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News and Comment December 2012

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1 December - Parking fines. Exposing Bexley’s dishonesty. (Episode 9)

Tippett and CraskeI had better bring you another installment of the parking saga before everyone begins to forget.

A disabled ex-policeman had won an admission from Bexley council that they take no notice of any evidence supplied at the first appeal stage preferring to rely on a report by their own staff, which in this case was an outright lie.

The retired policeman didn’t think eventually dropping his fine and allowing Bexley council to carry on inflicting their injustices on more motorists was a satisfactory outcome. Neither did he think that making the parking contractor pay the fine instead of him could be morally justified. Why should Bexley council profit from the unjustified misery it inflicts on innocent motorists?

Another hand written letter was sent to Bexley council, this time it was five pages of A4 to Chief Executive Will Tuckley. It covered a number of examples of how Bexley council’s policy is unjust…


“An Authorised Officer has considered all evidence presented from both parties. The officer has rejected your representation. This is a blatant and barefaced lie. He has not considered any part of my evidence. Bexley Parking Services (BPS) policy does not allow him to.

[Another] scenario [is] if I receive a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) and I believe I have reasonable grounds to contend, then I send my representation to Bexley Parking Services, who reject my contention out of hand, stating as they do, an Authorised Officer has considered all evidence from both parties etc., then rejects my challenge. At the same time he threatens me that if I continue to pursue this challenge and I lose, I will have to pay the full amount of £120.

Although I feel my challenge is reasonable, against my better judgment I decide I cannot afford £60, let alone £120, so I capitulate and pay £60.

What happens next? BPS add my £60 to their bulging coffers and close the case or write to me and say sorry, we did not really take your evidence into account or attempt to visit the site. The initial rejection is just a ploy to give us more time. We are returning your £60.


The wronged motorist was in effect asking Mr. Tuckley; is BPS run by a bunch of fraudsters or not? And given what they had already admitted to him he had a very valid point. How would Tuckley wriggle out of that one? He passed the questions on to Mr. Moore (Director of Public and Corporate Services) again. In a letter delivered by hand, Mr. Moore admitted that the PCN should never have been issued and that BPS did not bother to take note of the evidence supplied. Everyone had lied in an effort to extort money from the disabled pensioner. CEO BL286 had lied on his report. The Authorised Officer I.S. lied about considering the evidence.

The question of Bexley council profiting from inflicting unwarranted misery on motorists was answered in a way I haven’t come across before. Mr. Moore took out his own cheque book and gave the motorist a cheque for £60 drawn on his own personal account payable to the motorist’s favoured charity. Mr. Moore appears to be a generous man anxious to put right his employer’s misdeeds, however the ex-policeman did not think it right that anyone but Bexley council should pay, and returned it.

This story is reported in an indeterminate number of episodes. A cumulative version is provided for convenience.

 

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