. It is NOT a PCN it is only an invoice which cannot be enforced. The thing to remember is do NOT make ANY contact with the company who have issued the ticket whatsoever. They may send you reminders and court threats but, they are not worth the paper they are written on. They are completely UNENFORCEABLE.
Be VERY careful with the advice given by Tony Hey regarding “unenforceble ticket” on private property.
Ther law changed last year so that even on private property they can take you to a county court to recover a parking fine and associated costs.
I have had a few tickets I always challenge them haven’t lost once.
I have even wondered if I can claim compensation where they are in the wrong.
As I see it get rid of bus lanes and the traffic will flow 50% faster in some places.
Just a thought
You can try claiming compensation from the enforcement authority, but will only succeed if you can show that the ticket was issued negligently. Even then, the authority will try and stonewall you, and your only recourse then would be to make a claim in the small claims court, which will probably be defended. You would then have to argue your case before a judge.
PS.AS A BUILDER I NO LONGER WORK FOR PEOPLE IF THERE IS NO FREE PARKING
I’m a HGV driver and was parked up for the night on some waste ground on the outskirts of Dagenham.
When I got up in the morning I had a parking ticket issued at 02.20am.
On closer inspection I realised they had the adjoining road to where I was parked wrong. I appealed and they rejected it saying it was issued correctly and sent photographic evidence which clearly showed I was not parked on the road.
I had to go to the adjudicator before it was overturned like all previous comments it seems common sense and they won’t admit when they are wrong.
…” I just wish we all had the bottle to not pay. The courts would break down under the pressure.”… This happened many years ago in the Province of Ontario, Canada, with photo-radar (as speed cameras are (were) called there). An enterprising newspaper, with a team of lawyers, offered to fight your ticket in court(you had to have a coupon for that day, hence the newspaper sold more copies). If you won, you paid nothing of course. If you lost, you paid only the same fine as pleading guilty (the newspaper picked up the rest together the court costs). You had nothing to lose. Soon the courts were overwhelmed, with delays going back nearly two years. The system collapsed, and the photo-radar disappeared.
What an appalling program and how awful the attitude of the councils is and all over the country. I did have a shop in Bicester, Oxon but had to close for financial reasons largely caused by the parking charges escalating rapidly with the result shoppers chose to go elsewhere to the out of town stores with free parking. I cannot blame them at all. When I remonstrated with the council members I was told they could not do anything about it as it would cost the Council a million pounds! It cost me my living – I had run the shop for 31 years!
Incidently what an awful comment that so many people watched the program – aren’t we SAD!
I always say that when traffic wardens were born they threw away the wrong bit …( the bit with the brains (?) in !!!!!!!!)
Gwynedd Council, North Wales have installed a 360 degree cctv on a newly built carpark.Officials say the camera is calibrated to cover only the school property but it overshoots onto the only access into our cul-de-sac and road through village. This is an invasion of privacy on a daily basis 24/7 -Data Protection Act! When Snowdonia National Park Committee gave the cctv retrospective planning consent mid November 2013 they have broken the law. The committee were not interested in The Data Protection Act. This is akin to a life sentence of intrusion, worse than any fine!
These vans drive round the residential areas 3 miles out of the city centre of Sheffield. Is it really necessary to go to this extent to catch someone on a yellow line for 5 minutes whilst they go into the chemist for the prescription or buy a paper. The costs of running a fleet of vans and paying wages for this when there is supposedly no money beggars belief.
The Sheffield city centre has so many no parking and no access roads that it is now virtually cut off and shut down as the shops are inaccessible, even the car parks are complicated to find with the tortuous routes. On Google maps the view of Sheffield is on a bright sunny day and it’s obviously a weekday. The entire city centre has only about 100 cars in it!! Big traffic problem!
It’s about time ALL the councils had someone above them to control what they do with regards to traffic management – they are the ones that are responsible for the severe decline of the local economy but nobody seems to be able to see it as they are brainwashed. Even Mary Portas’s initiative has failed because the roads are the arteries and veins of the heart of the city and when they are cut off the heart stops beating so to speak.
The problem is local councils believe it is their god given right to spend our money on junketing about and pampering themselves and their offices and wasting money left right and centre and can rely on their parking wardens and the cameras we all pay for to plug any holes in the finances. Motorists are very easy prey because it is a divide and conquer ploy, each individual motorist is singled out and deal with individually. What we need is a local joining together of individuals and pressure being applied to the councils. Someone has to make a stand, but that someone has to be lots of someones working together or we will continue to be the councils favourite cash cow.
Sadly parking charges and fines are just another example of the many “stealth taxes” that became necessary when the Government (Gordon Brown) wanted to create an electorally appealing headline tax rate of 20%. None of the other political parties have had the guts to say that this rate is fiscally unsustainable and to restore a more sensible rate that would enable both Central and Local Government to operate without having to “steal” money from the populace by other means.
Its why I sympathise with George’s comment at 15 above – if only it wasn’t for all of the French people that live there ……….!
I subscribed to the parking ticket section of your business, it helped me help a friend that has a breakdown truck that was picking up a car from a garage in Watford. It was parked on double yellows outside the garage the only place it could park, it was ticketed by a TW who saw my friend in the garage. We wrote to Watford Council and told them we would fight them all the way, it got all the way to the adjudicator, Watford Council did not defend it and the ticket was dismissed.
It is becoming quite clear that Councils are using this stealth tactic, to impose fines, to raise revenue. Many people, I know, have already said this. As motorists, we have to park somewhere; what annoys me is that the society outcasts – otherwise known as parking wardens – lurk and strike like a predator when they see the slightest infringement. After years of public pressure on the authorities regarding speeding fines, now is the time for motorists to complain and lobby against unfair parking charges.
I could not believe that tow truck driver. He got so excited about taking cars I thought he would explode. He was totaly unprofessional. I noticed that when a member of the public tackled him, he skulked off off with his tail between his legs. If he is an example of traffic employees god help us.
Around the area of the town hall in Sheffield is a tricky area to park as there are loading bays that you can’t even stop in if you are disabled. Areas near the library are no parking zones but they do not even have signs displayed there or lines on the road so you don’t even know until you have a ticket even on a Sunday!! (Obviously you don’t park there twice but you wouldn’t anyway if you knew it was no parking) The sign is at the end of the road and you are supposed to know it refers to the entire areas. Another money grabbing con. The wardens must be laughing at people as they park up – it’s disgusting. I only got off my ticket because at the time this one and only sign was behind a building site hoarding and I did manage to get a photograph before they moved it!!!
“Power crazy officials”. “Big Brother”. Has the world really gone mad?
Everybody has forgotten the basic princioples. Try this test on yourself: What is the meaning of ‘Authority’?
Stop for a moment and answer that question.
Now, what is the meaning of the title ‘Local Authority’ or ‘Public Authority’?
Whatever you think, there will be an enormous difference between what it actually means , and what your council think it means!
It actually means that the local council are authorised to carry out specified functions on behalf of the public, basically so we don’t have to do those things ourself, such as sweep the streets or install drains – or make our own arrangements for parking. IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE LOCAL AUTHORITY HAVE POWER OVER US.
They have assumed power and we have meekly accepted this. Their arrogant attitude goes all the way up to Parliament, but they, too, are only supposed to be carrying out OUR wishes,
The lunatics really have taken over the asylum.
Can we please revert to the original plan. Or else?
On retirement I was seeking part time work I answered an add for as described security work, it turned out to be parking warden for a private company touring around private car parks. The best part there was no sallery or pay only a percentage of tickets issued.
If this is the mentality of employers I am not surprised this situation has arisen.
I recently had to visit the students union building in Manchester, spent absolutely ages looking for somewhere to park and eventually found a very neglected side street some distance away with clearly marked if somewhat faded 30 minute parking bays. On my return less than 30mins later I found a traffic warden cheerfully sticking a ticket to my car. I pointed out the bays and the 30minute signs to which he replied YES THATS FROM THE PAST…… You should know that now theres no parking at all anywhere in this quarter outside of the official car parks. wtf
England is becoming an unpleasant place to live, why so many foreigners want to come here is a mystery to me. And if I were Scottish I’d certainly cut whatever ties I could with Big Brother England in the referendum.
But, as we all moan and bitch about it and do nothing then we only have ourselves to blame, and we’ll all be carried to Hell in a handcart. It’s hard to believe how free this country seemed thirty or forty years ago, and what a good place it was to live. How did we allow it to become what it now is?
I too wondered what they were on about with te Mini, it wasn’t blocking traffic.
The attitudes of the council workers featured were a disgrace. As someone has already pointed out, it’s people with limited intelligence and/or who were bullied at school, who do jobs like that. They can’t believe the power they now have at their disposal to piss off people who are higher up the food chain than they are, so get carried away with it.
I think we should give a mention to the old lady though, who went out on the street to warn drivers and cost the council £800 in tickets. Good on her! :-)
Wirral Council recently increased parking charges by over 300%. Revenue is significantly down but they don’t accept the complaints from traders in Liscard that the inreased charges have had led to the reduced footfall in the shopping centre or on traders turnover. Surely increasing charges by 300% means that to maintain revenue at previous levels means only one third of the number of vehicles using the car park previously are continuing to do so. I don’t understand their thinking, but I’m only a humble motorist or should I say “TARGET”
I was going to rant about the death of the High St which has has a direct correlation with car usage and the willingness to pay for parking vs out of town shopping centres like Meadowhall(Sheffield) & Blue water(London), but recently I found out that an out of town shopping centre in Llandudno is already charging for parking so it is a loose/loose situation
Programme last night on Amazon stated that we now do approx 40% shopping online, I’m one of them.
Simple, if Councils want the rateable income from running businesses rather than seeing income drop due to everyone buying items located in Jersey(Tescosonline? And others) they must consider providing parking for at least a couple of hours (if not more) as an attraction for businesses.
I just wish one council would trial it to prove that I’m right!
I live in Downend, and am also fed up with Bristol City Council traffic rules, but especially with the arrogance of Mayor George Ferguson, who seems to really believe his opinions are better than every one else’s.
That really is a lack of intelligence
Go to youtube and look for a video titled ‘meet your strawman’ . This shows how we are being tricked into accepting as law a system which is not really law at all. Local authorities regularly use corrupt practices to unlawfully intimidate and rob the public. a parking fine is in truth a contract, which is only valid if you choose to accept their conditional offer. just mark everything they send you ‘no contract-return to sender’
Like one of your contributors above, I have lived in France for the last 15 years or so and no intention of returning! I have seen how things have deteriorated towards virtually a police state over that time when I have occasionally returned for a visit to see relatives.
There really is no point in the British complaining about these terrible attacks on citizens liberty and all the other injustices and ridiculous laws and sentencing for traffic offences and serious crime.
Actions speak louder than words and if the public are prepared to put up with this then Government and Councils will just continue to treat everyone like sheep and make life a misery.
Perhaps change could start by such excellent businesses like drive protect helping to form a National petition or organisation where the Public can unite to put a stop once and for all to these practices that are ruining the UK.
I live on the Isle of Man and there is only a problem with parking if you overstay by at least 15 minutes. Charges for parking only in multi story car parks, everywhere else is free but in town centres is timed – usually 2 hours. I understand the mayor of Bristol is anti car and a lot of the businesses are very unhappy with what he is doing.
I did not see the programme mentioned – however, having spent some years riding a motorcycle in and around London and the South East for a living, I can vouch for the sharp practices, examples of which have appeared in this programme. A number of us has parked correctly and been given tickets, both by Wardens and via camera – worse as they could actually watch us loading/unloading (which is the same). Another scam is that you park a motorcycle in a ‘Loading Bay’ that may display the sign of a man with a sack-barrow and although yu may actually be properly parked you may be told it ‘is only for lorries’ without there being the required weight/size descriptors. The whole system stinks. Having said that, most rural councils behave properly.
We had the same problem in Chepstow but now the Local council now provides a free parking arear in the main car park for people to use if they just want to pop to the bank or making a delivery so if a small town like Chepstow can change there ways so can other towns.
Just as Councils are deliberately placing “new build houses” in a council tax band above the real band in order to increase revenue whilst there is a cap on council tax rates, so they are using any legal or illegal method to extract monies from the motorist. This is evident by the overwhelming criticism of their methods in the many comments above.
I wonder what councils would do if motorists refused to use their vehicles for a whole week and instead tried to use public transport?? A lot of public and commercial pressure would inflicted upon them to bring them to their senses? But then we British are a soft lot and we let them abuse us as they see fit.
Haven’t seen the programme yet, but a loading bay is for loading as well as unloading. There is no differentiation made between these two activities in parking regulations. There must have been some other reason for this driver to have been ticketed.
Last month my wife paid for a parking ticket in a Tewkesbury(Glos) car park.She was with my daughter and two grandchildren aged two months and 14 months.There was a few minutes delay in returning to the car as the children needed changing urgently…..as they do. They were met on return by a grim faced warden who said there was no valid parking ticket on the vehicle,but when it was produced he said that he had started writing the statutory ticket anyway and if dissatisfied should contact the council.Now where is common sense in this and other incidents reported?
The bit that interested me was when it showed a view of Gloucester Road from an ariel camera, the view spanned about half a mile along the road and showed one continuous line of nose to tail traffic whilst the adjacent bus lane didn’t have a single vehicle on it. So my question would have to be, are bus lanes fit for purpose?
There are still some of us who remember the introduction of parking meters to London some 55 years ago. Harold Watkinson, them Transport Minister told Parliament in April 1957 that “experience shows in other countries that very large sums of revenue are recovered from parking meters. It is this revenue which, under the Act, must be devoted to providing for more off-street parking”. It has been said that not one penny of that revenue was ever spent on off-street parking.
In July 1963 Transport Minister, Ernest Marples, was questioned in Parliament. He seemed unable to give clear assurance that parking meter revenue was being used for the stated purpose as being additional to, not in substitution for, previously planned off-street parking.
Misuse of money extracted from motorists is a long standing disgrace and the whole mechanism has been used in ways that voters and MPs could never have guessed. So, we accepted parking tickets, which have spawned tickets for as many moving traffic and other ofences as the politicians can invent, refuse in wrong bin, child dropping crumbs from a pasty, being in charge of a dog near on old poo – well you have read all the stories.
Politicians and weasel words go together, support Adam and try to win once in a while
Also on the Hospitals charging for parking here in Wales all Hospitals have free parking due to the fact that all the streets around the Hospital was causing mager problems to the traffic since this was done the roads are now clear and no traffic jams so that says to me that if you over charge for parking no one will pay,so they will use a side street and cause problems.
The councils have got to learn to stop wasteing taxpayer’s money. Council tax went under Blair twice the rate of inflation for 10 years.
Motorist are easy targets. If you have a car you have money, council mantra
The article is good…some of the comments which follow are just stupid.
“I parked in a taxi rank for 10 mins and got a ticket”. You broke the law – you deserve it!
In 15 years driving I have had 3 parking tickets. All due to me breaking the law and I deserved them! Yes I agree that the focus should be elsewhere (catching theives, murderers and druggies) but people parking illegally is a real problem.
If you allowed people to park for free in town centres do you think it would be shoppers who got the spaces? No, they would all be taken by office workers who currently have to put up with the train as they can’t afford the parking.
As motorists we all know that we are being ripped off every day. Fuel prices, road tax prices are ridiculous, parking costs are extortionate and we have speed cameras in places that are not for safety but just to make money. The idiots that are supposedly designing the routes through our towns have no concept of what keeping traffic actually means. In my area in Medway Kent we have so many traffic lights that the system just locks up. However, I like millions of motorists just complain and put up with all these things. Perhaps if we could all get together and do something things would change. I don’t think this will ever happen and we will all have to just keep on complaining and pay the bills if we want to keep driving!
Part of the reason I now live in France. In my local town we buy a ticket for two Euros and we can park inside the town centre for upto two hours at lunch time. The ticket we buy seems to last forever. Towns and villages in this part of France welcome visitors and do not squeez them for every last penny. My local council organises many events each year and the purpose seems to be to let people see the village. I have yet to work out what the council gets out of it in financial terms.
Sorry, but no regrets about changing countries.
i have had issues regarding my work window cleaning also with parking at school in kettering catholic school st edwards just off windmill avenue parking permit zones
Governments have done all they can to increas the population of this country. No surprise then that there are many more vehicles on our roads which were designed for fewer numbers. Add to that the fact that everyone, councils included, are strapped for cash – though maybe they would be less impoverished if they scrapped the daft PC jobs and januts the love so much – and it’s easy to see why the motorist is such a cash cow.
Add to that the loony mayor as depicted in the programme and hey presto! businesses disappear.
My local (labour) council seems to enjoy painting yellow lines on almost EVERY road. The result? Mostly empty shops or charity shops on our high streets. We’re paying the local council to have our towns ruined – Shopkeepers need to get together and force a U-turn.
Same council, traffic lights every 50 metres in some places causing extreme congestion. They also adore dangerous speedbumps.
I’ll be writing to them with a FOI request asking who wanted the yellow lines/extra lights/speedbumps. Maybe if we all did the same, and made it public theyd be humiliated into putting it right?
its about time something was done about this fiasco. motorists are being robed and we need somebody to do something about it the goverment puffs and blows about high st regeneration but allows this to go on
It’s yet another case of “get the motorists, they’re an easy target”. Motorists do need to be punished for serious and antisocial offences but local authorities and the police are alienating themselves, they want our votes and the police our co-operation so STOP persecuting the motorists.
I am a disabled driver with a Blue Badge, a few years ago when using an Orange Badge I used a parking space reserved for disabled drivers but my car was not fully inside the marked bay. My rear tyres were actually on the line so the rear of my car (a Volvo Estate) was about 18″ outside the marked bay so I was given a ticket by a “jobsworth” Traffic Warden. I appealed by letter to my local police and was let off with just a telling off and “don’t do it again”. Unfortunately that discretion no longer seems to be used by the powers that be.
Over the past 8 years I have had 6 Fixed Penalty tickets all of which I have paid. Two resulted in the “Speed Awareness” course. Since signing up to Adam Blair’s Drive Protect I haven’t had a ticket. My first ticket was on the M25 at 2.30am. when I was the only car on the road at the time, it was an average speed check where works had been taking place but at that particular time NO workmen were present at all and no work was being done. This surely was a case where some discretion could have been used but no, it was just another easy £60 into the coffers of the Metropolitan Police.
I am now 67 years old and quite a steady driver, I take driving very seriously but I believe I must be very unlucky. Every day when out on our roads I witness numerous incidents of appalling driving all of whom get away with it because they were not caught on camera. The most recent was two weeks ago an a Sunday evening at about 10.45pm. I was driving in the town where I live in a 30 mph zone driving at 30 mph when I saw a car approaching me from the opposite direction at what I can only describe as a maniacal speed which I would estimate to have been at least 70 mph maybe faster. This was yet another incident when the driver got away with it simply because there were no cameras or Police around at the time, how anyone can be so irresponsible is beyond me.
There is speeding and there is irresponsible speeding, I believe there should be some discretion used before issuing tickets and points on licences. Four of my 6 tickets were after midnight when I was the only car on the road, 3 were for doing 35 mph locally and the M25 one 57 mph. On each occasion nobody was put in danger and I was fined simply because on all these occasions “the law is the law is the law” with no room for discretion as a result of which the police are acting quite unreasonably.
I have written to two Chief Constables about this and on both occasions they replied saying I had broken the law and that was that, both ignored my comments about motorists getting away with very serious offences every day because they know I’m right but they will not admit it.
Isn’t it about time the motorists of this country spoke out about the way we are treated, we pay through the nose for our fuel, parking charges, road fund licence, unreasonable fines etc. etc.
I stopped in the road to ask directions whilst riding my motorcycle in nth london, I stopped for 20 seconds and put my foot on the kerb stone, not the road. I received a ticket for parking my motorcycle on a bus stop. we fought it for 6 months but gave up eventually and paid some £180 to the f$£%%$£@ Bas$£@@£$$. This intimidation has to stop
in our area of south Manchester parking fees are always unusual sums. 70p or1.20 So because you rarely have the right change and there is never ever anywhere to get change one has to put in £1 coin or £1pound coin and fifty pence piece. but NO Change is given. They have know stolen 30p from you therefore if I am then ticketed for being over my stay period for say 10mins have I in fact paid ????They have know started preventing you passing your paid for ticket to someone else Um !!! My son got a fine at the Peel centre for driving in while his wife ran in and dropped a parcel off at Next and back out he was only minutes and did not need to formally park but on the wayout BIG BROTHER CAMERA SAID he wasn’t down as buying a ticket He wont be shopping in the Peel holdings center again that’s for sure and the retailers will not be happy when turnover drops due to the greed of PEEL HOLDINGS
I have been ticketed in Richmond borough 4 times when I had parked with a valid ticket via their phone ticketing system. Tickets were issues 4 times and we had to write in and argue the case before they withdrew the fines. Each time a different excuse was proffered, but it seems if wardens ticket legally parked vehicles then a percentage will pay up, so thats another little game they partake in. It’s high time for a change in everything provided by the govt and local authorities especially. The socialist agenda to punish working people via these fines will either have to stop or we will see actions taken against the local authorities before too long. The pressure is rising and something will pop.
Even when councils know that a ticket has been issued incorrectly, they will still reject the appeal at the informal stage hoping that the motorist will not want to risk the ‘Civil Penalty Charge’ doubling.
I have challenged several tickets that were issued incorrectly at the informal stage which were rejected and rejected again at the formal stage. 3 days before going to PaTAS, a letter arrives stating that the Council (usually Westminster) is not defending the ticket and “the matter is now closes.”
This, to me, seems nothing more than attempting to obtain money by deception. It is about time that these petty functionaries realised that they are supposed to be working for us, not the other way round.
I watched this programme & was shocked at the attitude of the staff in the ‘control centre’ the wardens & the tow truck driver. Total jobsworths all of them & don’t get me started on the Mayor! Why did they vote for him?
What struck me was the lack of busses using the bus lanes, even in rush hour. I also wonder if the council would be better to change phasing of traffic lights as I do not believe they are helping the congestion issues at all.
I think Bristol council are using all the parking restrictions as a huge stick to beat the motorist with & extort money instead of looking at the real issues.
I suspect the council will introduce a Congestion Charge in the near future too.
I too live near Leeds and wouldnt dream of shopping in the centre as I have been hit and so have many of my friends with ridiculous parking stories. Nottingham have a great scam going, try and get to the ( council owned) Theatre Royal stage door loading bay/ every road to it says no entry trams only, there is a camera which charges you £60 for going up any of these roads, the only way is to turn right on a no right turn sign, to miss the camera. I got £180 of fines the 3 times i had to go there before the theatre staff told me how to avoid the camera. I complained to the council saying that their advise to turn right was breaking the law but they were only interested in the fines .
Whne we all know that parking fines are really a stealth form of taxtion – although they are not really particularly stealth in their actions in nobbling people just going about their own business. Probably down to the targeting methods that they employ to motivate the traffic wardens. How much do they earn btw…. is it on a bonus scale according to who they issues tickets too?
Maybe someone should have a go at Nottingham police. I’ve had three tickets in less than twelve months. My last one for speeding was in 1982!! I wonder how much revenue is raised just in Nottingham annually? The potholes and flattops are never maintained and roads are deteriorating faster than ever. So much for a so called ‘developed’ country. Perhaps someone could publish all the traffic regs. somewhere online?
While visiting my son in London I needed to park on the kerbstone of the pavement in a very narrow road to allow me to safely transfer my disabled wife from the car into her wheelchair. The traffic warden watching, rather than helping me gave me a ticket for the few minutes it took to get my wife into the flat.I came out after getting my wife to the safety of the opposite pavement intending to move the car further down the road.. Having studied the rules set by the local authorities I made myself such a nuisance that rather spend all the time neccessary on the paperwork needed to pursue the case they dropped the charge. My advice is study the rules and play them at their own game!
The Councils want to save money. They simply have to sack all the traffic wardens. Now give the magistrates power to order miscreants to work as a traffic warden for a couple of weeks instead of doing community service. No more far fetched than the present mad system
Like most forms of traffic enforcement, parking restrictions are imposed for largely spurious reasons, e.g. “keeping traffic flowing”. If they really wanted to keep traffic flowing, they would scrap traffic lights, those weapons of mass distraction, danger and delay. Parking controls underpin an anti-social system. I blame Parliament for failing to defend democratic principles in the face of creeping legalised extortion.
Traffic wardens and the traffic police are ignorant, self important you cannot reason with them, as they all have targets to meet. Wearing a uniform goes to there head, why don’t they try a Soldiers uniform, and have guts rather than being gutless. They walk the streets of Edinburgh not controlling traffic chasing people away from the city. I would ask people always be ready with a camera or phone, take pictures of road markings and the position of your car,as there is millions of people every day being wrongly charged as the markings are wrong, broken lines all over the place. The more people that complain the better for all as the councils will not be able to cope, and the courts will not be able to handle all the cases, so the answer is don’t just take it on the chin. Harry P.S. A Sad Briton.
This is just another example of where the authotities are doing everything they can to take as much money as they can from us without spending to much money themselves. “Rip off Britian” do me a favour!
its all done in the interests of safty you know!
My SatNav was taking me round in circles, as it was baffled by Tichbrook Street which is discontinuous. After four circuits, in order to reset the SatNav and ring for instructions I had to stop, turn off my engine and remove the key to comply with the law. I was stopped NOT parked. I never left the vehicle and am visible in the photograph. This process may have taken 3 minutes and I think it is a bit harsh to punish a lost stranger by fining him after such a short time especially after successfully paying the expensive congestion charge. I appealed which was refused and I lost £200. This is thuggery and not helpful to lost strangers from Scotland./
I’m a small Taxi company in Christchurch Dorset I packed outside an undertakers taking people to a funeral and my rear tyre was two inches over the parking box and got a parking fine? which I contested on the grounds that I was only stopped not parked and couldn’t park full in the box as it would have meant they would not have been able to get the coffin into the hearse!!
I was told that I still had to pay so I contacted the local paper who phoned the council for a comment and miraculously they decided not to enforce the ticket this time!!!
so don’t give up if everyone appealed the whole system will crash
Surrey CC are at least honest that they view their car parking income as their second highest revenue earner. However the council tax at least hits the non-motorist as well.
A tip if you live in a town with high parking charges. Try looking behind the Town Hall there may be free parking bays: we have them in my town. God knows why ?)
My parents spent some time in Cornwall, during 2012 and visited Boscastle. They got a parking ticket there, despite having paid for and displayed a ticket. Luckilly they were able to produce the ticket, though the process was something akin to the Spanish Inquisition. One of the parting shots, from the people in Boscastle, was that they would be keeping a look out for this car. An apology would have been nice but when you are dealing with pond life, perhaps that’s expecting a bit much!!
Nearer to home, I can say that car parking is a problem but unless it’s in a town centre, nobody seems bothered. It seems to be that the authorities only go after the easy money. Mention has been made of tracking calming. Locally, it is provided by parked cars; speed bumps and chicanes being superfluous (Why they find it necessary to use measures, to enforce a 10 mph limit, where the actual speed limit is 30mph, is another matter). It seems that people just abandon cars where they like and give no thought to where they intend to keep a car, before they buy it.
It is true that some of the housing stock was built before car ownership was common but there are areas of land, where the Council could build blocks of lock ups for rent.
I remember hearing of someone who found out the car number of the head of the council, made false plates and drove through lots of speed cameras too fast….
With all this ripped off cash why do they want to toll the A14 and can’t afford to repair the roads?
I was shopping in Glasgow brae head shopping centre parked in a disabled bay as iam disabled it had my blue badge showing but cause the warden could not read it they gave me a ticket…my appeal was up held…bloody traffic wardens
The answer is for everyone who can, to do their shopping via the Internet. That way the councils ‘Parking Problems’ are sorted out, because no-one goes into towns to shop anymore. True, the town and city centers will die but what the hell? The councils brought it upon themselves.
Clearly this is a revenue collecting machine that works very well. I wish Councils would be honest and raise their money through local taxes. My brother has a large van which is technically a bus and has a huge amount of fun (and free local publicity) by driving in the bus lanes. He has now collected around 100 fines and has not paid a penny.
No uniformed officer or traffic warden at time of `offence` means no later ticket via camera or film car can be valid; ignore every one, & fight it!
Recently in Bristol I noted an elderly lady with obvious walking difficulties park her car partly outside a free parking slot and go into the bakers. A warden walked rapidly toward the car, I pretended the car was mine and as he brandished his notepad I told him he was a thieving arsehole. As the argument developed the old lady returned and drove away, and I continued on my way !
Local town had a by-pass put in and the double yellow lines in the town were to be removed. 2 weeks after the by-pass opened the yellow lines had not been removed. And people knew of the promise to remove the lines. By three weeks, to the shopkeepers delight, cars were parked all along the road, me included. Wardens swooped and ticketed the lot of us. The magistrate acknowledged the promise of removing the lines- BUT as they hadn’t ACTUALLY been taken up, the lot of us were fined. Bone head sticking to the letter of the law. Common sense out the window.
Fined with a hand-held speed camera for doing 43mph in a 40mph limit at 49 minutes past midnight on a totally deserted road in Conway. It’s all just a means of getting revenue, and all to pay the vast number of parasites that contribute nothing to our society. The Control Freaks.
I watched the program last night, what a load of jobsworths, they need to get a life instead of sat in front of a cctv screen punishing hard working citizans and drivers. prossicute and crunch drivers cars that are illegel.
I live in Bristol and have seen these predators driving around more and more often in the last 6 to 8 months. I suppose it works out more cost effective. Less outlay, More income. Less man power for a larger area, And no confrontations. Perhaps they may spend the money on fixing the road surfaces as i have heard Bristol has some of the worst. Ya like that’s likely.
I am sure a lot of these local councils are run by communists or Marxists.
its almost like living in north korea the way its going. its very little to do with safety, its all about it being a business and money
I watched the programme.
These were my thoughts:
1. The CCTV sleuths were doing their jobs, with obscene relish. Pay peanuts …….
2. Bristol City traffic is a bitch, and definitely needs drastic measures.
3. The mayor appears to be a very comfortably well-off man who believes he is well-meaning, BUT, crucially, can survive without another payday. i.e. any social experiment is just that – “Hey ho! I was wrong. NEXT?” Not exactly representative of his electorate or the council he can over-rule. BTW my politics are way off being a Guardianista, but WHAT A PRAT!
4. There were clear breaches of the law. Loading a fish supper, being ticketed, appealing and failing, was pure telly. BUT it kept the advertisers happy, and that’s what matters above all else … Adverts!
5. Still with me? Amazing!
6. Nobody addressed the simplest solution of all [Athens did this years ago to prevent smog – it worked]. All odd and even number reg plates only have access on alternate days. UK Gov BigBro already has ANPR – and as the meerkats say “Simples”!
A few years ago Norwich City Council told streets that they should have parking permits. Many streets voted for them i guess because sometimes it is annoying if loads of non-residents park there and so you can’t get a space at night. They did introduce them, but only for the day when streets were empty, thus preventing commuters from parking and forcing them to pay closer to town and causing more congestion. So to me it looks like just a money making venture. Then last year, having returned from holiday and realising my permit was up, I did the right thing and phoned up to pay for another. Almost on prompt the telephonist said that it would take a couple of. Days to arrive and so he wouldn’t start it for a day or two. Stupidly I agreed. Within 15 minutes a parking attendent on a motorbike arrived and ticketed me, I just saw him leave. You make you own conclusions but mine were that in calling up and doing the right thing the computer flagged a traffic warden/tax collector to come and collect his money. Normally you could park weeks there not one. Secondly i was an idiot to trust their recommendation and should have said i wanted it to start with immediate effect! I dont think they give a monkeys about disruption or fairness. What has changed it wasnt like this 5-10 years ago. I vote for these people…we must take a stand..programmes showing the true picture please.
i totally agree with everyone of these comments the councils and government are just persicuting the motorist in general every way they can . The town councils with parking charges are causing people to go to retail parks and that results in the actual town centres are becoming ghost towns as a service engineer i recently went to chester and discovered that there are no provisions for delivery drivers after 10am so the pedestrian area becomes in accessible to deliverys and banks dont normally open untill 9.30am but this goes on all around the north west i live in Trafford area of manchester and in general the parking charges are low but else where ,its crazy
big brother is totally out of control we pay council tax road tax petrol tax vat on everything soon we will have metres on us and paying for the air we breath David Cameron to me is Judge Dread the aristocracy are all millionaires they set laws and government issues knowing they can afford it and totally forget about those people who can not keep up with them come on lets standup to them its wrong
In Carmarthen I was driving into the Marks & Spencer carpark which is private, via a small lane running next to a church and a branch of Boots. I was flagged down by a warden who then told me he was going to issue me with a ticket for stopping on double-yellow lines which were several feet away. HE was the reason I stopped!
I should mention also that a bylaw in Carmarthen allows parking on No Waiting lines for five minutes, to facilitate picking up and dropping off elderly, or very young, people. ALL the lines in the town just happen to be No Loading ones, on which the bylaw has no effect!
I was fined by Harrow Council for parking my car on front of someone’s drive (which was not blocked) at 9-pm. After investigating this, I found out the only way I would have received such a ticket is if the owner of the house would have rang the council to send a Warden round to issue me a ticket for having 1/3 of my car over the drive but not obstructing him at all. If a ticket was issued for people parking on front of a drive, then 99% of the people will be fined. This country has gone crazy.
most councils have had their budget cut by the central government, so they look to try to make up there loss, by punishing the motorists, by traffic wardens, and the coin machines on the car park, but what hurts most in Derby the council spent £34.ooo,ooo on council house refurbishing. then cut recycling collection, shutdown the fire service, and close old folks homes. and all sorts of other commitments that were promised in their elections. I’m well into my seventies and god help me if they cut my pension as well, roll on the next election, I know what I shall do’ which is unprintable xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It is very important that we all take councils to task on this issue when it is fair and reasonable to do so. It is only when the volume of resistance to these draconian discrimination against motorist bog the councils down in administration time will they contribute a measure of justice to what they are doing. I do not defend the selfish few by any means.
Richard davies
Hello,has the Bristol mayor ever considered that bus lanes could be driven in after the peak hours?Many northern councils do this,whats the point of a bus lane which is only used a few times outside peak??It would be much better used as another lane during the day to alleviate any traffic problems.Oh and are there only 20 ish public toilets hes thinking of closing in Bristol??He should first consider closing the toilets in all council offices especially the Town Hall ,why should council servants have access to facilities which others don’t ,who dreams this lot up ,do we pee in a grate??(Ladies Beware) Disgracefull.
The above comments have left me with a mixed feeling of anger & despair, I am heartsick of the filthy greed of these authorities.They spend ratepayers money, to set up the “traps”
Then they spend more ratepayers money on devices & operators to catch the unfortunate drivers who fall into them. They are all over the country.I as a self employed courier, have umpteen stories I could relate, but the best one is about the time I got a “TICKET” whilst parked in my “DOCTORS” surgery CARPARK. My first response, was to inform them that I had had a heart attack/operation, and had been parking in the doctors carpark,to collect my monthly prescription once a month for the previous ten months, AND as the problem is not going to go away, I will be collecting a prescription every month so long as the good lord decides I may live. and I do not want a ticket for each occasion.I also supplied all copy’s of relevant details, IE. prescription/time and date & name of the hospital where I had the “ANGIOPLASTY” operation etc. They replied saying “whilst they sympathized with me” re my heart problems, the fine would still have to be paid, as I was parked “ILLEGALLY” with a reminder/threat that late payments would result in subsequent doubling then if continuous lack of payment occurs “trebling” would apply ,then finally “COURT, WITH FINES + COSTS”. All this to try and scare me into paying up. I replied to their first response, telling them I would pay the fine if they proved to me that all the other vehicles (about TWENTY) that were parked in the said c/park were also to be “FINED” for parking on the same day. they ignored this request but did reply saying that I must pay the fine immediately as I was “PARKED INCORRECTLY”. Again I replied Quote:- I will pay the fine , IF you show/prove to me, that you have also FINED the other twenty vehicle owners, for parking “EQUILATERALLY between the yellow lines painted on the c/park tarmac!. They replied to this request of mine ,saying “WE ARE FED UP TWOING AND FROWING WITH THIS NONSENSE FROM YOU,” AND IF YOU DONT PAY WITHIN SEVEN DAYS FROM THE DATE OF THIS E-MAIL, WE WILL GO STRAIGHT TO COURT!” NO FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE WILL BE ENTERED INTO”!!.So I replied Quote:- “SEE YOU IN COURT THEN” unquote, To this, came the reply Quote:- WE HAVE DECIDED TO OVERLOOK THIS FINE THIS TIME, BUT DONT DO IT AGAIN!!. Bob Clay. ps this occurred in OLdham but the ticket and susequent waffle was from “CENTRAL TICKETING BIRMINGHAM” I also know of a couple of other similar cases, but unfortunately the “victims” chickened out & paid.
The number of cases one see’s where people who are not disabled use a blue badge for parking is growing especially for shopping when there is no disabled person in the car”””””
Whilst working in Hereford as a musician, I recently got ticketed for unloading in a loading bay for “goods vehicles only”. When I told the traffic operative what I was doing, which is legitimate unloading of goods, in this case music PA system and Cd’s, she was non plussed and rude, and basically told me to prove it in my appeal! I will do that, as I recently fought a case in Barrow-in-Furness successfully. They are quite simply “jobs worths” and I wouldn’t wipe my feet on them!! My appeal was current in Barrow, which should have frozen the charge until a decision was made, and they still sent me a letter stating that the amount had increased to £105. When I phoned them about it, she said they were UNDER staffed!! I ask you!! Making extra work in my book!!
I gat a ticket for turning right on a poorly signposted junction in Waltham Forest. The restriction ran from 7.30 to 9.30 am. The council could obviously not afford to improve the signage but could afford to park a van with a camera on the roof. I paid the fine then decided to either get my £65 back of cost them a lot more.
There’s on simple answer to the problem, every one should stop paying parking fines, this wil throw the hole system into chaous, they can’t chase every outstanding ticket & just to confuse the situation registar the car in someone elses name.
I used to live in Bishopston, Bristol, near the infamous Gloucester rd.
The traffic is awful, but the buses are run by a monopoly, often late & v. expensive. From Brisol, it’s cheaper to go to Cardiff by train than Cribbs Causeway shopping centre by bus.
The taxpayer even had to foot the £1m bill for upgrading express bus routes and the money keeps rolling into the monopoly.
The Gloucester rd has amazing non chain shops that are being strangled by Bristol City’s parking extortion.
I’m glad I moved towns.
Saltburn by the sea, Cleveland
Council proposed parking restrictions last year. We ( the town objected somewhat ( ok maybe rather a lot, a lot more, or even one hell of a lot )
Result we still have a ” town ” with businesses and visitors
If you make large area’s “resident only” and those residents need a permit to park, this will mean that those residents will NEVER have any visitors from friends or relatives.
My advice is to visit PEPIPOO for loads of ways to fight these money grabbing bastards!
BEWARE!!! Do not follow the orange signs from the Coventry Ring Road into West Orchard car park. They direct you down a Buses Only section of Hales Street, which used to be part of the Inner Ring, but now is broken up into several short sections, some of which are one way, and others are for buses only. I got caught by a Bus Lane Camera under the Whittle Arches, and despite supplying the council with documentary evidence (screenshots from Google StreetView), was still forced to pay £60 for their mistake. How many other innocent motorists, unfamiliar with the area like I am, will be fleeced by Coventry City Council before someone takes them to court for Fraud?
A few years ago Nottingham City Council ticketed (along with many others) my late disabled mother while parking in a disabled parking area in Bulwell town centre. The ticket claimed she wasn’t displaying her Blue Badge! Which was actually fully on display in her windscreen. She asked the Traffic Wardens as they were busily ticketing every other disabled users cars there, why they claimed they couldn’t see her badge. They explained they had been instructed to ticket any disabled motorist who hadn’t displayed their Time Clock Disc This isn’t ever needed unless parked on double yellow lines while on the road! They claimed they had been doing this all over the city for over a year!
We appealed and I even complained to the local press, who also ran a story at the time. I even whet to my MP. This helped us as it brought the local councillors out of their shells, to try to diffuse the story. This gave us access to information that they had indeed instructed their staff to do this and even provided a letter explain this! Which effectively confirmed that they had knowingly had instructed their workers to actively charge disabled motorists with a totally trumped up offence!
Not surprisingly, my mother’s ticket was quickly withdrawn and the newspaper had an happy ending for my mother.
Yet when I asked them what they were intending to do about all the fines they had extorted out of all the known to be illegally gained fines (which, by the way, their database could list, easily)? It was made very clear that it was none of my business and to go away while still on top!
It is up to all those that believed they had been unjustly treated to seek recompense, they said! Though how anyone of them would know they had been the victim of the councils extortion racket, wasn’t made clear. Apparently, they claim the law states they can do this somewhere, conveniently. I always understood the law applies to all! Yet no-one has ever been even investigated or charged, yet undoubtedly there is untold numbers of knowingly extorted monies in this City’s Council’s coffers, to this day. If they are so minded as to attack the disabled this way, the rest of us have absolutely no chance.
The only way to beat this rot, is to do just what they claim they want you to do, keep your cars out of their city! Then stay away until the city dies, which won’t be long in Nottingham’s case. Then and only then, will there be any chance to redress their attitudes! But it is probably too late for many places to recover their past glory.
I may be thick or just not up with new legislation, but these fines that are handed out by local councils and car park operators alike, are they actually legal ?..it is my belief that in great Britain you are innocent until you are proven guilty in a court of law, how can you therefore be fined without a due trial in a court of law
parking tickets are illegal only courts have power to fine anyone if you pay these tickets you are part of the problem if you dont know the law you cant use it to your advantage if you dont know your rights you have none educate yourself and dont just pay up do your research and study
I live in Cardiff. Cardiff uses the TEC at Northampton to process parking tickets. How it works is like this : – my pal Louie got a ticket for parking in a resident bay in a street near his. He could not park in his street because the council have sold three times the number of resident parking permits as the street will allow. This is because they have granted permission for exploitative landlords to lower ceilings to increase the number of boxes which can be leased out as flats. Hence there is not enough room for permit holders to park in their own street. This is fraud. Louie parked nearby. He got a ticket. He protested. He was ignored. The ticket was sent with a large batch to the TEC at Northampton which rubber stamped it and sent it back. Bailiffs came. He wasn’t in. The came three times which they claimed justified them claiming £1,564 in charges. He sold his car. The bailiffs stole it from the woman he sold it to.
Now: the TEC is not a Court. It has no legally qualified personnel. It si NOT part of Northampton County Court. It does not issue warrants since it does not have the power. The DVLA is not permitted to divulge personal details about drivers to anyone but the security forces and the plod. The council is not allowed to divulge personal details to third party bailiffs except in the pursuit of council tax.
So third party bailiffs acting on illegally supplied information and without a warrant threatened to break into his home and then stole his car from someone he had sold it to.
They were guilty of personating a warranted bailiff, of harassment, of threatening behaviour, of threats of bodily harm and of unlawful interference with a motor vehicle on the Queen’s highway.
There was no Case, there was no Summons, there was no Hearing, there was no appeal, the 1998 DPA was completely ignored.
They claimed they had a warrant but a clerk cannot issue a warrant..
I could go on but … if you want the full story, email me
I was given a ticket by a traffic warden in woodford I paid for 2 hrs parking unfortunately my young niece put the ticket in the holder on my screen (Volvo) but accidentally put it in upside down I was only gone 10 mins I found the warden showed him my ticket he said he couldn’t cancel it I have appealed and am now going to the adjudication officer the council have said they won’t overturn it as I had committed an offence also warden s are not allowed to go into the road to check screens (health and safety ) is this a new rule! I will be writing to Eric pickles as he seems to feel very strongly about it. let’s see if he can get it canceled . They should be spending more resources in catching burglars, to keep the figures down many CRIMES are not even pursued so perhaps it’s better to steal than park either way it’s the law abiding citizens that pay the most. Interestingly Southend advertised for a traffic warden with a salary of £38000 per annum
I have spent years fighting ALL my tickets and never lost one. To issue a ticket the warden must first record the evidence he is using to give him the power to issue the ticket. Many tickets are therefore issued because the warden assumes that all signs are in order.I have had my appeals go all the way to the adjudicator and dropped at the last minute, because of a phrase I always include at the end of my evidence. ” If you find in favour of the Council, I would like a copy of all the evidence, as I intend to take the matter to court for obtaining money by deception” works every time.
There are so many things that we ordinary people need to make a stand on, parking being just one of them.
And it’s as good as anywhere to start.
All moneys collected via parking/speeding/bus lane offences should go to a chosen charity/s in the local area offence committed,
not a penny should be received buy the government/local authority,
Councils are excessive, inefficient and self interested. They rarely have a clue about real life. Strangely though around Huntingdon the council love road obstructions, whether part of thier “traffic calming” or poor parking. They are obsessed with making driving as difficult as possible in the hope people use the bus instead. All they achieve is massive traffic jams, higher pollution and increased accidents.
I expect that we end up with these ridiculous situations from a logical thought process that goes something like this:
“We have a particular traffic problem that needs to be sorted out”.
“It could be sorted out by employing traffic wardens or CCTV van”.
“The cost of employing traffic wardens or CCTV van cannot be justified, just for this”.
“The traffic wardens or CCTV van could be used on other things and generate an income to cover the costs”.
“OK let’s do that”.
“The excess income we are getting from these traffic wardens or CCTV van could be used subsidise other vital services”.
“The council cannot do without the excess income generated (profit centre) by the Traffic Wardens or CCTV van”
“Are these Traffic wardens or CCTV van not just cash generators”.
“Oh no, they have were found to be necessary to sort out serious traffic problems in the area and are succeeding in this”
Note both the above 2 assertions are technically correct!
where do these councils imagine that the £270 million comes from. yes it is nesrly x-mas and there is some money for childrens presents for which perhaps they think they have priority. Perhaps they think that motor cars are printing presses. Surely this is money which can no longer be spent in their town. The number of empty shops maybe an indication of the greed of some authorities.
I have no axe to grind, I have had only one parking ticket in over 60 years and that was in a FREE carpark because i was over the bay line. always read the notices before lesving the vehicle.
When I was younger, many councils were run by “ratepayer” parties, non aligned with the conservative/labour/libdem etc parties. Councils were run for the benefit of local residents, not by party dogmas, perhaps we should revert back to these groups, they would certainly have more sympathy with their local businesses. Incidentally, parking policies are only approved by councillors, the actual schemes are dreampt up by highly paid council employees!
The councils are duty bound to provide whatever is necessary, except it would appear when it comes to car parking. They do their utmost to not provide suitable facilities when it comes to driving. They insist on charges, fines and restrictions which are then unfairly enforced and drive our town centres into desolation. I ended up with a £240 fine for a 3 minute overstay in Brighton. It is scandalous and these councillors need to get real. Cars ain’t gonna go away, there are a life style, but one which councils ignore. As an example, one car park I used for work had an annul pass discounted for the first year. The 2nd year they placed the car park charges on C02 emissions and of course my charges went through the roof. I changed jobs!!!! This is one step away from theft. My car still only occupies one space as it always did and always will. Come on councils, start living in the real world with us and come up with creative scenes to attract customers back to the high street!!
Having parked on the bottom of Trinity Street Huddersfield free on the road for the one hour allowed over ran the time by about half an hour and got a ticket, which was fair. The traffic wardens are quite keen here. I scoured the internet for about three days to find how far the statutory distance between the restriction signs on the lamp posts should actually be. I found that these were further apart than they should have been (I think it was 25 metres) and so having photographed the scene, submitted it and complained and I actually had the fine quashed! I bet the signs are still too far apart and they are probably still ripping people off. I don’t know if people can get cash back from previous fines but it would be worth a try!
I watched the channel 4 program the other night, it was unfairly against the motorist. I myself have been on the receiving end of a bolshy (foreign) parking attendant jobs worth! I was working in London and a parking meter had been paid for by my employers for a months use. Because my employers failed to ring up the parking wardens and advise them that a different car was going to parked on the bla bla date I nearly had my car towed away. The warden refused to speak to my boss who could have explained I was working for them. I wasn’t rude to him, he insisted I move my car then came back 2 hours later to check I had.
Beware in Westminster, I am from Bristol, and deliver to London, AFTER speaking with a short bespeckled male traffic warden about a delivery to an address across the road, he advised to ” go down that road and park around the corner in a cul de sac, on the left, it has lines but you will OK ”
After parking a young lady warden from the same ethnic background, spoke to me, she said ” I wouldn’t park there, that 4 eyed little Hitler will wait for you to go out of sight THEN BOOK YOU, HAS PROBABLY HALF GOT THE TICKET WRITTEN ALREADY if he told you to park there, go back out turn left 70 metres down the road is a loading /unloading bay in my patch”. It was 70 metres from where he told me turn left into his booking trap !
It is my intention that when I can afford the time I shall enter the political game from a new direction, but to achieve the results you all seem to require i will need YOUR support. Their are a number of ways that traffic can be improved. the people in charge are useless but don’t have to try because They have a monopoly.
I intend to bring them down and loose their pensions.
Originally, many years ago Traffic Wardens were employed by the Police and had the same discretionary powers as a police officer – I.E they could apply common sense. Nowadays council employed Parking Attendants have no discretionary powers, therefore common sense does not enter the equation and many would never have passed the entry examinations to become a Traffic Warden. However here in Glasgow to date I have always found the Parking attendants to be friendly and helpful – aren’t we lucky? When a parking attendant makes an untrue statement can`t they be prosecuted for abuse of Public Office?