talkmagic.co.uk

I went to my car this moring and found a nice little yellow packet on my windscreen. Now I'm not going to winge too much because I was parked on double yellows (well only half the car was) so I was in the wrong but everyone around here does it because there's not really anywhere else to park.

Leaving the village, all I saw was a nice little scattering of yellow packets all over the place. What I want to know is what's a traffic warden doing here at 8 in the morning. Haven't they got anything better to do with their time! I just hope he got caught by the headless horseman on the way out.

So now I've got to pay £35 on a poxy ticket! Grrr

Sadly one of the few growth industries of recent times, if you pay by cheque, snarl and swear like a trooper as you sign it - it won't change things but it feels good.

I took my daughter to the Sick Kids hospital a couple of weeks ago with a suspected broken ankle. There's nowhere to park near the A&E, so I put the car on a single yellow, wrote a note that I was in the Emergency room and carried a very sore girl into the hospital.

We got out a couple of hours later and found the expected ticket. It was put there eight minutes after I arrived.

Take care, Ian

I think that the parking at hospitals is really wrong. I can understand maybe for people visiting or you're blocking ambulance access but if you're there for a genuine reason and not causing any problem then you shouldn't have to worry about it.

My friend had a similar thing when she was having her baby. Her boyfriend rushed her into hospital in the middle of the night, the last thing on his mind was hunting for a parking metre.

Councils have no interest whatsoever in being reasonable and using common sense. They just want to generate as much income as possible from fining as many motorists as they can, regardless of the circumstances. When I was living in a council flat, I once got fined for parking my car in my own, designated bay. The permit that was attached to the windscreen had fallen off; if they had checked my number plate against their records, they would have realised it was my car. But no, they slapped a fine on me and wouldn't listen to my protests.

I could go on slating councils all day long, but I don't wish to hijack Lommy's thread. Suffice to say that my chocolate teapot is more use than any council I've ever had the misfortune to have dealings with.

The only solution is to do what hubby does.....

Cover up your numberplate...... He rides a motorbike and covers the plate with a bag, they are not allowed to touch anything on your vehicle and as such cannot then give you a ticket !......

Although he is a good boy and only parks in designated spaces, no yellows but he never knew exactly how long he would be in each job as the time was dependant on others ....

F x

FairieSnuff wrote:The only solution is to do what hubby does.....

Cover up your numberplate...... He rides a motorbike and covers the plate with a bag, they are not allowed to touch anything on your vehicle and as such cannot then give you a ticket !......

Although he is a good boy and only parks in designated spaces, no yellows but he never knew exactly how long he would be in each job as the time was dependant on others ....

F x

I'm sure the police, on the other hand, would have a little more to say about that.

Also, if they do remove the plate cover, what do you do? Complain that you had covered your number plate to hide it from traffic wardens and then one came up and took it off?

Am I right in believing that only police are allowed to put tickets on a car parked on double yellows (criminal offence), while traffic wardens can only put tickets on parking metre and card park violations (civil offence)?

Probably wrong.

themagicwand wrote:Am I right in believing that only police are allowed to put tickets on a car parked on double yellows (criminal offence), while traffic wardens can only put tickets on parking metre and card park violations (civil offence)?

Probably wrong.

Nah im pretty sure its traffic wardens for all.

They're not criminal offences though are they? I don't think parking violations, or even most speeding violations qualify as criminal, do they?

A good book that will keep you in good stead for the future is, "The Driver's Survival Handbook", by Martin Thwaite (ISBN: 0-9541187-3-1)

MagicBell wrote:

FairieSnuff wrote:The only solution is to do what hubby does.....

Cover up your numberplate...... He rides a motorbike and covers the plate with a bag, they are not allowed to touch anything on your vehicle and as such cannot then give you a ticket !......

Although he is a good boy and only parks in designated spaces, no yellows but he never knew exactly how long he would be in each job as the time was dependant on others ....

F x

I'm sure the police, on the other hand, would have a little more to say about that.

Also, if they do remove the plate cover, what do you do? Complain that you had covered your number plate to hide it from traffic wardens and then one came up and took it off?

..... taken from the aforementioned book (page 146):
Owners of scooters and motorcycles have a particular useful technique when it comes to safeguarding against fines for illegal parking. The bike can be hidden by a rain cover, or a less subtle approach is to hide the number plate with a cloth.
In issuing tickets, traffic wardens are not allowed to touch or interfere with the vehicle - and as such cannot remove the cloth from the number plate to identify the vehicle.


Every driver should have a copy of this book - it tells you about loopholes and all sorts of possible ways of getting out of a fine.

Wow cool.

Such a book, however, would quickly become out-of-date and land you in some deep schtum, as ignorance is not a valid excuse. If the law changes then you are expected to know, and if you don't then tough.
With such loopholes and systems, when they become over-exploited, laws are brought in to deal with it and the methods soon become redundant.


If the book is new though, then it'll still have some life in it for a while and might be worth a purchase.

I got ticketed on my own road for parking with my rear wheels outside of the bay. I'd parked right up against the car in front which was a large red van-type car which was taking up the middle of both bays. Of course I was in the wrong etc etc but I have 1 minor complaint.

I got 2 tickets! One at 9.40 on a Saturday night, and another at 8.30 Sunday morning. Same offence, 2 different wardens, £100 down.

Vultures! Don't these people have lives?

Speeding violations are criminal offences. There's lots of loopholes though, such as if the fact that a Notice of Intended Prosecution needs to be sent within 14 days of the offence. It's all really dry statute law that no one gets interested about.

I once saw some random guy (dressed casually) talking to 2 parking attendants. I just presumed they were some friends he knew. Anyway, the guy went his separate way, but I noticed he was looking deliberately at every car along the street he was walking down, pacing up and down, peering at permits and badges, walking back. It occured to me that he was in fact either a parking attendant in disguise or tipping off his parking attendant mates. My parents also saw parking attendants parking their own car on double yellow lines and moving away, almost as a psychological ploy of safety in numbers. They probably do this in prohibited parking areas as a sheep factor, and have my suspicions they use covert tactics. Haven't had a parking ticket yet but I have had a ticket for temporarily going in a bus lane at a prohibited time. Tried to argue it was unsafe to pull out of it due to heavy traffic and that the bus lane is only apparent when you are in it due to a sudden bend in the road, but the CCTV footage proved the contrary. Won't be making that mistake again!

£35 could have bought a certain magic book I've been salivating over.

tiw wrote:Vultures! Don't these people have lives?

This is their life... and joy

Just to clear up some of the 'Urban Myth' comments above The Road Traffic Act requires everyone, be motorcyclists or vehicles, to clearly display their Vehicle Excise Licence. Its an offence if you don't. And your VEL displays your Vehicle Registration Number.

It's also an offence to cover your VRN (Number plate), so although a TW may not have a right to move something covering a rear VRN on a motorbike he should be able to see it on the VEL. All you may do is compound the number of things you can be done for.

Just be careful and PM me for more detail if you need it