18 September - Parking disgrace
I noticed yesterday afternoon that a yellow parking restriction notice had
gone up at the extremities of the parking space commuters use on their journey
to Abbey Wood station. There were none of the cones or road markings that Bexley’s
parking gestapo have previously put out on the same section of road while Bexley
were vandalising it. I anticipated the likely outcome and noted that by 7 a.m. a
line of cars had been left there, their drivers having been misled by the
inadequate notices. I returned just after 11am and sure enough some mindless
numbskull had been around punishing council tax payers ensnared in Bexley’s trap.
The photos indicate what has happened. The parking space is divided into two, a
short bit near the bus stop is within a controlled parking zone (but is
nevertheless marked ‘Free’. The rest of it is also marked ‘Free’. This morning,
by the bus stop, was a blue arrow of the sort that one sees before road works
and immediately afterwards there were cones in the road. The first driver must
have seen the obstruction ahead with the yellow restriction notice adjacent to
it (if he saw the notice at all of course) and sensibly parked in the Free
section outside the controlled zone, against which there was no notice and no
cones. Others naturally pulled up behind him.
By just after 11am eleven or twelve cars had been ticketed. No one seems to have
noticed that all the road markings were removed in April as part of the
destruction of Abbey Road and only the
notice on a pole saying ‘Free’ remains. But motorists still got tickets.
The council has form for stepping outside the law if
it leads to additional persecution of residents. I immediately emailed John Davey the
ward councillor about this latest piece of Bexley idiocy but heard nothing.
At 12.30 one of my network of informants phoned to say the yellow notices had been removed.
Now whether this is because the councillor took action or because the road work
wasn’t being done and the signs might as well go I do not know, but I
photographed the new situation and stuck an explanatory note on the windscreens of ten cars. One
or two cars may have disappeared before I managed to get there.
I have been driving for 47 years and never picked up a parking ticket but with
devious tactics like this even I wouldn’t stand a chance. We have to strike back
against the bastards (sorry there really is no other word apart from four letter ones)
who have no other motive than to trick and penalise motorists. The
parking adjudicator’s contact details are given below. I know someone who
is on good terms with the boss of the national adjudication office, below is for London only.
I’m told they like nothing better than putting council jobsworths in their place.
If you wish to comment on this, please use the Contact page. Incidentally, the
ward councillor never did respond. You would think he would if it was him who
had tried to put the situation right, instead I am left to conclude that the
notices were removed around mid-day because they were no longer needed and to
hell with the expense and confusion caused to ten or more motorists. I am also slowly coming
to the conclusion that the councillor for Lesnes Abbey ward is well into
chocolate fireguard territory.
P.S. During the early evening of 18th September I discovered that the inadequate
warning signs were removed by a council official from their roads department. He
seemed entirely unconcerned about the confusion he had caused and apparently
cared less about the unfair fines that had resulted. And yes I do know his name.
There was no contact from the councillor. Clearly his loyalties lay with the
bureaucrats and not the people who elected him.
Official Parking appeals service
A more useful appeals service (but not free.)