25 March - Councillor Craske - Defrauding motorists again
There was
a report in this week’s News Shopper about a Dartford man fighting a parking
ticket given to him in Tyrell Avenue, Welling
for pavement parking. I didn’t give it any coverage because these things are a
commonplace in Bexley where councillor Craske is trying to wring as much money
as possible from motorists whether by legal means or not. However the very next
day a Welling resident told me (he had not seen the Shopper’s report) how
he had suffered an identical fate in Lovell Avenue, Welling. He has a Blue Badge
and needed to park near Welling Station. He could have legally parked on a yellow
line but encouraged by Bexley’s sign (see upper diagram and photo 1) left his
car on the pavement and came back to find it ticketed. His appeal to Bexley council
was rejected, now he will have to make an appointment with the Adjudicator to get
Bexley council to comply with the law of the land.
If a Bonkers reader reports something I try to look into it.
The situation in the two avenues is identical. Some parking bays are marked with a
P sign with a car on the pavement and some are marked with the same sign with a
red line through it and some bays have no sign at all. What a mess! But it gets
worse.
The Dept. of Transport’s website shows all the approved signs and is quite
clear about the use of each. The signs Bexley has used (see upper diagram and
photo 1) permit pavement parking, no ifs or buts, you can park on the pavement.
If they want to confine parking to bays a different sign must be used (lower diagram).
Nowhere does Bexley use the approved sign, so right across the borough,
going back as many years as you can remember, all pavement parking penalties in
incorrectly signed roads - which appears to be all of them - are illegal.
According to the Shopper a council spokeswoman said “the council is satisfied
that the signs and markings comply with the statutory requirements”. Obviously
she is an idiot who cannot read or is another council liar in full flow. Craske must pay up.