[Closed] £100 parking tickets?

[daily mail]Its another stealth tax on the motorist[/daily mail]

I do remember enjoying watching a woman argue with the bloke who was halfway through lifting her expensive Merc onto the back of his truck. She had parked in a completely ridiculous place and presumably thought she was above all the normal things in life - the whole exchange drew a small crowd as she got more and more irate whilst he calmly told her where she had to go to collect her car (and what bus she should catch to get there 😉 )!

Wouldn't a sliding scale of fines be better? The two occassions I've had parking tickets were because I over-stayed in a parking place by less than 10 minutes. Shouldn't that incur less of a fine than someone thats parked on double yellows in a bus lane/at a junction?

not so worried about ridiculous parking issues, but I have been the victim of council stupidity, where their business parking, and sign were obscured, and the simple fact that I am not telepathic, require to park my car on the street in London, and have already paid for a permit, I get no warm cuddly feeling from allowing these muppets the opportunity to fine me more, for what is an innocent mistake!

Its like musical chairs, without the fun, and a fine, and a really irate motorist/car owner....when paying for rail or other transport would mean I have to be paid the same amount as Richard Branson to commute.

This is a really bad idea, as the innocent/conforming citizen will suffer a lot more than those that disregard the rules.

Headfirst, the problem there is that you are requiring common sense be factored in to the argument.

Parents parking on zig-zags outside the school gates to drop off their kids, white-van-man sticking the hazards on while he nips in to the newsagent for a Sun and 20 Lambert, people parking in bays marked for specific groups that they are obviously not part of and any example of dangerous or obstructive parking should be fair game as far as I am concerned. £60? £100? Whatever.

The problem I've got is where someone overstays a meter or pay and display and there is a pack of parking attendants poised, tickets at the ready, waiting for the clock to tick over.

It won't work; anybody who doesn't care about getting fined £60 isn't going to give a wet fart about £100.

Most council tickets are a farce and can be challenged, and overturned, for a number or reasons i.e. incorrect/ missing signage, incorrect/ missing road markings etc

Illegal parking makes life more dangerous and inconvenient for all.

Except for the driver/offender!!

There used to be double or even triple parking here in Madrid, which was fine until it was abused. If you needed to pop into a shop for five minutes, double park. Longer than five minutes, double park and wait for someone to honk the horn when they want to leave. The problem was that somepeople would double park then disappear for lunch!

Now you have to pay! Double parking is illegal! Traffic wardens are employed as a money making exercise. So now I have to drive further to find a legal space when I only want to do 5 minutes business. Bollox to that, it may be illegal but it is still useful in a city where parking is expensive and difficult to find.

I do use a bike in the city, but it's not always possible.

If people can afford to pay, they'll park illegaly. 😉

Kill the Parking Army.

No one has mentioned parking in bike lanes........

Funny how the banks were under fire for inappropriate and total out-of-proportion banks charges, yet £100 for a parking offence - its just taking the pi55.

I think certain fines like parking and speeding should be at a percentage of income rather than just £60 or £100. That way it would be the same deterrent or punishment for everyone.

Why is it BR - if people break the law and put thier own convenience above the safety of others then why not fine them?

I love watching cars get towed away - it always brightens up my day.

every day I have my life made more dangerous and less convenient by illegally parked cars

I would like to see the wardens given powers to ticket people who park on the pavement as well.

I think certain fines like parking and speeding should be at a percentage of income rather than just £60 or £100. That way it would be the same deterrent or punishment for everyone.

So lazy unemployed people get to park anywhere for free, where as us hardworking people pay. 😉

I watch people with little blue stickers in the front of their cars park in selfish and inconvenient places every day in the town where i work. The entire one way system backs up because one old lady wants to park on double yellows to pop into the bank and then the bus full of people and all the cars have to wait. Disabled or not, parking well is a common courtesy that should be adhered to by every driver.

The fines are becoming too much for such a small offence. £100 is well over what most people earn in a day (maybe 2) and is just a way for the councils to make more money. I'd defy anybody who drives (OP included) to say that they have never parked illegally even if for a few moments. Some get caught, most don't - the the worst offenders may well have no tax/insurance/mot so won't/don't pay the fine anyway.

Disabled or not, parking well is a common courtesy that should be adhered to by every driver.

"I would like to see the wardens given powers to ticket people who park on the pavement as well."

They have this power. I got ticketed when i happened to be parked on a pavement. The ticket wasn't for being on the pavement tho, it was for "parking in a suspended bay" which there was no notice of and not even a bay to be suspended! I complained about all this and they still upheld the charge. Grrr. They could've perfectly legally ticketed me for being on the pavement tho, and I'd have accepted that, so long as they also ticketed every other car in the street.

They do not have the power to ticket for pavement parking unless there is another restriction in place for that bit of road. I ave checked this as there is a couple of nearby roads that you cannot walk up the pavement on due to cars parking and blocking it - but there is no parking restriction so only the police can do anything.

Mr Tall - you cannot use your disabled parking privileges on double yellows - she could be ticketed for that. Single yellows only. You still have an obligation not to cause obstruction as well.

I was at the hospital yesterday and they have one bay right next to the main door which clearly says 'Drop off and pick up for disabled users only'.

So someone parked fully on the pavement right next to it instead (displaying their blue badge) and also caused an obstruction for pedestrians. Numpty. At least they hadn't parked in the drop-off space 😕

Then somebody needs to tell the traffic wardens of Stourbridge the rules because i see it nearly everyday and nothing ever happens to them. The entire road is filled with blue badge holders most of the day. The wardens just go inbetween and ticket the few cars that don't have badges.

I'm glad i always walk into town. Far cheaper.

[i]Why is it BR - if people break the law and put thier own convenience above the safety of others then why not fine them?[/i]

TJ, please read what I said - I didn't say you can't fine them, I said £100 is disproportionate.

There is a world of difference between dangerous parking, and a parking 'offence' - for example; my wife once got a ticket because her car was slightly over a line.

Seeing as you guys are talking about parking this may be where i can get a question answered.

Parking on the zig zags outside schools. Is this subject to a time scale, ie between 8.30 and 5pm or such like. The reason i ask is that on the few occasions i have gone to pick my son up from after school club at about 5pm i have on ever instance seen the same car parked blatently on the zig zags. Even though there are plenty of spaces elsewhere they always park directly in fron of the shool on the lines. Is this illegal?

I would like to see the wardens given powers to ticket people who park on the pavement as well.

In England, parking has been decriminalised and local authorities can apply to take on the powers from the police. I can't wait for it to happen here; there's one street where the double yellows on one side have loads parked on them because they know the police will do nowt, while the pay&display parking on the other side is empty because the council will.

Or you could try parking in Norway. Dispite having a ****ing valid ticket for a hotel car park when I was staying in the hotel I got a £97 ticket...

I contested, got told tough shite, pay up....makes my piss boil... and relax...

Is this illegal?

In MAnchester, they've come up with the perfect solution to parking problem. They've marked clear zones on the side of the main routes into town where anyone can park, preferably as haphazardly as possible, without fear of getting a ticket. These areas are painted green and have pictures of a bicycle on them

You can legally park on double yellow lines with a disabled badge, as long as you are not causing an obstruction.

But saying that, the lines are usually there because parking there WOULD cause an obstruction.

Rich is indeed right, however they can not park on double yellow lines where there are also double yellow lines painted on the kerb 90 degrees to the road

I got a ticket in Bath, parked on a single yellow, where there were no signs anywhere to indicate any parking restrictions. Turns out it's a controlled zone and the sign is eight feet up on a wall as you turn into the street where the sideroad I was parked in is situated. The sign is almost impossible to see because it's right on a busy roundabout where you're concentrating on other traffic and pedestrians and cyclists. Typical B&NES council refused to accept their signing was inadequate. I did however geta ticket one Sunday morning when attending a country park for a green festival helping Sustrans. I only had a £20 note, expecting parking to be provided by the local authuority for those travelling some distance. It wasn't. No change available from others there, went looking for free parking a council official told me was available. It wasn't. Came back to see if anyone had arrived with some change, and while I was asking I got a chuffing ticket. At 9am on a chuffing Sunday! Eventually found a space a mile away and contested the ticket, which was upheld by Wiltshire Council. Bless 'em.

But saying that, the lines are usually there because parking there WOULD cause an obstruction

Around our way they paint double yellows just because people like to park there. If a new gym opens and people start to park on the street - out comes the stripey paint.

But at Cannock Chase, people weren't using the pay & display car park at the visitor centre so the council spent thousands widening the road next to the caff to give them room to park

[i]Parking on the zig zags outside schools[/i]

They apply 24 hours per day unless there is a sign specifically stating the only apply during certain hours.

Does my nut in when people park on zig zags, especially when it blocks my view of the pavement at pedestrian crossings (and the peds view of me). Its a criminal offence so why don't the police spent a couple of minutes teaching the lazy sods a lesson with a few points? If I ever have to queue alongside someone on zigzags I always make a point of stopping nice and close so they have to stand there and wait for the traffic to move before they can get the door open 🙂

I have no problem whatsoever with [u]fines[/u] being issued for parking offences, in accordance with the severity of the offence and taking into account all the circumstances, issued by magistrates -

Someone you can stand in front of and say "I'm really sorry, but I'd taken my elderly Mum shopping, and she fell over in the street, she was pretty shaken up and I had to go to casualty with her in the ambulance, thats why I overstayed my parking ticket" - and where justice takes place with a fair reason, the magistrate would nine times out of ten dismiss the charge.

The problem with these things are that they are not fines, constitutionally fines can only be issued [u]after[/u] conviction, these are administrative penalties, issued by private companies on behalf of the council for minor infringements, with a quasi-independent non judicial appeal process, without room for common sense and humanity.

This isn't justice, its not representing the will of the people, its a money making scam designed to "punish" people for minor, human failings - its a simple symptom of whats going wrong with our country!

well I'm a joiner working in Edinburgh and in my opinion at £60, the fine was already ludicrous. I quite agree with the need to restrict vehicule numbers in town, but the fact is, fat barstewards in offices up town have private parking and tradesmen like myself who can't carry half a ton of gear on a bus or on a bike have to cope with streets with no loading areas in front of them(5 mins on a yellow-line doesn't let you get much gear up to a top flat!); then you have the "2 hours max" which means you lose money (and fuel) driving around in cicles when you should be working; then there is the Visitors Permits that by the time you have scatched out your 15th one on a job you are garanteed to have forgotten the Year box or something on one of them and yes it's £60 for that ommission!
then you get the broken meter and when you return from your jaunt round the corner to find a working one you find some shilpit wee raj dishing out a ticket which he now can't cancel and hey,low and behold when you appeal: No reports of any broken meters in the area!
I try really hard to do my job and park legally, yet every year I get several parking fines.
So if the council really want a hundred notes for a parking infringement like "staying for more than 2 hours in an empty residentual street" then how about making it easier on folk who really do need a vehicule in the town!

I have no problem whatsoever with fines being issued for parking offences, in accordance with the severity of the offence and taking into account all the circumstances, issued by magistrates -

Someone you can stand in front of and say "I'm really sorry, but I'd taken my elderly Mum shopping, and she fell over in the street, she was pretty shaken up and I had to go to casualty with her in the ambulance, thats why I overstayed my parking ticket" - and where justice takes place with a fair reason, the magistrate would nine times out of ten dismiss the charge.

The problem with these things are that they are not fines, constitutionally fines can only be issued after conviction, these are administrative penalties, issued by private companies on behalf of the council for minor infringements, with a quasi-independent non judicial appeal process, without room for common sense and humanity.

This isn't justice, its not representing the will of the people, its a money making scam designed to "punish" people for minor, human failings - its a simple symptom of whats going wrong with our country!

Talk about hitting the nail on the head. Well said.

Talk about missing the point - its really simple - park where it is legal or be fined - although that does seem a very difficult concept for some.

Utter drivel from Zulu I'm afraid - see the second post in this thread. totally predictable that someone would answer in this way

Yes TJ - you would say that, you've never really been a believer in our constitution have you! Come the revolution the socialist utopia will have no need for bourgeois concepts like laws and customs, the forces of collectivism will have no need for individual rights and freedoms, the state knows whats best for the people and the party will be the arbiter of right and wrong, come forward and march together to TJ's brave new world!

1689:

that all Grants and Promises of Fines and Forfeitures of particular persons before Conviction are illegall and void.

1215:

For a trivial offence, a free man shall be fined only in proportion to the degree of his offence, and for a serious offence correspondingly, but not so heavily as to deprive him of his livelihood. In the same way, a merchant shall be spared his merchandise, and a husbandman the implements of his husbandry, if they fall upon the mercy of a royal court. None of these fines shall be imposed except by the assessment on oath of reputable men of the neighbourhood.

Did Magna Carta die in vain?

I have no problem with fines and parking fines etc. But **** me, 100 quid is a lot of money. it's far above the amount which would be necessary to operate as a deterrant.

I think it's all part of the cash cow milking of motorists - regno = owner = bill = very hard to contest = easy money.

I'd be interested to see the impact on antisocial etc behaviour if it was a quick no messing £100 fine and if it wasn't paid then you were impounded, without reports, without investigations, without ..... ie treated like a motorist ...............

grahamh - Member

[daily mail]Its another stealth tax on the motorist[/daily mail]

I would like to see the wardens given powers to ticket people who park on the pavement as well.

TJ knows I disagree with him on this as an absolute. My road's a case in point. It's not wide enough for two cars if you park properly in the road. Hence there is a convention in the road that we all park on one side, half kerbed. That still leaves space to get past easily on the remaining half a pavement, or you can use the other side for unencumbered access.

The issue here is that there is a school on the road, plus it's a notorious rush hour rat run. On the rare occasions someone does park to TJ's requirements, and you can no longer get two cars past each other, in no time at all oncoming cars start to mount the pavement on the other side so they can keep going. The same 'empty' pavement that the kids and mums in buggies etc. are all using. Some of these ****s don't even slow down, mounting one dropped kerb and back off the next so they don't kerb their precious alloys.

There have been several incidents where adults have been clipped by wingmirrors, and a kid clipped and knocked down last year.

Hence, in this case parking on the pavement on one side might be a very minor inconvenience if you are a very wide load - the inconvenience being you need to cross to the other side - but is by far the lesser of two evils. If we started to get ticketed for using common sense it would be a sad day.

Like most traffic issues we need more 'operatives' (police, traffic wardens, whatever) applying common sense rather than sticking blindly to what the rules say. The the rat run chicane dodgers might be the ones being ticketed instead.

TJ, you just don't get it do you?

Its not about right or wrong, its about how Joe Public feels that the very organisations that are there to serve him, aren't.

And we know you don't own a car, so my assumption (like others) is that you live in a nice little town (somewhere in the Borders?), and walk/cycle to work (public sector, or NGO?). You've no kids, and quite frankly you really don't understand, nor care, about how the rest of us juggle busy lives etc.

And to repeat, we are not talking about parking wherever, we are talking about robbery/fraud, because that is what disproportional really is when it is applied by the state.

I live in Urban Edinburgh. Every day I see cars parked inconsiderately and dangerously. They block cycle lanes, there is a nearby road where you have to walk in the road as the cars are blocking the pavements completely. Bus lanes are blocked the badly parked cars cause gridlock outside my house, the current fines don't work as people still park where they want.

Why should a minority get away with making live more difficult and dangerous for the majority because they are being selfish - whats wrong with parking legally and having to walk a few yards?

Sorry BR - its you that doesn't get it. Robbery/ fraud? don't be ridiculous. Obey the rules and you don't get fined.

I find that the reason that most people park ilegally is that they don't feel that the rules apply to them, same as speeding, or drink driving, or fraud with c2w.
I have noticed that the best way to ensure that you don't get a ticket is to have foxtons written down the side of one of those stupid minis.