Beware: Parking inspectors everywhere

[Administrator]

No further mention of Westminster level government or classism in this thread please. It was going off topic. 

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

15 hours ago, Penguin68 said:

I would guess sufficiently few that they travel singly and not in groups, as a start.  

Why is it important to you that they work alone?

[Spartacus]

I think what concerns me is that with one hand southwark say they are suffering austerity measures and cutting services, and with the other, if the numbers are correct, they spend £11.5 million on a contract for more parking enforcement officers without having justification. 

Someone needs to hold this admistration to account IMHO 

 

[Penguin68]

3 hours ago, Dogkennelhillbilly said:

Why is it important to you that they work alone?

It is important to me that any employee of the council, directly or indirectly employed, should be working efficiently - if only one person is needed for a job then only one should be doing it - in my experience traffic wardening does not need even two people, let alone gaggles of them. As I (and indeed I would assume you, if you are a Southwark council tax payer, as your assumed name would suggest) would prefer an efficient council spending my money wisely I would have thought you would applaud such a sentiment.

[Nigello]

On 15/12/2023 at 13:47, portioncontrol said:

Suddenly parking inspectors are all over lordship lane and surrounding streets, clearly they have nothing better to spend money on than sending 20 a day to this area. Particularly around the Goose Green end of Lordship Lane they are waiting in the side roads to ticket you.

Don’t park illegally (= causing a hazard) and don’t get fined. 

[malumbu]

Spartacus, and others, if you have a problem with excessive numbers of enforcement officers then (a) complain to the Council

Then you can complain to the National Audit Office

This is a useful guide on the latter:

www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Council-accounts-a-guide-to-your-rights.pdf

[Spartacus]

43 minutes ago, malumbu said:

Spartacus, and others, if you have a problem with excessive numbers of enforcement officers then (a) complain to the Council

Then you can complain to the National Audit Office

This is a useful guide on the latter:

www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Council-accounts-a-guide-to-your-rights.pdf

Thanks Mal 

I have a problem with the council spending money it didn't have in the bank on a service that wasn't needed and claiming austerity is hurting their ability to deliver in other areas 

More parking enforcement officers, if there is a genuine need isn't the issue, its the blatant misuse of our council tax funds I object to. Now whom does one complain to about that ? 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Spartacus

[alice]

Could someone publish the social services cuts Southwark has made in its latest budget. 

Edited December 17, 2023 by alice
Sense

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

On 17/12/2023 at 11:52, Penguin68 said:

in my experience traffic wardening does not need even two people

What's your experience of "traffic wardening"?

[teddyboy23]

From 7am this morning to 1pm this afternoon there's been only 1 warden on lordship Lane from what I've  seen

[Penguin68]

3 hours ago, Dogkennelhillbilly said:

What's your experience of "traffic wardening"?

Being an aware motorist since traffic wardens were introduced. You only normally see them in more than ones going on or off shift or in training. 

[Twoddle]

Wish they'd ticket that bloody lorry that parks on double yelows next to the traffic lights making deliveries to the Coop with its engine running.

Edited December 18, 2023 by Twoddle

[ianr]

On 15/12/2023 at 15:01, Rockets said:

But I did get in an Addison Lee recently where a driver said he had an airport pick-up in Greenwich and he pulled up outside the person's house and got a £100 fine for doing so as it was being monitored by CCTV. He showed me the letter and it confirmed he had stopped for 45 seconds but it costs him £100 - and this is someone who works very hard to earn £100. It's shameless really.

What was the infringement of, bus lane or yellow lines?  If the latter there may be strong case law in his favour: https://www.londontribunals.gov.uk/sites/default/files/keycases/R (Makda) v The Parking Adjudicator.pdf.

Had he made representations or appealed, or did he intend to?

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

12 hours ago, Penguin68 said:

Being an aware motorist  

"Aware motorists" don't have much contact with traffic wardens. It seems like your "experience of wardening" [sic] actually means you've seen traffic wardens on the street before. 

[ianr]

On 15/12/2023 at 19:04, snowy said:

I found  the story of Joseph and Mary getting a ticket for parking their donkey on the double yellows of the dusty road truly a parable for our times.

Where can the original of this be seen?

[Spartacus]

On 15/12/2023 at 19:04, snowy said:

I found  the story of Joseph and Mary getting a ticket for parking their donkey on the double yellows of the dusty road truly a parable for our times.
 

Christmas victims of socialism apparently. 
 

 

I am guessing the gifts from the 3 wise man were a parking ticket, a clamp and towing the donkey away 

 

[snowy]

Or more likely for this forum a Bladerunners t-shirt, catapults and a subscription to Together. 

[Tams]

***

Edited January 10, 2024 by Tams

[northernmonkey]

Interesting that the view is that parking offences are 'victimless crimes'.  I think that i'd agree to a certain extent that where people overstay or park in permit bays without a permit the only issue is a loss of revenue to the council and I can't get excited about that.  Parking bays are by definition a designated safe parking space.  

Where Dulwich does have a huge issue though is illegal /unsafe parking  causing danger for all other road users and often pedestrians too.  Parking on DYL often causes huge tailbacks as traffic can't get through - there are those who park blocking sightlines around schools, on zig zags, near to zebras etc all of which are a safety concern.  There is also a lot of parking across dropped kerbs with tactile parking meaning that those using mobility aids or pushing buggies may have difficulties passing. None of this is a 'victimless crime' but can have very real dangerous implications for others and I'm happy to see it cracked down on by parking enforcement. 

[Spartacus]

You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why
Traffic Warden is comin' to town
Traffic Warden is comin' to town
Traffic Warden is comin' to town

He's making a list
He's checking it twice
He's gonna find out
Who's parked naughty or nice
Traffic Warden is comin' to town

🎅

[Penguin68]

17 hours ago, northernmonkey said:

Where Dulwich does have a huge issue though is illegal /unsafe parking  causing danger for all other road users and often pedestrians too. 

You are, of course, right that there is such a thing as dangerous parking (and indeed inconsiderate parking) - but these wardens are not engaged to deal with this - but with fining people parking safely, but, at the stroke of a pen, illegally (sometimes illegally only for a short period of the day) - driven, we now know, mainly as a revenue earning opportunity (as was explained, before being denied, by our councilors). The fines being levied by these gentlemen (and I'm sure ladies, as traffic wardening is not a protected occupation)  are indeed punishment for victimless crimes. In the areas they patrol, 'bad' parking (i.e. as described above) may be penalised as it will not be parking in the areas permitted, or by an individual permitted to park; but do not expect wardens to travel, or penalise, outside the revenue generating roads.

[Angelina]

Rules are rules and they are there for a reason.

If the rules need to be changed, there is a process for that.

Some traffic wardens could be considered to be jobsworths - eg hanging around outside schools and running to ticket  parents dropping off for a few seconds (literally, I've witnessed it) but overall it's required to control the roads - parking included.

[jazzer]

On 19/12/2023 at 13:48, Spartacus said:

I am guessing the gifts from the 3 wise man were a parking ticket, a clamp and towing the donkey away 

 

That was so funny, keep them coming S.

[Penguin68]

27 minutes ago, Angelina said:

but overall it's required to control the roads - parking included.

No, it's not about controlling roads, save in their guise as a profit stream, it's about generating revenue. The outsourced wardens are incentivised based not on some measure of 'controlled roads' but on revenues (fines) generated. One is not a true proxy of the other when the roads (as was demonstrated in the case of the  southernmost wards in Southwark) had no need of 'control'. 

[alice]

Is partly because parents ‘ just dropped off their children outside school’  that we had this massively expensive camera set up.