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News and Comment November 2012

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16 November (Part 2) - Parking fines. Exposing Bexley’s dishonesty

KFCDespite 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.

 

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