Parking Fine Outside Sainsbury's Local on Lordship Lane

[RicB]

Just a warning, I stopped there for less than 3 minutes to get cough medicine with my wife and parents in the car and two lovely christmas spirited parking officers slapping a fine on my car in the allocated parking bays outside the sainsburys local on lordship lane near the library. Apparently it becomes a bus lane after 16:00 in the afternoon. So everyone be careful!

What makes matters worse is these guys hide in the shadows waiting for unsuspecting victims to park there, you pop in for a second and BAM. ?120 fine or ?60 reduced if paid within 2 weeks.

I've always seen loads of people parking there and while the guys started walking off with big smiles on their faces, another motorist parked right in front of my car so I warned him and am trying to warn others not to fall victim to these people.

[PeckhamRose]

I have said it before and I shall say it again; parking attendants are the scum of the earth.

[SeanMacGabhann]

There is your problem right there. Loads of people parking where they aren't supposed to

So don't

You don't get a fine

Buses get to travel faster (keeping more people off the roads, helping car drivers too)

[Narnia]

If you had read the sign you wouldn't have parked there though.

[indiepanda]

I've made a similar mistake - parking there in the minutes before the bus lane restriction was lifted on the morning at the weekend. I had assumed the absence of a morning rush hour at weekends would mean the bus lane applied Mon-Fri, and others were already parked there which seemed to give credence to the theory. But I was wrong and a traffic warden was waiting for me when I came out.

Much to my shame I was a bit rude to him, though it has to be said he did seem to be enjoying writing the ticket just a little bit too much. Anyway, I don't risk parking there at any time any day of the week now just to be on safe side. Teach me to be lazy, I should walk there really!

[RicB]

Narnia Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If you had read the sign you wouldn't have parked

> there though.

The first time I parked there many moons ago, I did read it and it was fine at the time. Since then, loads of people always parked there. So I don't know if they changed the sign recently or what? Anyway, I'm just putting out a warning as I know I wont be the last person to be ticketed there, so all I'm saying is just be careful.

What gets me more is I was literally in the shop less than 3 mins, I went straight for the medicine isle, didnt see the cough medicine and came straight out, and there was a ticket on the window. I'm convinced they just wait in the shadows and pounce. A bit of decency would be for the guy to come out and say, sorry, you're not allowed to park there and I would have happily moved. Instead they were all smug about getting another victim.

So while its too late for me, I just hope I could save someone else for falling into the same trap.

[dullwitch]

I'm sorry to hear you got a ticket. :'( It always feels horrible and unjust, no matter what the circumstances, and especially at Christmas time when you'd think people might be a little more good natured.

[Sue]

PeckhamRose Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I have said it before and I shall say it again;

> parking attendants are the scum of the earth.

xxxxxx

That's not fair PeckhamRose, some of them might have a bit of an attitude but there is a reason for parking restrictions, and it's to keep traffic moving.

Hugs, however xx

[Dickensman]

I sympathise RicB if the parking wardens showed themselves you wouldn't park or you could check with them whether you were doing the right thing but they do hide in the shadows and pounce, they must be on commission to play such games.

Narnia if the warning signs were clearer one would not park in places where one is going to get fined, but they are often written so they are indecipherable so they can 'harvest' the motorist.

Missus SeanMcG you sound smugger than ever!

[SeanMacGabhann]

Big bus lane markings

Signs giving the permitted times

Busy road near a main junction where anyone parking EVEN IF ALLOWED is going to cause a problem

And people still want people standing by the side of the road with neon signs saying ?don?t park here?

So many times I?ve had to tolerate people parking in bus lanes at that very junction ? getting cash out, popping into a shop, whatever ? oblivious to the problems they cause behind them.

Buses have had to stop in the middle of the street blocking ALL traffic behind because the car is in the bus lane

People unable to use wheelchair access because the bus can?t hit the kerb

Near-daily it was when I was waiting just a few minutes at a bus stop ? so it obviously goes on all day

And all because people are too lazy to park where they should

[MitchK]

Serves you right, you were illegally parked.

Happy New Year.

[computedshorty]

I had a sneezing fit and had to stop, before I recovered my Zimer was towed away.

[Simonet]

I love the concept of Bus Lanes keeping traffic moving!

The other week in Marylebone Road the traffic barely moved for TWENTY MINUTES in the "motorist" Lane while the Bus Lane remainded virtually empty the whole time.

How many hundreds of thousands of combined hours are wasted when motorists are left immobile in "their" Lanes, all over London, during each year. Often while the Bus Lane is empty or barely used, next door.

I'm not an expert on the environment but the pollution caused by the ( often ) stationary cars can't be good for the planet can it, so do people just ( conveniently and selectively ) just ignore that side-effect of clogging up the traffic ?

Am I right that Road Taxes ( paid by the motorist ) and Council Tax, contributed by motorists amongst others, actually pay for these Bus Lanes? Thats great paying for something that causes you a delay ! lol

Where I live the genius's in the local Council have introduced 2 Cycle Lanes to the High Street from our surrounding Main Road over the last 18 months. One Cycle lane is on the pavement so does not affect the traffic but the other lane has narrowed the traffic space so that the ( formerly ) free-flowing Road is now, often, at a standstill ( especially during rush hours ) and the benefit for thousands of hours being wasted over the 18 months ?.....about 30 cyclists I've seen during that whole 18 months, about 2 cyclists per month.

[SeanMacGabhann]

If you ever bothered to use a bus instead of sneering you would know full well the benefit of us lanes ? transporting many many more people per sq foot than a car can

If all of the people currently using buses started driving, THEN you would know what a delay was

[Simonet]

SeanMacGabhann Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If you ever bothered to use a bus instead of

> sneering you would know full well the benefit of

> us lanes ? transporting many many more people per

> sq foot than a car can

>

> If all of the people currently using buses started

> driving, THEN you would know what a delay was

Having driven in London for 20 years before Bus Lanes were introduced, I KNOW the effect of Bus Lanes in that many free-flowing ( relatively ) roads were INSTANTLY transformed and, literally, millions of hours would have been ADDITIONALLY wasted by Car Drivers and their passengers, all over London, since then.

Bus Lanes ARE beneficial for BUS USERS ! lol...

Why, hypothetically, would "all" the bus users start driving ? Only a % of people drive anyway ( for multi-farius reasons ) . So that scenario would never happen, in any event.

I do use the Bus/Tube during the week because Big Brother has forced me to as it is so much easier for users of the Buses, in particular, these days. and we have always had an excellent tube service.

Sod the poor old motorists then, after all there only helping to pay for extra delay they face, I should start laughing at them as I sail by and give them a cheery wave.(tu)

For journeys through London I wouldn't dream, these days, of driving thru' the heart of Town as it has been made a nightmare because of the Anti-Car Movement. ( Yeah! I know, "we" are not anti-car but Pro Public Transport ..:)

Just symptomatic of the lack or restriction of choice that we face in many areas these days, for example "Big Brother" has deemed that we WILL sit down at Football Matches even though the overwhelming majority of fans prefer to stand.

p.s. We must always listen to those that "know best" on our behalf.

Where's Winston Smith when you eed him ?

[SeanMacGabhann]

so you make it sound like life as a motorist is intolerable

AND

life as a bus user is intolerable (forced as you were by big brother to use it)

That's a heavy burden to be carrying around in life - how do the rest of us manage I wonder?

[KidKruger]

I got a 60 fine outside kebab and wine a few weeks ago, some street camera got me, I didn't know until letter came that it was controlled there, thought I was ok there.

Wrong.

However when I went back to check after getting the letter, the sign did say clearly.

My fault/assumption.

Read the signs.

However, I think that when NEW signs go up or they're CHANGED, the sections of the road affected should be sprayed in fluorescent day-glo pink paint (which remains for a month) to warn potential parkers and all passers by that there's money to be lost here if you don't adhere to the regs.

[Jeremy]

With current volumes of traffic, if there were no bus lanes, buses wouldn't really be useable. And obviously it makes sense to give priority to vehicles carrying 100 people, above vehicles carrying typically 1-2 people.

If you park in the bus lanes, buses have to pull out into the outside lane, not only delaying it's journey, but holding up all the other traffic behind it.

BUT - I agree that traffic wardens are bloody annoying. I don't think they're on commission, but they do have targets, which encourage these predatory tactics.

[Senor Chevalier]

OK, so inevitably this has descended into yet another a motorists versus public transport / cyclists scrum (yawn).

As a user of public transport, daily cyclist and occasional (say twice monthly) motorist, I am going to attempt to respond to the OP without getting bogged down too much. Here goes...

Traffic wardens (IMHO) should be trying to enforce the rules in order to remove incorrectly parked cars and restore the flow of traffic / leave spaces available for residents etc.

Their behaviour of "waiting in the wings" for motorists to make an error, disappear into a shop and then issue a PCN serves to increase the length of time that vehicles are in violation of the rule. They are representatives of the Council and should first and foremost inform the public of the rules in a helpful way to prevent the offence / restore the situation as expediently as possible.

This never (seldom?) happens. By waiting until the motorist has gone, they are prioritising fee income over rules enforcement. This is just wrong.

I once had a similar situation where despite my usual paranoia about where to park, I parked with a pay and display ticket incorrectly in a "resi only" bay that was adjacent to a P&D bay. Clearly an honest mistake. The warden saw me park where I did, waited until I left and issued a ticket 2 mins later when I was around the corner. I was in violation of the rules, but I argued my case and won at adjudication.

This was in Wandsworth where the traffic wardens (as a matter of policy) are required to give motorists the opportunity to move vehicles before issuing a PCN and I had a good case that the warden had been there at the time (takes a couple of mins to issue a ticket and I had the time on the parking ticket and on my P&D ticket as evidence) and had not followed their own policy.

I had a quick look on the Southwark site and can unfortunately see nothing about wardens giving the public an opportunity to move first.

RB - Doubt you'd have a case here. I was fuming as I had seen the warden looking at my car whilst I was posting my P&D ticket and he had said nothing, whereas I don't think your warden was necesarily there as you had parked.

Still it is a bit of an outrage that fines are prioritised over informing and upholding rules. You could write to the Council and ask a closed question re policy - is it (a) to inform and enforce or (b) to allow rules to be broken and fees to be issued.

Anyway a good reminder to motorists to remain absolutely paranoid about where to park at all times.

[stoo31]

Simply look at the parking restrictions before you leave your car anywhere, its common sense.

Bus Lanes have different effects on traffic and buses all over London. For instance on East Dulwich Road going towards Nunhead the Bus Lane and lane markings cause more problems for cars and buses than the bus lane solves, the bus lane causes everyone to be in the right hand lane but 99% of the traffic is going straight on or left. This causes a massive tailback, to where there is only a single lane and no bus lane. This then causes buses to get stuck in the queue further back. If there was no bus lane there I think all forms of traffic would move much more freely and reduce queues.

This is the same in a variety of places across London where they have put in a very small chunk of bus lane without looking at all the implications.

[Horsebox]

Simonet Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Am I right that Road Taxes ( paid by the motorist

> ) and Council Tax, contributed by motorists

> amongst others, actually pay for these Bus Lanes?

> Thats great paying for something that causes you a

> delay ! lol

>

No, you are wrong. There's no such thing as 'Road Tax'. As a driver of 20 years, I'm surprised you didn't know that already.

Nice rant though.

[pearl1]

If it was just about keeping the bus lane free, then seeing the warden there would be enough to keep people from parking - he could just move people along or warn them they are due a fine for parking there and point out parking restricitions (which are not always clear whatever anyone says!). It is obviously about revenue as they fine rather than explain/give warning.

[computedshorty]

What Lane?

A Bus Lane has been in Lordship Lane,

park there, and its only you is to blame.

You get a Ticket so pay up the fine,

no use saying ?I didn't see the sign?

Obstruct a bus passing near the curb,

just to think of this, is quite absurd.

The Traffic Warden you must heed,

in your opinion is a different breed.

Next time you park to take the chance,

think of the casualty in that ambulance.

Take a moment think of what you do,

an occupant in Ambulance could be you.

Topaz

[stoo31]

pearl1 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> If it was just about keeping the bus lane free,

> then seeing the warden there would be enough to

> keep people from parking - he could just move

> people along or warn them they are due a fine for

> parking there and point out parking restricitions

> (which are not always clear whatever anyone

> says!). It is obviously about revenue as they fine

> rather than explain/give warning.

They are always completely clear unless you can't read English. Also I don't think it is a parking wardens job to stand by parking bays and inform ignorant drivers that they can't park there. You don't get warnings because its patently obvious when you are parking illegally.

[Senor Chevalier]

It is not their job to stand around advising ignorant motorists. Nor should it be their job to hide in the bushes and bust you as soon as you turn your back.