Somebody Down Here Doesn't Like Me
There is a residents' parking bay outside where I live with enough spaces for four of five cars, depending on how well they are parked. There is a small amount of off road parking but it is always crowded so for many years I have been buying the permits and parking on the road. I seem to be the only one who does this.
Of course, after 7 pm anyone can park there, and because there is a pub nearby many do (it is interesting that there is a distinct aversion to parking on single yellow lines even when it is legal to do so).
So I am used to coming home from work and sometimes having to park on single yellows because all the bays are full, then keeping an eye out and moving the car later in the evening when (if) a space becomes available. Sometimes it doesn't and I have to make an effort to be out by 7am or risk a ticket.
Now the interesting thing is that there are quite a few people who leave their cars in the residents' bays outside the legal times even though they do not have permits. Local parking enforcement is sporadic so maybe they feel it is worth it. The fine is £50 and the permit is £60 for a year, so if you are only caught once a year it makes sense (just). But I buy a permit anyway because it allows me to park other useful places in the borough where parking enforcement is stricter.
So the other night I had to park on single yellow lines because all the bays were filled by cars without permits (legal at that time). In the morning I was late out and found a parking attendant just fixing a ticket to my windscreen before taking a digital photo of my car (we are very high tech here) before leaping in his car and driving off. They don't like meeting their customers.
Bugger, I thought, but felt at least a grim satisfaction that the same fate would have befallen the cars parked illegally in the bays where I could have parked legally.
Not so. The Parking Enforcement Officer had let them off. He had ignored five cars that had plainly overstayed their legal use of residents' parking bays and had instead ticketted the next car in the line that quite obviously could have parked legally if the others weren't there.
A sort of Selective Parking Enforcement Officer. The Bastard.
Of course, after 7 pm anyone can park there, and because there is a pub nearby many do (it is interesting that there is a distinct aversion to parking on single yellow lines even when it is legal to do so).
So I am used to coming home from work and sometimes having to park on single yellows because all the bays are full, then keeping an eye out and moving the car later in the evening when (if) a space becomes available. Sometimes it doesn't and I have to make an effort to be out by 7am or risk a ticket.
Now the interesting thing is that there are quite a few people who leave their cars in the residents' bays outside the legal times even though they do not have permits. Local parking enforcement is sporadic so maybe they feel it is worth it. The fine is £50 and the permit is £60 for a year, so if you are only caught once a year it makes sense (just). But I buy a permit anyway because it allows me to park other useful places in the borough where parking enforcement is stricter.
So the other night I had to park on single yellow lines because all the bays were filled by cars without permits (legal at that time). In the morning I was late out and found a parking attendant just fixing a ticket to my windscreen before taking a digital photo of my car (we are very high tech here) before leaping in his car and driving off. They don't like meeting their customers.
Bugger, I thought, but felt at least a grim satisfaction that the same fate would have befallen the cars parked illegally in the bays where I could have parked legally.
Not so. The Parking Enforcement Officer had let them off. He had ignored five cars that had plainly overstayed their legal use of residents' parking bays and had instead ticketted the next car in the line that quite obviously could have parked legally if the others weren't there.
A sort of Selective Parking Enforcement Officer. The Bastard.
posted by Other Kosh at 4:37 pm
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