Penalty Charge Notice – Fight or Pay?

By “yielding” I meant “giving priority to” – that doesn’t necessarily mean stopping. Many people, on hearing a siren, drop anchor in the middle of the road. That’s not always a smart idea.

I think you may be confusing with failing to act as directed by a policeman.

Not confusing it at all, I just figured the same would apply (but was guessing).

That is definitely just a money making trap. And it’s discriminatory. Against idiots.

I am not trying to say I didn’t do anything wrong. I am saying that the particular road feature appears to be a trap for money-making.

what cougar said about that

Its a lot of obvious information to miss tbh.
pay the fine and learn from the mistake – we all make them driving and in life from time to time.

No, the Police have special powers.

I’d be embarrassed if I pulled off that bit of driving!!

It’s not a mistake, it’s negligence.

I know we aren’t going to get an answer on this , but I’m still intrigued as to why the OP decided to drive through a gap when the markings are blindingly obvious.
Especially the keep left sign, the arrow on the road, the hatchings on the road & the warning of camera enforcement sign.
I’m genuinely interested as to why on earth he thinks he should fight the fine?

i don’t now…when I got the PCN I ws a little taken a back, that is why I asked the collective opinon of singletrackworld. I won’t burden you all with excuses. The reason why there is a photo of me being less than awesome is because I was, as the pie-being above puts it, I was negligent. I kind of thought ‘that was a strange traffic calming scheme’ at the time and drove through it very slowly thinking wtf. i could see there were no children’s faces or baby robins so trickled through the gap….

I got the penalty, I still thought it was an odd traffic calming scheme.

Hence me asking here. If I hadn’t of asked I wouldn’t have realised it could be to stop HGVs and all such traffic. I was obeying the speed limit, I neglected the signs, I drove through a space I thought wouldn’t be quite so grave at the time.

I hold my hands up.

If you genuinely thought you were doing the right thing, I’ll repeat my suggestion that you seek out an advanced driving course. I don’t mean to be sarcastic (for a change), I think you’ll benefit from it.

There’s really, really no excuse for misreading what you had to do there. If you weren’t paying attention cos you were on the phone or swapping CDs or getting a BJ or whatever, then whilst not excusable it’s at least understandable, but if you truly saw that and thought “I must have to drive down the middle” then you need more lessons before you kill someone.

I suspect, and I’d hope, you saw it and thought “sod it, I’m not squeezing through that poxy little gap, I’ll just wazz down the middle whilst it’s clear” and got caught out.

Stop putting your hands up and get them on the damned steering wheel (-:

whippersnapper – don’t worry about it, just say that you only drive like that when you’ve decided it’s entirely safe for you to do so, plus in many circumstances it’s for your own safety etc etc

These are the ‘excuses’ regularly vomited up by all the ‘special’ people on here who RLJ anyway …

I can see the OPs point.

Enforcing the hotch potch of traffic calming road funiture with a camera is petty and unnecessary (in this instance), hence it appearing like a money making scheme.

In these driving schenarios there is often a lot of information for the driver to take in, Pedestrians, parked cars, painted road makings, multiple signs etc. The driver prioritises these inputs with the main priority being to proceed safely. The chosen path was safe and the only reason to go the other way was to obey a sign. This is a lower priority and although still important doesn’t indicate driving in an unsafe way at the time.

Fines like this do not improve compliance to rules, they just create resentment and as such their use should be reduced.

Unfortunately though the fine cannot be avoided.

I’m not reading all of this but;

Would the OP still be in a state of ignorance about road traffic law, keep left arrows etc and about their breaking the law if they hadn’t received this notice through the post?

If police stop you and give you a ticking off you at least know you’ve done soemthign wrong, in this case he’d still be doign that route through the obstacle now if it hadn’t been pointed out that it was wrong?

It’s an anti-lorry traffic scheme, I remember them all over Islington when I lived there. Popular up in Edgware too, so I’m guessing every London borough has their fair share of bollards. ‘Traffic Calming’ is probably the wrong description.

Lorries (and other ‘heavy’ traffic) should use the correct routes for navigating around London. Some will try and take a ‘short-cut’ through back roads, housing estates, etc. They will be faced with many of these bollards, preventing them from driving further.

The low bollards you see are one of two types – they also have much higher poles, about 1.5m high. If your wing-mirrors can fit through, the rest of the car should be fine. It stops delivery vans, and builder ‘tipping’ vans.

You have been fined for not paying attention – simple.

Hopefully the fine will remind you in future to be more attentive!

Surely it doesn’t ‘stop’ delivery vans, HGV’s etc – it is designed to punish/fine their drivers. One assumes ambulances, fire engines, rozzers etc don’t get the fine.

I don’t see why regular cars could not be excluded from the penalty scheme – especially if you are a local resident ?

Dunno.

The small black bollards (one on the left, two on the right side lane) are a set width apart, preventing physical access to certain vehicles.

You can either turn around, and find a more suitable route – or if it’s impossible to manoeuvre (too long trailer), drive through the restricted area and expect a fine…

And yes, the emergency services can get through the middle area without getting fined…

Below is an example of the higher bollards…. with a locked gate for emergency services

http://www.bollardsoflondon.co.uk/2011/11/bollards-of-brockley-cross.html

Enforcing the hotch potch of traffic calming road funiture with a camera is petty and unnecessary (in this instance), hence it appearing like a money making scheme.

Not at all. It’s a perfect way to enforce preventing lorries using that road, whilst allowing emergency services unimpeded access. The camera isn’t designed to catch drivers of cars doing what the OP did – presumably nobody thought anybody would be that stupid – but having caught him they can hardly let him off can they? As others have said, as a money making scheme is almost certainly not a very good one.

Surely it doesn’t ‘stop’ delivery vans, HGV’s etc – it is designed to punish/fine their drivers. One assumes ambulances, fire engines, rozzers etc don’t get the fine.

Does such a scheme of bollards and a camera (along with fines for those caught) decrease the number of unauthorised vehicles using that road to a minuscule number? If so it’s doing a pretty good job of stopping them isn’t it?

I don’t see why regular cars could not be excluded from the penalty scheme – especially if you are a local resident ?

Given the small number of people stupid enough to do that in a car (and the even smaller number likely to do it twice) it seems a fairly low priority to let them off. Especially when being caught doing so suggests they need a reminder to pay more attention when driving.

I meant it doesn’t physically stop them – unlike the example with the gate shown above. I’m sure it has the desired effect for the most part.

Agree you’d have to be daft to go through it, esp as it’s camera enforced. I think the OP knows this though !

I meant it doesn’t physically stop them – unlike the example with the gate shown above

But it does almost as good a job at the ultimate aim, without impeding the emergency services in the way a locked gate (which they have to get out to unlock) does.

I think the OP knows this though !

Indeed – and not having a go at him. It seems some of the other posters still don’t though.

I am not excusing myself but Islington are certainly on to a winner with this particular traffic feature

Around 2000 cars fined here between 09-10

Data seems to have multiple entries for penalty 38jl where I was caught. But roughly 2000 in a year at £65 a go – £130000, nice.

Anyway, I have coughed up, lesson learned, moved on…

That just goes to prove how poor peoples driving and / or attitude to driving is.

If you genuinely thought you were doing the right thing, I’ll repeat my suggestion that you seek out a n advanced driving course. I don’t mean to be sarcastic (for a change), I think you’ll benefit from it.