27 February (Part 2) - Parking fines. Exposing Bexley’s dishonesty. (Episode 14)
The end of the file provided by the ex-policeman
has been reached. He had been illegally ticketed for parking outside KFC in Bexleyheath Broadway
where the No loading stripes had disappeared from the kerb and the road side signs were totally
obscured by flower baskets. A ticket issued on 5th August 2009 was still being debated in 2012,
by which time the complainant was dipping a tentative toe into the world of computers.
After
complaining to Chief Executive Will Tuckley
on 14th February 2012 he received an email from parking supremo Mike Frizoni. Unfortunately that email no
longer exists but the reply does. It reminds Frizoni that a Director had already
accepted that the ticket should not have been issued so the writer was in no
mood to accept the council had acted honourably.
The writer further reminds Mr. Frizoni of the various lame excuses encountered in the previous two years. Mr. Greg Tippett blaming his
failure to resolve the situation at the very earliest stage because he viewed a black and
white photograph in preference to the colour original was particularly ridiculous. Tina Brooks and
councillor Peter Craske came under fire too for claiming to be fully aware of the relevant statutes but refusing
to comment on their relevance. Well that could be incriminating - no chance!
Having
pinned Frizoni into a corner the inevitable happened. Frizoni ignored the comments totally and carried on with his policy of
abusing the law whenever he gets the opportunity.
How about that Valentine’s Day letter to Tuckley? Well the best one can say is
that it wasn’t ignored. The response was dated 8th March 2012.
A Freedom of Information request had already exposed Mr. Loynes’ report as
consisting of two short emails and a scribbled note which together said almost
nothing; but it satisfied Tuckley and he slammed his door firmly shut lest any
admission of failure leaked out.
After two years and seven months no one, except perhaps Mr. Paul Moore, would
admit that this disabled pensioner who appealed his unjustified parking ticket
was met by a conspiracy of lies. He made his views very clear in
one final message.
Note: Vincipark was Bexley council’s parking contractor when
the penalty notice was issued.
This story has been reported in 14 episodes.
A cumulative version is provided for convenience.