Seagal78

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The latest response from Daniel Toms, Invstogations Officer, where he acknowledges that no obvious safety issues with the zebra crossings. Also I have been in touch with ward Councillor Andy Simmons and he has advised that this issue has been raised before but was not considered a priority for the council. Now 1.5k Green Award has been allocated to review the safety implications. So it has been worth complaining ! My Findings In terms of the enforcement position here, Highway Code rule 191 states ?You MUST NOT park on a crossing or in the area covered by the zig-zag lines.? My understanding of the regulations relating to white zig zags lines is that these cannot be parked on at any time. They are classed as ?dual enforcement restriction? which means the Council can issue tickets to vehicles parked in contravention and the Police canalso enforce against vehicles parked in contravention. The only difference is the Police fine also carries penalty points. The Department for Transport assumes all motorists will know that they are not allowed to park on white zig zag lines. The penalty for parking on white zig zag lines adjacent to a zebra crossing is a Penalty Charge of ?130 reduced to ?65 if paid in the first 14 days. However, the contravention is considered so serious that it was not fully decriminalised and the Police can still issue a Fixed Penalty Notice for it and 3 points on your license. No additional signage is required for enforcement in these locations and I do not believe signage exists which tells a motorist that they must not park on white zig zags adjacent to a zebra crossing. This is as opposed to yellow zig zag lines which are not legally enforceable without a sign in place close to the location that details the restriction or times of restriction. Having visited the site myself, I am satisfied that the white zig zag lines in the bay in question are clear and easy to see. I do not believe that a driver would in reality not notice the road markings. I am not necessarily in agreement with the opinion in the initial complaint response that vehicles parked in this bay would likely endanger pedestrians attempting to use the crossing (they would be looking in the opposite direction when attempting to cross the road towards Dulwich Picture Gallery) albeit it may be difficult for vehicles parked there to reverse back out onto the road (and the end 1 or 2 vehicles closest to the crossing may have to reverse back over the crossing).In saying this, I must highlight that this is my opinion only and is not a qualified assessment. As is stated later in this response, a proper process needs to be followed when assessing road safety. I have not been able to establish the historical reason for the existence of what you describe as the ?layby?. The Council?s most recent involvement here was simply to re-surface and reinstate the road markings that were already there. It may be that enforcement was not conducted prior to this if the road markings were faded. There is the potential for the existing layout to be changed ? for example, by shortening the extension of the zig zag lines or creating a layby by continuing the zig zag lines along the road rather than them following the indented section of road. However, any such change would require a design, road safety audit and possibly a statutory process. As touched on above, there are road safety implications here that would necessitate resources being dedicated to a proper review process. It is not possible for Council officers to change road layout of this type without due consideration. Dulwich Community Council has recently (in March) allocated a small sum of Cleaner Greener Safer (CGS) funding to investigate possible changes to the road layout here. As a result, officers are currently in the process of commissioning a road safety review to understand how easy it would be to change. It has not been a priority for this to be done before now because it is considered there are plenty of alternative parking options in the vicinity. The feedback I have from Parking & Traffic Enforcement is that there is no controlled parking in this area, the local roads are free to park on and there is a sizeable car park inside Dulwich Park with another in the nearby Belair Park. Parking within 5 minutes walk of this location would not in their experience represent a difficulty even at weekends. My Decision I should first outline to you the role of the Customer Resolutions Team. The Customer Resolutions Team exists to examine complaints from residents or service users in relation to any service provided by the Council, where a shortcoming or failure to provide the service has been alleged. It endeavours to establish whether a department has acted outside any governing legislation or its own procedures, and if so, whether these actions or a decision resulting from them has lead to injustice to the resident. If this is found to be the case, then I am required to restore you to the position you would have been in, had the injustice not occurred. The Customer Resolutions Team does not though have any powers to overturn a decision made correctly within a governing legislative framework, or where accepted procedure has been applied. Given the findings set out above, I have not been able to uphold your complaint on this occasion. I do not agree that the initial complaint response was overly formalistic or that it failed to show the necessary level of sympathy. In my view, the zig zag markings areeasy to see, I have not found that any signage to further highlight the white zig zags exists or is necessary and I do not agree that parking enforcement here represents some kind of entrapment. The feedback I have from Parking Enforcement is that since April 2013, 341 PCNs have been issued here with?20,930 of penalty charges paid (to put that number in some context, the Council has issued 321,336 PCNs in that period receiving over ?17 million in Penalty Charge payments). This averages out at approximately 2 enforced contraventions per week so I would not be able to reach the conclusion that the Council is heavily enforcing on a large number of unaware drivers at this location. There is some uncertainty over the reasons for the layout being as it is but I understand a process has now commenced to review the feasibility of changes being made. In the meantime, I would expect enforcement to continue given the regulations on parking on white zig zag lines are clear cut and offer no room for discretion. I expect that this is not the outcome you were seeking but hope that this investigation has at least demonstrated to you that the Council has taken your concerns seriously. This is the final stage of the Council?s complaint process. If you remain unhappy with the outcome you can pursue your dissatisfaction by asking the Local Government Ombudsman to review your complaint. The Local Government Ombudsmaninvestigates complaints about Councils including housing allocations, planning, education and social services.

Abe_froman can you please send a link to car collusion maps ? I will send the info to Dulwich Diverterr as they are now working on the article

I got a response - Thank you for your request for information that was received on 31 March 2016 in which you requested: May I ask you how much has Southwark Council collected in penalty charges over the past 3 years 2013-2015 for parking offences in these "bays" ? Response: Since April 1st 2013, 341 PCNs have been issued with ?20,930 penalty charge paid.

DukwichFox, maybe it is one space for Range Rover ? I have seen at least 3 small cars parked there and all three duely received the parking tickets. Anyway I now escalated the complaint and also received response from two of the counsellors, aparantly this issue has been a hot topic for the past year. So figures crossed common sense prevails

Ascelated further up the chain Dear Ms Thank you for your escalated complaint received on 30 March 2016. Your request for a review of your complaint will be investigated by me. My name is Daniel Toms ? I am an Investigations Officer on the Customer Resolution Team at Southwark Council, responsible for considering escalated complaints against Council services. I am required to offer a full response to your complaint by 5 May 2016. If any delay is likely to occur, we will contact you and let you know. If you would like to discuss the matter further or meet with me, please do use the contact details provided below. I hope to be able to visit the site in question next week before I undertake formal enquiries with the Council service(s) in question. Yours sincerely, Daniel Toms Investigations Officer Customer Resolution Team Tel: 020 7525 4734 E-mail: [email protected]

Forward to Kate White Co-editor [email protected] I also contacted the councillors and Andy Simmons forwarded to Southwark members enquiries

Here is a useless response I just received from Southwark technical support parking officer Sophie Clift. I forwarded to Dulwich Diverter and they will follow up on it next week.

An update - received an acknowledgement from Southwark that my complaint was reviewed and they are looking into it Also Peckham Peculuar's co-editor responded: Hi Many thanks for this - sounds like a great story for the Dulwich paper! We will be in touch soon. Best wishes, Kate _ Kate White Co-editor

Loz, it is s good suggestion Yet, it appears everyone know what to do but nobody takes action I am not looking for advice but for support by action I happen to have contacts of Peckham Peculiar so forwarded the complain to [email protected] If you can get in touch with other local papers that would be much appreciated

Just drafted complain below based on what is said above If you have a second, do copy and send one as well !!!!! To [email protected] and cc Dulwich Community counsellor Work: [email protected] Dear Council, On multiple occasions I have noticed parking tickets being handed to unfortunate drivers who parked in the large layby just South of the Old College Gate of Dulwich Park. Finally I have decided to complain about this Southwark money making trick and have support of many drivers. Whilst the layby looks like an apparent parking bay and is not part of the highway, there are in fact zig zag lines on it which are not noticeable and no other signs about parking restrictions. The zig zag lines have been installed only a few years ago and are a complete anomaly as have no effect on the safety issues of the nearby zebra crossing to Dulwich Picture Gallery in this quiet street with little traffic. Southwark would either have to have specific and clearly displayed parking restrictions in place for the layby itself, or remove the zig zag lines and stop fining unsuspecting drivers some but not all of who do challenge the parking tickets on the grounds of unclear markings not entire in line with the regulations http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/2400/schedule/4/made. Kind regards

I just posted about it under Zig Zag lines thread. Have a look and do complain please - Southwark shouldn't be allowed to get away with this dirty money making scheme

Has anyone taken it up with Southwark Council or the Counsellors/MPs ? I saw more tickets being distributed today. This appears to be one of Southwak councils dirty little money making machines. They should make it much more obvious as they know countless people park there, it is really dishonest and underhand of them just to keep fining people. There is no good reason why there are zig zag lines in this apparent parking area. It is all very unattractive Southwark! I am going to complain, please do too.

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Mummytime - new pop up event providing me-time for new mums Are you a mum of a young baby? Feel like you need some pampering? Sorry, silly question. Of course you do, and you really deserve it too. Well, in just a few weeks, on Tuesday 1 March, Mummytime Ltd will be holding its next event in Herne Hill at the beautiful Carnegie Library. So why don't you come along for a morning of afternoon of activities that will leave you feeling refreshed and replenished. At Mummytime we know a happy mummy equals a happy baby. So our pop up events provide mums with a little bit of me-time with nurturing for the body, mind (and baby). For one single ticket price, you can enjoy one of our three pamper packages (while your baby is being cared for in our on-site cr?che), attend our expert talks on postnatal fitness and life coaching, and chill out in our cafe with other local mums. Whether you need some relaxation to restore your energy levels or you fancy treating yourself to a mummy makeover, there is something for everyone. Come along with friends or come to meet new friends. Find out more and book your ticket at www.mummytime.co.uk. You can also follow us on social media: Facebook page: mummytime.co.uk | Twitter: @mummy_time |Instagram: mummytime Look after yourself while we look after your baby. When: Tuesday 1 March 2016 Where: Carnegie Library, Herne Hill Road, Herne Hill