16 November (Part 2) - Parking fines. Exposing Bexley’s dishonesty
Despite
the blog title this is not a continuation of
the disabled ex-policeman’s story of how Bexley council tried to excuse
their dishonest behaviour when they fined him for parking outside KFC in
Bexleyheath Broadway where the signage was totally deficient. (Missing kerb
chevrons and obscured signs.)
After the council eventually conceded that the markings were inadequate they promised to
remedy the situation. The pensioner noted that five months after he was fined no one had
been busy with the yellow paint; nor has Bexley council made any attempt to stop
defrauding motorists in the 22 months that have elapsed since then. Parking fraud
is such a nice little earner for all councils.
A reader has drawn my attention to another Bexleyheath KFC story heard by the Parking Appeals Service under
Case Reference Number 2120532673. (†)
Just two days ago Bexley council lost that case at PATAS and it was almost identical
to that of the retired policeman. This is disgraceful on several levels. Bexley
council admitted three years ago that its appeal procedure was entirely unjust and
they promised to renew the defective signage. The
ex-policeman’s story has not yet
progressed to the point where he was offered money in compensation for the
wrongs done to him but it suggested Bexley council had learned its lesson. Now
we learn that it was all a charade and more than two years later
they are still pulling the same dishonest trick! This is what the Adjudicator
said when he allowed the appeal of another disabled motorist who stopped for a
takeaway. I wish he could spell the word ‘metre’ but at least he can see when
Bexley council is fleecing motorists. And they know they are.
The Enforcement Authority is obliged to ensure that all restrictions are clearly
marked. The double yellow lines are clear and bold. There is a warning sign of
the restricted times about 30 meters from the KFC. However the restriction does
need to be marked by a yellow kerb marking. Whilst some of the photographs show
signs of these, they have eroded badly are very faint, particularly near the vehicle.
The situation at KFC has changed in recent days because of
the work going on there.
Motorists will have no yellow lines to guide them. More on this over the weekend I expect.
† The PATAS website is notoriously unreliable. If the link provided in Paragraph 3 gives a ‘Busy’ notice,
Try their
search page and enter the Case Reference Number manually.