we may not be able to cancel
Sums up the tin-pot "justice" being meted out in Town Halls.
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Any one remember the days when you used to have to appear in a court of law to be judged guilty ?
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I was thinking of this just few minutes ago before you posted. Due to the greed and sefishness of a minority there is a myriad of quasi-judicial bodies in this country now holding sway with increasing punitive powers over the public and not in awe of the traditional judiciary. The rule of law is being undermined in the eyes of those that the law should be protecting.
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I agree entirely PU. Here we have proper traffic wardens in the city centre who wear red uniforms and are friendly and helpful on the whole. The one I showed my permit to said he could see no problem and at that point 2 others came up and also looked at it.
The ones in the suburbs, called 'enforcement officers' seem to be mostly of immigrant origin and go around on a motley collection of scooters like snatch squads, hitting areas where there are no problems. We have some yellow lines at the end of our road which were put there to prevent selfish parkers at a small private school. The school closed years ago but I have seen tickets being given out. I hope nobody paid though, as the signs accompaniyng the lines also went years ago. The words 'enforcement officers' remind me of the German word 'Geheimstatspolizei'
Ted
ps. Thanks for finding original post...I searched in vain.
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Why is it that councils never want to remove lines when they are no longer needed ?.
I can think of a road that was totally by passed by a new stretch and was no longer a through route. The people living there had campaigned for a by pass for years. The council , however, refuse to lift the lines outside the few houses on the now redundant stretch.
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AFAIK if there are no valid signs relating to the yellow lines, then the lines aren't valid for enforcing parking offences.
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I'm rather glad I don't live in Manchester, from the number of posts about the place it sounds like the Wild west... for the record, and just to prove that it only seems to be certain areas of the country (ie Manchester) that suffer, our council parking attendants are fine... they'll book you if the BB is out of date or not displayed correctly, but thats their job... so far they've only got the ones who have been wrong... though those people have tried to blame the attendants for their own mistakes which seems normal these days!
Personally I'd take that forward with the Head of the appropriate Council as well as with the Minister... and let us know how you get on!!!!!
Edited by b308 on 14/01/2009 at 05:48
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We City of Manchester residents, Rattle and me, among others, are lucky in some respects. Although we have fools who have put tickets on a fire engine, a bus at a bus stop with passengers, a hearse and mourners cars at a funeral and others, I have heard no reports of people here being prosecuted and hauled before the Justices for wheely-bin crime. That evens it out a bit.
Ted
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I have heard no reports of people here being prosecuted and hauled before the Justices for wheely-bin crime.>>
Yet, it will come. Now they have lost the congestion tax they will be busy thinking up new schemes. Dont forget the slow down in house building also slows the increase in the council tax take, to be replaced by..........
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Yes but if houses aren't being built there aren't people in them requiring libraries, schools, street lighting, bin emptying etc. Chicken and the egg I reckon.
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Councils will continue to empire build. Library,school, not required? Build new council offices.
Edited by Old Navy on 14/01/2009 at 17:04
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Whilst on this subject of 'enforcement' I thought I would mention a couple of incidents I came across over Christmas. Here in Manchester there is a private surveillance firm which uses Berlingo sized vans in yellow, all lettered up and stating some sort of partnership with the police. I don't know who they spy on. The first one I saw locally was parked in a one-way road ( there are no streets in this suburb) facing the wrong way and unattended. The second, possibly the same van was parked on a crossroads at the top of my road, near the brow of a railway bridge, actually quite a dangerous spot, I have seen cars come over the bridge with all four wheels in the air. This one was parked with all it's wheels on the pavement on one coener of the junction, blocking the vision for two roads and pedestrians crossing. Again, unattended. When I returned from my errand a few minutes later, it had gone. I think the driver was shopping. Had drivers been there, they would have had a few comments from me. Regrettably my phone camera was was not letting me download piccies at the time or they would have been in the Evening paper.
Ted
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Having re read this thread a couple of points occur.
The first is that the Council's treatment of the OP was outrageous. Quite clear that the redress he was seeking was cancellation of the ticket and an apology, perhaps allied to an assurance that the attendant concerned had been spoken to. Instead of which he gets, after being wrongly issued with a Notice to Owner, a very grudging withdrawal. The associated "but don't do it again" sentence would be almost reasonable where the infringement was admitted with a plea of extenuating circumstances but in this case is utterly innapropriate. Probably a bit petty for the Ombudsman but certainly a form of maladmistration.
Secondly I'm intrigued by the myriad of quasi-judicial bodies referred to by PU - can you give us further and better particulars?
Edited by Bromptonaut on 20/01/2009 at 20:22
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Thanks for the support, B'naut. Funnily enough I was parked in the same road today but on the double yellows with badge and clock on..so legal. There was a van parked in front of me. We were both in Greggs surveying the goodies. A scooter 'enforcement officer' not my one, but the same firm, pulled up, looked at my screen, then the vans, came in the shop and asked for the driver of the red van. The driver showed himself and the officer said ' I'm putting tickets out in this road in a few minutes, just warning you'....What a difference in attitude!
Ted
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Sarcasm not intended - that is how law enforcement should be. This sort of attitude is going to be be much more worthwhile, in the long run, than people waiting to pounce when a vehicle stops or is 2 minutes over a timed ticket. Well done that warden/ticket person.
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