The wardens down here can also ticket you if you have no Warrant of Fitness ($250) or Registration ($250) displayed.
This used to be the police's job, so some of the money goes to the local council, with the rest going into the govt. coffers.
I saw some news report a few years back about some chap who got so annoyed about his local police station parking their cars on double-yellows outside the police station all day (personal cars as well as jam sandwiches) that he used to walk in there and ask for them to be moved. The coppers used to move them, then when he'd gone, move them back again. I think he ended up driving around town in a mock-up of a U.S. police car with some kind of mascot on the roof, protesting about it! I can't remember if it got him anywhere, other than the funny farm.
Rough justice and sweet too - but it doesn't really right the injustices of these petty despots.
Of course they were reasonable, being a private company the only resource they have to actually *make* you pay is the county court. Which they're hardly going to do for a fiver. The council/local authourity/police on the other hand, can use the criminal courts to make you pay, hence they don't have to be so nice in thier letters.
Alex
Of course they were reasonable, being a private company the only resource they have to actually *make* you pay is the county court. Which they're hardly going to do for a fiver. The council/local authourity/police on the other hand, can use the criminal courts to make you pay, hence they don't have to be so nice in thier letters.
Ah of course. No private company would go to court over a fiver because of court costs. The police or council can use the criminal court system to persue you to the max, cos to them it;s effectively free, paid for by you and me. Plus the fear factor - if you take them on and lose, it can be very expensive, most people pay up to avoid the hassle as they know you won't beat the system.
DaveP
If that was the case, I'd probably have about 6 points on my license following the two NIPs I binned in the last three years. It's true that both cases were borderline so could have gone my way if I'd have gone to court, but the Police didn't bother to chase in any way other than one misleading warning letter promising hellfire and brimstone. This is from two different counties, not one force.
It does seem that going to court is prohibitively expensive for us taxpayers, although I have no experience of it. I get that impression from the salacious edited highlights presented to us by the press, so chances are it's the wrong impression!
Nail/head.
It's not that the rules (speeding, parking, etc) are being enforced more strictly. If we agree with the rules, we can't complain if they are applied and enforced. What makes me feel very angry and powerless is the way that they are being enforced seems designed to catch people out. Camera vans hiding behind road signs, where they don't deter speeders but simply catch them after the offence is committed. Road works cameras placed, not at the road works where they might have some effect, but half a mile later to catch those who speed up too soon. As happened to me, =A340 fines for overstaying a parking meter at 8am (no-one about, street empty) rather than at 10am when the streets are full of cars cruising for a place.
I agree with the drink/drive limits completely (and I don't drink and drive at all), but even I would disagree if the coppers waited in someone's drive to breathalyse him when he came back from the pub - in other words, to catch him after he has committed an offence (and endangered lives etc) rather than wait down the road from the pub and catch him before the offence. It would smack of targets and revenue, rather than a concern for road safety, as a lot of the current enforcement strategies seem to be.
DaveP
So you need to know that you are going to enter the congestion zone and prepay or pay before 2200 on the day you do enter it? Tricky, I don't actually know were the congestion zone is, other than being somewhere within the M25.
What options are there available to pay it? Easily available street side machines that take cash? Drive by coin bins? Or do you have to have a credit card and/or phone and/or internet access?
Were they? I remember a bit of noise about it when it came in but certainly didn't pay much attention. It is not relevant to me living several hundred miles away.
So do I. Horrible, smelly, noisy, place full of rude and ignorant people.
You get warning signs up before it telling you how far ahead it starts, so that's not so bad, however they are quite small and for those of us not familiar with the somewhat chaotic and overwhelming London roads it's not that easy. I find driving in London much easier now I have a satnav system but it's still a PITA and if you're trying to navigate then it would be easy to miss the warning signs. They do have signs painted on the roads at the start of the zone, although these are often covered by the car in front due to the congestion that still infests the place.
They do make a variety of options available, you can pay by internet, pay by phone, pay by SMS (if you set up an account with them I think), and pay in some shops. I've never used it more than once however, but there have been complaints about the payment systems not working very well, I'm not sure if that's still a problem.
Ditto, which is one of my beefs with the system. I live 3 hour's drive from London and have been there about 4 times in the last year since I got caught by the charge, when I was caught I'd not been there in several years so I too didn't read much more than the first paragraph of news about yet another tax on travelling in London, in the same way that I don't read about people being killed in Northern Ireland.
FYI: most carparks in the zone also have a congestion charge payment machine. Not much help if you find a meter though.
For my part, I find it easier to 'phone home' with instruction/request to pay the charge online - how that would work for others may be a mute point.
You think that's bad...
I retaxed my GS 'online' between Christmas and New Year - in due time for the 'your disc will arrive within 5 days'. Old tax ran out on
31-12-2005 new disc arrived in the post on 21st Jan - dated 19th Jan.Technically it is an offence to not display a valid disc on the vehicle - regardless of whether the vehicle has been retaxed.
Thank you, how kind. I now have to find a way to remove bacon and melted brie toastie from my monitor...
Course it isn't. They could clamp you.
It's called illegal restraint of property unless its done by, or on behalf of the local authority or police.
Alex
On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 14:25:56 +0000, Mother scribbled the following nonsense:
now that is a jobsworth!
...and Ian Rawlings spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...
System: we allege you were speeding. £60 if you come quietly and don't make a fuss. Rich: refuses to sign document admitting offence when genuinely believes he wasn't speeding.* System: you were speeding, you were, you were, you were, gotcha, gotcha, la la la Rich: signs cheque for £240.
...and Alex spake unto the tribes of Usenet, saying...
Try telling that to Di, who was clamped in a paved area behind a shop. The large burly (and phenomenally unpleasant) clamper insisted that she walk a mile to the cashpoint and back, and hand him £100 as he would not take a cheque. I arrived on the scene and phoned the police (mentioned demanding money with menaces), and they sent a traffic warden to the scene. She said that as the ground was private property and there was a warning sign (tiny, high and very recent), we had no option but to pay up. Didn't want to know. I imagine an NCP car park would have the same legal status.
Like a lot of other comments in this thread, they get away with it because no-one wants to know.
Did we talk about this? If not, it's pretty scary (very scary actually).
At a training day for Magistrates last September one of the scenarios was based around a speed camera that was found to have been illegally placed - and indeed, in a part of a road where it would have been impossible to break the speed limit.
There were two groups; those who stood their ground and went to Court, and those who just signed the form and sent the cheque. After the finding that the camera had been illegally placed, those who had gone to Court (and obviously found guilty) will have had their points removed and fine refunded (although no compensation would be paid for increased insurance, loss of job etc - but that's another point).
One of the Court Clerks (viscious cow, bloody nice legs though) who was leading the training, well, involved in it anyway as they're not actually allowed to 'lead' as it were, suggested that although those who'd just sent in the cheque were due a refund, they must knowingly have made a false declaration of guilt - so should they face far more serious charges as a consequence...
...and Mother"
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