9 January (Part 1) - Driven to breaking the law
Yesterday’s
road blocking is fortunately not an everyday event although as I live a little
less conveniently for the station I may not be the best person to pass judgment.
Nevertheless I have had people park up my drive and block me in several times
over the years so I know how frustrating it is, and the cost of a remotely
controlled retractable bollard is prohibitive. Maybe I should have resorted to
threatening to break the law as someone living close to Abbey Wood station has.
The householder has my sympathy but I’m not sure I can condone employing the
sort of cowboy operation that Approved Parking Security Ltd. undoubtedly is.
‘SIA Approved’ they claim to be which just goes to show what a waste of taxpayers’ money
the Home Office’s registration scheme is. A Companies House check shows that Approved
Parking Security went out of business last July.
Whilst patrolling the area on the look out for pictures I answered a motorist’s
question about a parking notice which confused him. It was twenty to one and he
couldn’t understand why the ticket machine wanted to charge him £3.80 while he
nipped into a nearby shop. He had inserted one pound already expecting it to be
more than enough for a short stay. Given the choice of hanging around until one o’clock,
risking a fine or feeding another £2.80 into Bexley’s coffers he did the obvious
thing. Pressed the return coins button and drove off to do his business elsewhere.
Maybe I should have directed him across the nearby borough boundary to park in
Greenwich. The Royal Borough seems to have given up on Abbey Wood. Observation
suggests it would be cheaper to park there each day and maybe pay the occasional
fine than give Bexley nearly £4 a day.
N.B. This is not intended to be a serious suggestion although the facts behind
it I believe to be true.