So for work I arrange a bus tour for professionals.

A council that will remain nameless is proving a brick wall when we are trying to get permission to park a bus for 10 mins loading and unloading, outside a rail station and the council building (full of traffic wardens!), with bus & car parks nearby.

I cannot get any formal permission to either block on-street parking for a short while, or single yellows, and most definitely not double yellows, or the bus stops round the corner that are for nominated routes/tour buses…

Surely there is some mechanism / allowance made for us to do something?

We are happy to compromise, but not to the car park a mile away and off public transport hubs….

(Huuge box of choccy’s and a hug for the traffic warden?)

If the driver is in the bus and the engine is running, then it isn’t parked!

Get a blue badge for the bus.

That seems to work round here – wall-to-wall fuddy-duddies who think that a blue badge makes all double yellow lines reserve parking for them, regardless of whether the road needs to stay clear to allow traffic to pass safely. System needs improving by making a distinction between mandatory clearways (i.e. never any loading/unloading/parking/hazard lights on Im just popping in to see Wendy with a tray of cakes) and blue badge parking close to Boots.

If all you are doing is loading and unloading and there are no kerb markers (loading restrictions) then you should be fine: http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_191927.pdf

But 10 minutes may be pushing it and you can’t do any “waiting”.

Just park on the pavement. That’s what every other bugger seems to do.

Its certainly possible to arrange – we get parking dispensation for film shoots – for weeks at a time sometimes, that allows us to park on single yellows at least and sometimes double. It might be you’re not talking to the right individual or department.

Maybe talk to a traffic warden as it would be them that would be informed that a dispensation is in place, for two reasons – firstly to make sure the people with the dispensation don’t get ticketed but also they patrol/ticket a bit more vociferously and visually so that other vehicles don’t end up blocking the area you have dispensation for. The person that briefs them is the person you need to be speaking to.