18 June - Bexley council. Dictators who don’t believe in democracy
Earlier this week I reported that Bexley council were
delaying responses to parking appeals so that the appellant would have to pay a
higher fine. Whilst I am slowly getting used to the idea that Bexley council is the
epitome of bad practice and management by spite, a bit of me still finds it hard to
believe, so I have been searching around the web for whether what they are doing is
legal or not.
The parking adjudicator’s website says “Please note, challenging the PCN before
the end of the 14 day period may, in some cases freeze the discounted rate but this is
not always the case - you need to check with your individual council”. So
it seems that councils who believe in fairness will say something like
“Currently we are unable to specify a date for our response but during this time
the case will be placed on hold to stop it progressing any further. You will not
be disadvantaged by any delay on our part. Please accept our apologies for any
inconvenience this delay may cause you.” and councils intent on being evil
bastards at every opportunity will penalise you for having the temerity to
exercise the legal right of appeal. Given that choice it’s pretty obvious what a
dictatorial council which doesn’t really believe in democracy will do.
Perhaps Bexley should be played at its own game. If the fine is doubled because
Bexley council contrives to take longer than 14 days to respond there is
absolutely no reason not to take the case to appeal. The fine cannot be
increased, but it is further deferred and it helps keep the nasty individuals
who infest Bexley council bogged down in extra paperwork. Best of all, the
parking adjudicator won’t be happy with Bexley council if the number of appeals
keeps rising.
As if to confirm Bexley council as being fundamentally corrupt I have overnight
received another catalogue of their malpractice detailing lies,
cover-ups and
refusals to fulfill statutory obligations. I have a feeling that this
particular case is far from over and could possibly find it’s way to court so I
have decided it might be best to put publication on ice for a while. I once had
a council blatantly ask me for a back-hander to look favourably on a planning
application and was astounded when my employer (a multi-national company) was
asked for the same and simply didn’t know how to handle the situation, but I
have never before known a council to be so keen to declare war on its residents as
Bexley appears to have done.