Parking Extortion and coming to a town near you...

57Deluxe

This doesn't affect me but it still made my blood boil at the unfairness of it - especially the bollards across your own driveway bit...

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/may/28/parking-enforcement-private-law-fines-penalties-appeal

axisus

Wow! that is a disgrace. We've been done for parking twice in the last year, both times caught out by duplicity. 

Dominic

Just read this.........absolutely disgusting.All of these types of companies and certain councils rely upon a phenomena known as "confusion marketing" whereby restriction notices / terms and conditions and exemption notices are carefully designed to be ambiguous,possibly misconstrued,contradictory or hard to understand or badly located with the sole purpose of raising revenue by making it difficult to be simply compliant or tricking people who think they are doing the right thing.
  Another very annoying thing is "park by phone app ".....not a big deal for the majority but my elderly mother did not have a mobile phone ,her arthritis would have made it impossible to use anyway, had never been near a computer and would never have trusted using a bank card other than going into a branch and cashing £50. She was completely stumped by this .My mother-in-law who is the same kind of age has got a mobile but despite being shown numerous times is still unable to press the right buttons to be able to use it for the most simple phone call let alone text details.
 London Borough of Barnet changed all parking to  "Pay by phone" and did away with ticket machines.
Finally ,after public outcry they  brought back ticket machines and conventional payment and the councillor responsible was sacked .
A lot of older people were very inconvenienced .

blobb

I got stung at the weekend because MsBlobb's bluebadge has just expired and we didn't realise.

FFS, she's still blind!

Dominic

I amazed they don't want to take her licence back altogether 

DefaultM

Dominic said:

Just read this.........absolutely disgusting.All of these types of companies and certain councils rely upon a phenomena known as "confusion marketing" whereby restriction notices / terms and conditions and exemption notices are carefully designed to be ambiguous,possibly misconstrued,contradictory or hard to understand or badly located with the sole purpose of raising revenue by making it difficult to be simply compliant or tricking people who think they are doing the right thing.
  Another very annoying thing is "park by phone app ".....not a big deal for the majority but my elderly mother did not have a mobile phone ,her arthritis would have made it impossible to use anyway, had never been near a computer and would never have trusted using a bank card other than going into a branch and cashing £50. She was completely stumped by this .My mother-in-law who is the same kind of age has got a mobile but despite being shown numerous times is still unable to press the right buttons to be able to use it for the most simple phone call let alone text details.
 London Borough of Barnet changed all parking to  "Pay by phone" and did away with ticket machines.
Finally ,after public outcry they  brought back ticket machines and conventional payment and the councillor responsible was sacked .
A lot of older people were very inconvenienced .

Sounded like a perfect opportunity for them to learn a new skill. Ungrateful cunts.

Guitar_Slinger

The parking rules are confusing as fuck.  @Dominic are you saying an old lady whose arthritis would have made it impossible to use a mobile phone is still driving?

prowla

This is effin disgraceful.

If you are ever ticketed, is is a good idea to go to these two sites for information and advice:

• MSE https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163
• Pepipoo http://www.pepipoo.com/.

There are two types of "fines":

1. Genuine fines from the council.
2. Pseudo-fines from a private parking company (PPC), which are really speculative invoices inviting you to pay an amount based on their estimated losses.
   

It is almost certain that the correct procedures were not followed in the case of the local street takeover.

The first rules if you receive a "fine" from a PPC are:

1. Do not just ignore it.
2. Do not reply and identify yourself (or anybody) as the driver.
3. Always contest it, following the recommendations from the above sites.

(It used to be the case that you could ignore a PPC "fine", but that changed a few years ago; if you do so now, you are effectively not contesting it if/when they go to court.)

I've had two (genuine) council fines; one I contested and won, and the other I decided I was in the wrong and paid up. In both cases, I've avoided those towns when going out and about, so the shops there have lost my business.

prowla

One further thing - I keep a clothes peg in my car, which I clip onto a parking ticket I put on my dashboard, to avoid the "fluttering ticket" scenario.

octatonic

I've actually never had a parking fine, despite making some pretty good attempts to get them.

For example, 3 weeks ago I parked in an Oxford side street to the doctors that was restricted 'residents only' parking for about 3 hours (literally no other parking available without a 30 min walk).

No ticket.

revsorg

I'm never visiting Sevenoaks again after I received a ticket in a car park with deceptive and confusing signage. I'm sure Sevenoaks won't miss me and I certainly won't miss Sevenoaks  

scrumhalf

Dominic said:

Just read this.........absolutely disgusting.All of these types of companies and certain councils rely upon a phenomena known as "confusion marketing" whereby restriction notices / terms and conditions and exemption notices are carefully designed to be ambiguous,possibly misconstrued,contradictory or hard to understand or badly located with the sole purpose of raising revenue by making it difficult to be simply compliant or tricking people who think they are doing the right thing.
  Another very annoying thing is "park by phone app ".....not a big deal for the majority but my elderly mother did not have a mobile phone ,her arthritis would have made it impossible to use anyway, had never been near a computer and would never have trusted using a bank card other than going into a branch and cashing £50. She was completely stumped by this .My mother-in-law who is the same kind of age has got a mobile but despite being shown numerous times is still unable to press the right buttons to be able to use it for the most simple phone call let alone text details.
 London Borough of Barnet changed all parking to  "Pay by phone" and did away with ticket machines.
Finally ,after public outcry they  brought back ticket machines and conventional payment and the councillor responsible was sacked .
A lot of older people were very inconvenienced .

You would have to go a long way to persuade me that Barnet weren't in the middle of executing a plan to get rid of private vehicles in the borough.

1) High street parking made difficult by having to use a mobile phone. Not everyone has a mobile phone, not everyone wants to get it out and use it late at night or when it's dark.
2) CPZs. It would appear that unless 125% of those eligible to vote actually vote against the introduction of a CPZ in their area, they are ignored.
3) Potholes. The road surfaces in the borough are on a par with those I experienced in rural Tibet.
4) Speed humps. When they finally resurfaced my road last year they initially didn't replace the speed humps. Everyone remarked on how much easier it was to drive from one end to the other. We were apparently asked if we wanted the speed humps to be replaced (I suspect by contacting Lord Lucan whilst riding Shergar) and hey, presto, back they came. More than a few people suggested that instead of speed humps they should use the money to fill in the potholes elsewhere.
5) Road narrowing. Given half a chance they will narrow a road so that two-way traffic becomes something out of It's A Knockout.
6) Kerb extensions. Like the ones they put in in Burnt Oak that prevented vehicles from turning the corner.

Guitar_Slinger

scrumhalf said:

2) CPZs. It would appear that unless 125% of those eligible to vote actually vote against the introduction of a CPZ in their area, they are ignored.

6) Kerb extensions. Like the ones they put in in Burnt Oak that prevented vehicles from turning the corner.

2) Good point.  We had a consultation to put an all-day CPZ near us, days before Barnet's deadline for objections.  My objection was IIRC 25 of 26 CPZs in Barnet were only for 1 hour a day, so they should do that or not at all.

They tried to flannel me by saying "good point sir, make it in writing", which was met by groans from the crowd. So I whipped a copy out of my jacket pocket and held it in the air like Lt Colombo, as I strode towards the stage. Luckily the CPZ didn't happen.  We'd just gotta drive but  it would have cost neighbours and local businesses a fair bit.

6) Where are these in Burnt Oak?

I've noticed tactiile lowered paving on corners and double yellow painted around corners, to stop people parking on them.

Dominic

Guitar_Slinger said:

The parking rules are confusing as fuck.  @Dominic are you saying an old lady whose arthritis would have made it impossible to use a mobile phone is still driving?

Well people with one arm can drive and so can people with one eye or one leg especially if they have disabled adaptions 
having difficulty doing micro things with fingers doesn't stop you holding a steering wheel or flicking an indicator stalk.

Phil_aka_Pip

scrumhalf said:

More than a few people suggested that instead of speed humps they should use the money to fill in the potholes elsewhere.

Dig the speed bumps up and fill the potholes with the material.

midlifecrisis

prowla said:

This is effin disgraceful.

If you are ever ticketed, is is a good idea to go to these two sites for information and advice:

• MSE https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163
• Pepipoo http://www.pepipoo.com/.

There are two types of "fines":

1. Genuine fines from the council.
2. Pseudo-fines from a private parking company (PPC), which are really speculative invoices inviting you to pay an amount based on their estimated losses.
   

It is almost certain that the correct procedures were not followed in the case of the local street takeover.

The first rules if you receive a "fine" from a PPC are:

1. Do not just ignore it.
2. Do not reply and identify yourself (or anybody) as the driver.
3. Always contest it, following the recommendations from the above sites.

(It used to be the case that you could ignore a PPC "fine", but that changed a few years ago; if you do so now, you are effectively not contesting it if/when they go to court.)

I've had two (genuine) council fines; one I contested and won, and the other I decided I was in the wrong and paid up. In both cases, I've avoided those towns when going out and about, so the shops there have lost my business.

this in spades, ive had several of these private PCNs never had to pay any of them, and if you follow the guides on pepipoo.com they are easy to beat.

prowla

scrumhalf said:

Dominic said:

Just read this.........absolutely disgusting.All of these types of companies and certain councils rely upon a phenomena known as "confusion marketing" whereby restriction notices / terms and conditions and exemption notices are carefully designed to be ambiguous,possibly misconstrued,contradictory or hard to understand or badly located with the sole purpose of raising revenue by making it difficult to be simply compliant or tricking people who think they are doing the right thing.
  Another very annoying thing is "park by phone app ".....not a big deal for the majority but my elderly mother did not have a mobile phone ,her arthritis would have made it impossible to use anyway, had never been near a computer and would never have trusted using a bank card other than going into a branch and cashing £50. She was completely stumped by this .My mother-in-law who is the same kind of age has got a mobile but despite being shown numerous times is still unable to press the right buttons to be able to use it for the most simple phone call let alone text details.
 London Borough of Barnet changed all parking to  "Pay by phone" and did away with ticket machines.
Finally ,after public outcry they  brought back ticket machines and conventional payment and the councillor responsible was sacked .
A lot of older people were very inconvenienced .

You would have to go a long way to persuade me that Barnet weren't in the middle of executing a plan to get rid of private vehicles in the borough.

1) High street parking made difficult by having to use a mobile phone. Not everyone has a mobile phone, not everyone wants to get it out and use it late at night or when it's dark.
2) CPZs. It would appear that unless 125% of those eligible to vote actually vote against the introduction of a CPZ in their area, they are ignored.
3) Potholes. The road surfaces in the borough are on a par with those I experienced in rural Tibet.
4) Speed humps. When they finally resurfaced my road last year they initially didn't replace the speed humps. Everyone remarked on how much easier it was to drive from one end to the other. We were apparently asked if we wanted the speed humps to be replaced (I suspect by contacting Lord Lucan whilst riding Shergar) and hey, presto, back they came. More than a few people suggested that instead of speed humps they should use the money to fill in the potholes elsewhere.
5) Road narrowing. Given half a chance they will narrow a road so that two-way traffic becomes something out of It's A Knockout.
6) Kerb extensions. Like the ones they put in in Burnt Oak that prevented vehicles from turning the corner.

The CPZ sign on the way to Andertons if you approach from the North of Guildford is about a mile away and hidden behind another sign.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.247501,-0.579371,3a,75y,140.69h,93.75t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sXe6u8WH8fhJJ5szIP_pm3Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

When I was caught, I was in the left lane with a lorry in the right one blocking my view of that side of the road.

Wazmeister

I keep evry ticket now, and photo them (on my phone) in the screen of my car