20 November - Something to smile about
Bexley
council doesn’t have any certification for its mobile CCTV vehicles. Actually
that is wrong, the cars are certified, it’s the cameras and recording gear that
isn’t. They don’t even deny it but claim another document is just as good.
“PATAS adjudicators are wrong and need to be educated” says Bexley council’s
Traffic and Parking Manager Tina Brooks. In due course we will find out if that
is true. Meanwhile, over in Richmond where PATAS ruled against their uncertificated
cameras, their Council Leader, Lord True, has announced the intention to permanently
withdraw their CCTV cars and relaxation of parking restrictions across the board
recognising that a rigid regime of persecuting the motorist is wrecking the local economy.
“Councils should not be in the business of trap now, talk later” he said and we
need a “fair parking agenda to bring life back to our high streets.” Councillor
Peter Craske please note.
Maybe the names of the council leaders are apposite? True to his electorate on
the one hand and a dismissive “Oh, kneel” from the other. Can you imagine the
scene when Boris Johnson’s special advisor to the Outer London Boroughs attempts
to lecture an intelligent democrat on how to run a dictatorship council?
Read a report in the
Richmond and Twickenham Times.