kford

...looks like my neighbour's has too. It hasn't had much use lately, being winter and all that, but that surely wouldn't be a reason for taking it away. And it wasn't THAT windy last night. We're just off LL.

It's the wind/clouds channelling the noise down, I'm sure. It's not such a problem when it's cloudless, even in the summer when there are definitely more planes because of the holidays. Anyway, I miss Concorde at 1730 and 1845 every night.

I used to do that - they nicked the cover. True!

What is the point?! Keep your eye out for an old ET2/ET4 with suspiciously shiny, new round chrome mirrors, instead of the old standard plastic oval ones.

I've also received so-called 'ghost tickets': PCNs issued but not placed on the vehicle. The parking attendant (PA) spots you, say, dropping someone off on a single yellow (allowed, for up to 20 mins depending on the borough) then issues a ticket to your car, without placing it on the vehicle. PA then downloads their handheld machine's data back at base and the PCN enters the system, with a ?100 final demand arriving on your doormat a month later. Got off because I challenged it under the 'Offence didn't take place' rule and demanded photographic evidence. Let off because of a 'technicality' without apology. many friends have suffered this and just paid up in fear of not getting a successful appeal.

Bobby P and Owen G are spot-on. From my time in a CPZ, we received PCNs...: ...in the five minutes we were inside scratching the dates off the day pass (?15/book valid only for two years) to place on a relative's car ...because we left one wheel over the white line at the end of the CPZ (even though the other three wheels were in). ...and were clamped and removed because the permit disc fell from the screen while we were away on hols in hot summer of 2003 (in the plastic holder provided by Lambeth), causing the permit number (but not the expiry date) to be slightly obscured. ?280 to get the car back. ...on a buider's van in the time it took for him to carry his stuff to our door and before we could give him his vistor's pass. None were appealed successfully, despite witness statements and photos. This was not careless or inconsiderate parking, this was a council making money hand over fist. It's going on all over London. Be careful what you wish for.

Waiting for one on Hansler.

The cash cow idea is confirmed.

"They approach people who are not looking like they will attempt to kill them." So not the gang who regularly drop a plastic bag full of chicken boxes and bones and drinks cartons down our street, then?

An extra tax it is. Living near to a hight street is like living near to a railway line (or station) - you know there are going to problems when you move in, but also benefits. Can't have it all. I'll suffer the odd bad parking day gladly for the convenience of being able to walk to every shop I need.

I make that 79p for 2 hours' parking. Bargain! The car wash guys use it too, for clean cars awaiting the return of owners.

There's one behind Iceland.

It's the opposite in my street, full on Saturdays, quiet in the week. I'm just off LL too. So I'd be paying for a problem that doesn't exist in patrolled hours.

If they live in ED, lazy shoppers would have the same permit as you. You could bet that the CPZ on that side would extend all the way from the station to the Plough crossroads, on both sides of LL. That's how big they are in Lambeth. And the zone wouldn't apply on Saturdays, when, I'm sure you'll agree, it's at its busiest. A smaller zone would just push the problem up the road.

In inner Melbourne, Australia, residents get parking permits for free, paid for by the non-residents who pay-and-display for a maximum of two hours. Too logical for the UK, I suspect.

Free then. That would never happen. Ho-hum.

Sainsbury's, whose car park is never full in the week, could set aside the section nearest to DKH as a paying park-and-ride for those who bother residents near the station. Not ideal, but better than a CPZ which would push the problem further into ED.

alachlan, that's council parking policy.

(td)

Hey, here's an idea: if you want a space right outside your house, allow residents to buy one. You'll have a painted bay, like a disabled or doctor's bay, and you'll pay ?200 for its upkeep. We'll make do with the free spaces elsewhere.

Blinder666 speaks for me, thank you. And yes, James, several peopls have asked for a CPZ, yet several more have said no.

One of the problems with CPZ is that the permit-buying resident suddenly EXPECTS to get a space outside their home; witness the incident near gentile Wandsworth Common where someone was murdered over a parking space.

Correctamundo, Wino.

Make sure it's squirrel proof.

South East Crouch End, They Say