Hi - According to our local rag, not only is Ken apparently keen on extending congestion charging to the outer London boroughs in the not too distant future, drivers in London should be aware that parking fines are set to rocket from £20 to £100 minimum from April !
Three questions :
a)Is this a record ?
b)How long before everyone else does this ?
c)Are motorists the most persecuted group in this country ?
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That should keep the riff raff out then. (Curiously enough Ken's congestion policies seem to be favoured by posh residents. Nothing like a good old regressive tax.)
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It\'ll not be long before us serfs have to apply in writing to the Sherriff of London before we can enter the city walls. It really does seem to be regressing towards a proper \'us and them\' situation, \'us\' being the plebs with no money and \'them\' being the people in charge who couldn\'t give a tinker\'s cuss about the everyday folk as long as their power-crazed ambitions are fulfilled.
£100 for a simple parking ticket!!! Have they thought about the amount of court time that\'s going to be wasted because people genuinely afford to pay the fine? Call me a cynical conspiracy theorist if you will (and SWMBO certainly will - I get the impression that she views me in much the same manner as the children at the nursery where she works!) but I whole-heartedly believe that there is someone out there with an agenda to price the everyday guy (or gal HF!) off the road so that a true Orwellian society can be created. Don\'t say I didn\'t warn you....!
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Thank you for the inclusion into the debate, Rob! I feel obliged to say something now!
Not sure about the conspiracy theory, and don't want to get into politics, but I *would* agree that us lesser mortals are in danger of being priced off the roads, what with one thing and another.
£100 is obviously nothing to people higher up the ladder and will be no deterrent whatsoever for them. I know it's probably unworkable, but with this, and many other sorts of fines, it would be so much fairer if they were worked out as a proportion of income, so that everyone suffered the same for the same offence. (eg a premiership footballer being fined £1000 for speeding is hardly going to feel the pinch, is he, whereas that could be a killer for some people.)
HF
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Oh do stop whingeing! Read the signs and don't park where you're not supposed to. Whats the point in regulating the selfish if it doesn't hurt?
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I am not whingeing, Nortones2. I am fully aware of the consequences of parking where you aren't allowed and have never been given a parking ticket in twelve years of driving. I'm a rabid supporter of the 'if you don't want to pay the fine, don't do the crime' school of thought. Neither am I selfish and I resent your implication.
However, I object most strongly to someone who is a self-confessed car hater setting prohibitively high fines that bear no relation to the offence committed. Motorists are the most over-taxed section of the community and pay more and more each year for the 'privilege' of driving. It is the equivalent of the BBC insisting that you pay the TV Licence and then fining you each time you leave your set on stand-by, or tuning to ITV in the middle of the Queen's speech, or using Ceefax whilst eating a sandwich.
Make no mistake, Nortones2, this is the tip of the iceberg. If Livingston is capable of doing this with parking fines, then just imagine what he'll do with the congestion charge. Give it six months and it'll be £20 to enter the zone.
Everybody has the right to free movement. be it in a car, on foot or on the back of a giraffe. This creeping victimisation of the motorist erodes that right and I, for one, will fight it.
You might have guessed, Nortones2, that you've got my goat. Kindly return it...;-)
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Agreed Rob. And I don't think I was whingeing either, just making an observation. I do not park where I am not supposed to park, and I always check the signs. I also have never had a parking ticket. And I'm all for those who disobey the law getting punished for it. I just think the punishment should fit the person as well as the crime.
Does this £100 charge relate also to those who might have bought a valid parking ticket and arrive back to their car a few minutes late, or to those who may inadvertantly used a faulty ticket machine?
HF
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Rob: the 'selfish" comment wasn't aimed at you. The point I am trying to make: if restrictions did not exist, chaos would follow. For them to work they have to be enforced, or it will get like "Lord of the Flies" on wheels. As an experiment, maybe we could give traffic wardens a month off. No fines. Then it wouldn't just be BMW and SUV's on the corners, driveways, and footpaths! Liked your last line, by the way!
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Understood, Nortones2. I'm just all too aware of rules being applied too strictly and no lee-way, discretion or compassion being use. And with fines at £100, surely there will be even more pressure on the parking attendants to issue more and more tickets, no matter what the circumstances.
Anyway, I think enough has been said on the subject. As you may have gathered, it all got a little silly on this thread last night. Enough is enough, I feel.
I'll let you keep the goat if you promise to keep it fed and watered for me!
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OK: consider the goat rehomed:)
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Since when have London parking fines been only £20?
IIRC they are (at least in Camden) £80 reduced to £40 if paid within 7 days.
And its £4 an hour on a meter.
Think about the escalation of the congestion charge if you don't pay on time, as well:
£5 if paid before 10 pm.
£10 if paid 10 pm to midnight.
£40 if paid up to 14 days after crossing the line.
£80 if paid after 14 days.
And £120 at some point after that.
Spend five minutes in the zone and the hourly rate could be pricier than a good QC.
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I've been lucky enough never to have had a parking ticket in Bromley (or anywhere else for that matter) so can't speak from personal knowledge, just quoting the newspaper. The figure of £20 quoted was the minimum sum payable for a parking fine which presumably doubles to £40 after x days if it's unpaid. Don't know if all London boroughs levy the same fines but in view of the fact that parking fees vary greatly between inner and outer boroughs, fines may also vary. If so, the increase to a minimum of £100 throughout London will represent a larger percentage increase in some areas than others but is still massive and, apparently, less than the on the spot fines suggested for the sort of loutish and anti-social behaviour which is ruining this country. What's more serious - being a drunken yob on the rampage and causing trouble or overstaying a meter by 2 minutes ?
Personally I don't see any reason why parking fines shouldn't be graded according to severity. For example parking on double yellow and bringing entire high street to a halt = £100 fine whilst overstaying meter by 10 mins = £30 fine.
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Personally I don't see any reason why parking fines shouldn't be graded according to severity. For example parking on double yellow and bringing entire high street to a halt = £100 fine whilst overstaying meter by 10 mins = £30 fine.
That, volvoman, is an exceptionally good idea. Trouble is, the powers that be seem to have a patohlogical aversion to good ideas so therefore it will never happen!! ;-)
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Why on earth would someone want to get abusive and insulting over parking fines ? You do realise there is a real world as well, I suppose ?
Don't start insulting each other, don't make it personal and don't be silly.
And I have deleted some notes because M.B. (in this case) decided to do all three. Don't do it again, this is the only polite-ish warning that you'll get.
Mark.
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Mark : apologies. There had to come a time when I had a post censored, but on 3 counts in one go is something I had not expected. I thought there was a bit of envy politics. Obviously I was in a bit of a foul mood and in hindsight a post similar to Nortones would have done exactly the same job. Sorry again.
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M.B.
I have to admit I was surprised since it isn\'t normal for you.
However, all forgotten now. Feel free to argue the point, just don\'t let it get personal.
Mark.
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