Just noticed that the rescue workers who were trying to rescue London's recent whale visitor have been handed £300 in parking fines by traffic wardens... They weren't parked blocking off any roads, they were on meters, so no excuses for the traffic wardens this time. The vehicles were marked as "marine ambulances" and "marine rescue", not just normal cars.
It's like the excuses the police were giving last year for handing out speeding fines to ambulance drivers on emergency runs, they claimed that to engineer a means of making exceptions would cost them a lot of money, to which the ambulance drivers' unions pointed out that there didn't appear to be a problem when it came to police cars!
...and Alex spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...
Is it just me, or is this becoming a general thing throughout the UK? There used to be a bit of room for discretion over things like the odd 2 mph over the speed limit, or 2 minutes overstay on a parking space. Now the rules seem to be enforced blindly, with no wish to understand the circumstances or willingness to see things from the other point of view. Like those poor buggers in London who had their number plates cloned, and who were taken to court and fined, despite being able to prove they were not in London that day (I think the authorities relented on that, but only because one guy had the energy and stamina to find and photograph the offending vehicles, or something). Fining the rescue services for illegal parking, convicting an ambulance driver for speeding on a blue light call (while a police officer is let off for doing a hundred and stupid mph on a public road) - the list goes on. And it's not just in the area of motoring law either. Pensioners go to prison for withholding a few quid on Council Tax (while 2Jags gets away with an apology for failing to pay thousands). Things seem to have got much harsher for the average bod in the street, when it comes to dealing with the "authorities".
Well after starting this rant off, I can see why it's probably the best thing to do; if they slap fines on vehicles with stickers like "Marine Rescue" in the window or hastily pencilled notes in the window telling them that they're part of the whale rescue team (as the rescuers did), then the rescuers can then appeal afterwards. Otherwise you'd get thousands of "Marine Rescue" stickers in car windows throughout the towns of Britain. Fine 'em just in case and if they are what they claim to be, then let them off. Which is what happened.
Of course this depends on the appeals process being fair, I know that I was let off a parking fine in Croydon when I supplied the ticket that I'd bought, the traffic warden had seen it face-down on the floor of the landy where it had blown due to draughts and noted it on the fine sheet, when I appealed and supplied the legitimate ticket I was let off. This is despite the requirement to display it clearly, which I hadn't complied with really. So they can be reasonable.
The London congestion charge appeals process is a model of beaurocratic close-mindedness however, and consists of 4 tick-boxes next to reasons like "I'm dead", "I am under the age of 2" and a few other unlikely reasons, with no means to appeal on the grounds of any reason that isn't on the selection list. And of course you have to pay before you go, which isn't fair on those who don't live in London so don't know the rules *before* they travel..... (Guess who got caught out on that one!)
Err, so yes I think the original poster on this thread was being perhaps a little unfair as fining the rescuers then allowing an appeal was the only practical approach! Shame on the OP! *cough*
Absolutely. Although there is no way of proving that bet except by trying it again the next time a whale swims up the Thames past London. The one time I had a ticket, in Birmingham, I appealed by post and it was waived with no problem.
It's possible, but as I found, the traffic fine appeals process isn't necessarily just a whitewash, personally I reckon they'd have gotten off even without the papers but I don't know the council involved.
Definitely not you. I read an article recently about a ticket machine that will be used in carparks. It controls 2 bays, takes a photo of the number plate, using character recognition, issues a ticket and then checks the number plate at the end of the time. If the car is still there it automatically issues a fine! Of course, this is NOT a money making scheme. However couold they make a profit when each machine costs £3000!!
I recently parked in an NCP car park in lincoln, collected ticket from man, left car about midday, returned about 9pm, after the man had gone home. The gates to the car park were left open (I had checked they would be!) and we were free to drive out without paying. There was a little notice left undr the wiper - "This vehicle A123ABC has incurred a charge of =A35 (or whatever) which has not been paid. Please post your payment to xxx or pay on your next visit." That was so effing
*reasonable* that I paid up, just to reward their reasonableness. Mind you, that was NCP, a private company, not the loacl authority or the police.
Contrast with Oxford, where I paid to park overnight (6pm - 8am) at a meter in a back street, overslept, returned to the car at 8.10am to find a =A340 fine. The wardens must start each day with a sweep of the meters near the colleges, looking for oversleepers in that first critical half hour.. OK, it's 100% within the rules, it's perfectly legit, but it ruined my day - and for what? Not NCP, local authority. I agree with what was said in an earlier thread - we're losing the ability to compromise and give and take, and the UK is getting a harsher place, full of jobsworths and iron rules. I mean, what's this crap with the congestion charge - you can appeal, but only for reasons that we approve of. I drove into the area as I had to get a dying child to a hospital. Sorry, Sir, if your excuse isn't one of the four we accept, we aren't listeining, la la la.
I think I'm missing something about how this congestion charge thingy works. Being several hundred miles from London I assume it works just like any other toll or car park charge.
You drive in, pay on entry (coin bin, man in booth, WHY) or pay at a road side meter, "before you go" ie leave the congestion charge area.
Nope, it's been specially designed to catch people out. You drive into London, you see the "C" signs everywhere, think "Hmm that must be that congenstion charge thing I've heard about", do your work, drive home tired and weary arriving home at perhaps 10PM and relax for a while. The next day you phone up to pay and are told that you're too late, you have to pay beforehand or by 10:00PM on the day you travel. You can pay up to midnight on the day you travel but that costs an extra £2. You can appeal but the options are extremely limited, I can't remember what they are as they're not on the CC London website, only on the backs of the tickets themselves.
When you protest that it's grossly unfair you are told that the congestion charge rules were publicised on nationwide news, the retort that you didn't pay it any heed because you don't live in London or travel there normally isn't valid apparently, neither is the difference in time of a year or more between you being "informed" of the rules and you actually using it. You see, it's *LONDON* therefore every single soul in the British isles should have heeded the somewhat confused news reports of the time and written the instructions down for when they came to London.....
I've bitched about this "pay before you go" lark before, it's amazing the number of people who just trot out the "ignorance is no excuse" line, it bloody well needs to be with those kind of rules.
Mind you, there are exemptions for vehicles with more than 12 seats, so a 110 County could swing it. Also apparently they don't check if your vehicle has 12 seats or not, some people claim to have applied for an exemption on these ground and got one, despite driving a normal eurobox.
Personally I just avoid the place like the plague, for many more reasons than just the congestion charge.
If it is anything like our area the scheme is self financing. This means that as the locals get more careful about times the wardens get more picky about is it within the white lines etc.
It has also recently come to light (thanks I am told to the freedom of information act) that the wardens have quotas of tickets which they are expected to issue. The implication is that if you regularly fail to fill your quota then your not doing your job.
This of course means they have to ticket for the tiniest excuse.
Incidentally since the Carlisle floods in Jan 2005 the police have been parking all day every day where they should have been ticketed.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.