5 November - Parking entrapment by Craske’s gestapo team
A
friend gave me a lift into Bexleyheath last Saturday and there was a space in
the disabled bays just a bit west of ASDA - he has a blue badge. These bays are
both wide and long and as we got out and took stock of the situation the driver
spotted the fading dividing line which he was straddling. Two small cars had
parked at the opposite extremities of their bay and we had driven into the
middle! As it happened, two members of the gestapo team were close by so my
friend asked if he was OK to park where he was. They said that they “would judge
each case on its merits”. Well that may be an answer some would welcome but
I’m not at all sure that the judgment of one of these parasites is up to the
standard of normal human beings and in my view straddling a line however faded
was asking for trouble - so we drove off and parked elsewhere.
As we passed by the same spot a few minutes later another small car had taken
our place and - you know what is coming next don’t you? - yes it had been issued
with a Penalty Notice. OK, he parked where he shouldn’t but that is not the
issue here. The real issue is why the gestapo team did not say to my friend “No
you can’t park there” but instead encouraged him to park illegally.
This attitude comes from the top - Craske again, the purple faced arch villain.
One of his next tricks is to use the CCTV system lovingly installed by your
listening council for the protection of residents, to catch motorists in box
junctions and the like - so called moving traffic offences. It was among his
proposals in last Wednesday’s cabinet papers. Those papers were peppered with
the phrase “Maximising Income” but that would be illegal if applied to fining
motorists, so he has labelled it “Value for Money” instead. I was persuaded
recently that I shouldn’t call Craske a scumbag but you can see why I considered
it can’t you?
These photos were taken on Wednesday evening, the only time I’ve found the bays
free since last Saturday afternoon. I’ll try to get clearer ones of the lines but
it may not be soon.