This continually bugs me.
Walking down main shopping street this lunchtime I saw another small van parked in limited (half hour) parking with a hand written note on the dash as subject. This type of van usually has cigarette packets lying everywhere and the odd tool and scraps of notepaper complete the scene.
I see this often and assume that if a 'workman' is having to work in a premises they think they have the right to preferential parking nearby or outside. I know they may need to get their tools but what's the difference from doing a note that says 'shopping in Woolworths' or even 'working all day in the office over the road' --- I could try this.
As I have never seen vehicle with such a sign with a parking ticket I can only assume that most traffic wardens accept this!
Does anyone agree or am I just being fickle here
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Trust me, wardens dont. In Islington you could be loading up a lorry at the back, and the warden is slapping a ticket on the screen....
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Did they not ticket a bus once that was picking up passengers at a bus stop.
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Trust me, wardens dont. In Islington you could be loading up a lorry at the back, and the warden is slapping a ticket on the screen....
I suppose that's the difference between the big city and a rural backwater! Here lorries can block the high street for as long as they wish even if they are not loading --- but if a private car stops.......
Same with coaches - park where want, do as you please.
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You see many of said vehicles even from big proper companies eg BT and they have pre printed signs that say "BT Engineer on Emergency call" etc...not sure if that has effect as I saw a BT engineer being ticketed in my road...
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You see many of said vehicles even from big proper companies eg BT and they have pre printed signs that say "BT Engineer on Emergency call" etc...not sure if that has effect as I saw a BT engineer being ticketed in my road...
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Strangely enough most utilities do have a right under the traffic Orders to carry out their work on the carriageway, water, gas, electric etc are all named but telecomms is NOT included. This has given issue to some strange situations, I was talking to a BT guy who works in London and he swears that one of his colleagues was actually clamped in Lambeth while parked inside a coned off area carrying out work in the street and having placed his vehicle to protect his work area as prescribed in the Street Works Act and as instructed by the appropriate Health and Safety guidelines!
Conversely, 'most' wardens are pretty sensible, well, outside major cities anyway, and tend to treat BT and the like along the lines of disabled drivers in that you are OK so long as they know where you are and you are not parked stupidly and causing an obstruction. They do tend to appreciate that the work has to be done somehow. Certainly, in Southend, for instance, they are happier for BT to park on a double yellow at the end of a zone if showing a location card but will issue a ticket if they are in a bay but five minutes over their time.
Mind you, down the road in Basildon the town centre is privately owned and you can only park in the service roads to service the shops if you have a permit. The Catch 22 being you can't park without a permit but to get a permit you have to apply in person at the office in the town centre, to get to the office you have to park in the service road but you can't park in the service road without a permit......
It would be nice if there was some consistency between councils now that they are responsible for enforcement. For instance one local council allows tradesmen to park in resident only parking if they are working there and displaying a note in the window, the next door council doesn't allow any parking without a residents permit and will ticket regardless. I can assure you it is an absolute nightmare when you have to work in a strange town and you don't know the 'local rules'!
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I was working as a delivery driver for a large upmarket home store & got out of lorry to do a delivery done in a residential street in South London, no wardens to be seen, delivery took no more than 5mins, came out of house, shut the back doors still no wardens to be seen. Got into cab, parking ticket stuck on window. Still haven't figured out where warden appeared from years later.
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I was working as a delivery driver for a large upmarket home store
Is that the one where people would ring up and complain if you *didn't* stop right outside their house??
Who pays for the ticket, by the way? The firm, or is it down to the driver?
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Yes thats the very store, the number of people who asked us to try & stop right outside their house when we phoned to tell them what time we would be there was unreal. Talk about wanting to impress the neighbours, some people. On the ticket issue, it depended on the circumstances. If we parked for e.g on a red route then it was down to us, because we knew you couldn't park there so would have to park as close to delivery address as possible away from red lines. If it was elsewhere e.g residential street or within timed loading bays & due to size of delivery, we would be in bay longer then the firm would pay.
Sorry if I detracted from thread a bit
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It annoys me a little bit, but we don't seem to get that much of it round here.
What does bug me is those with disabled badges. This IS NOT a license to park wherever YOU want.
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When I used to be on the road fixing computers and stuff, all it took was a phone call to the wardens office to OK parking somewhere. It did cost to get a meter bagged for the day though to reserve a space.
Well worth the couple of bottles of scotch at crimbo.
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Wondering up a road near Ecclestone Square in London yesterday I began to be aware of many vehicles illegally parked with small orange cards in their windscreens.
Most cars were of the BMW X5, Merc ML, or Lexus variant. I stopped and read something along the lines of the following:
'Dear Traffic Warden.
Please do not give me a ticket. I am picking small children from XXXX Pre Prep School in XXXX Square. I will be back very quickly.'
It's clear that either said private school or it's parents association have knocked out a load of these.
No tickets on any of the cars.
It must work, or the school must have entered into some kind of unnatural relationship with that most unforgiving of beasts, Westminster Parking Services.......
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Sorry, that is taking the mick. Illegally parked is illegally parked. End of.
What really irks me about the 'Working at XXXX' notices are the ones on truck parked on the pavement, usually with a local council 'Considerate Contractor Scheme' badge on display. Everybody knows the pavement is for cyclists and skateboards after all.
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I have only got one parking ticket in my life, that was about 18 months ago in a small town in Dorset, I was delivering to a well known high street electrical store, I pulled up in an 18t rigid outside the store.
I was parked in a bus layby (the very long type where you can fit 3 in) as I got out of the cab a traffic worden came up and said "Cant park there drive", I explained I would just nip into the shop and ask the manager if he had an unloading bay round the back for me to go to, the TW was having none of it, just kept repeating "Can't park there", so in the shop I went, was gone all of 30 secs and the ******* had put a ticket on me and run off.
As there was no unloading bay, and I already had a ticket I just carried on unloading the washing machines and fridge freezers where I was. Just as I was finishing he turned up again, so I asked him where he expected me to park to unload? He actually said I should block the road (one side of it anyway) and leave the layby free!!!! I then just lost it and the red mist descended and I ended up ripping up the ticket and throwing at his feet. The shop manager reckon they got at least one ticket a week!! These councils really don't want people to use the shops do they!!!
So most traffic wardens don't accept it, and even fewer live in the real world.
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Only parking ticket I got was when I forgot to buy one in Pay and Display (Solicitors appointment - mind was on other things that day!)
Thought I might get lucky but there was a lovely yellow package on my windscreen when I get back. It said my parking was fine, which was nice. More councils should follow Elmbridge councils example and compliment considerate parkers.
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It said myparking was fine, which was nice. More councils should follow Elmbridge councils example and compliment considerate parkers.
The old ones are always the best!!!!
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This can be tricky when unloading tools etc, which should take max 45 mins per day.
Normally if client has nice drive I park there and take what I think I'll need from the van until the first tea break without cluttering up the house.
However, some clients have limited or no parking whatsoever. What I have to do in these cases is grab everything I'm ever likely to need for the job, then park the van around the corner where it may be a walk to get back to it.
To get away with this you need;
1) Understanding client - who readily accepts having to negotite what seems like a branch of Travis Perkins in his living room.
2) Understanding neighbours who readily accepts white van parked outside their house and sometimes in their prking space - I do try to clear it with them first, not always possible in an emergency.
3) Understanding traffic. Most of the time in rural Cornwall people understand that I need to get on with the job.
4) Understanding Police and Traffic Wardens. The last time I saw one in our village was probably about a year ago. I have yet to test their understanding as they appear on Wednesdays, so we all try to fit our illegal parking in on other days.
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This continually bugs me. Walking down main shopping street this lunchtime I saw another small van parked in limited (half hour) parking with a hand written note on the dash as subject. This type of van usually has cigarette packets lying everywhere and the odd tool and scraps of notepaper complete the scene. I see this often and assume that if a 'workman' is having to work in a premises they think they have the right to preferential parking nearby or outside. I know they may need to get their tools but what's the difference from doing a note that says 'shopping in Woolworths' or even 'working all day in the office over the road' --- I could try this. As I have never seen vehicle with such a sign with a parking ticket I can only assume that most traffic wardens accept this! Does anyone agree or am I just being fickle here
Since you were walking at the time and your progress was, I assume, not hindered it sounds like sour grapes to me! ;-)
--
L\'escargot.
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Since you were walking at the time and your progress was, I assume, not hindered it sounds like sour grapes to me! ;-) -- L\'escargot.
Frankly, it's worse than than -- it xxxxxx me off!
Why should a carpenter/electrician/plumber etc be treated differently to a shop assistant/office worker/bank cashier.
If one of the latter left their car in the high street on a restricted zone for hours while they were at work I bet they'd get a ticket. I know this because it has happened to me once when I parked near to my office in a half hour zone because I intended a stay just for a few minutes. Due to messages/calls etc this extended to about an hour and I admit I forget that I'd parked outside(My fault I know). When I went out - ticket!
So yes it does grate when I see these signs on cars/vans which stay put for hours with no penalty.
Having said this, it seems from many of the comments that this isn't widespread so it may just peculiar to my backwater
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Did you have a huge toolbox, materials, spares parts, etc to carry?
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Did you have a huge toolbox, materials, spares parts, etc to carry?
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No, but I did have a laptop in one hand, briefcase in the other and some paper files wedged under my arm to carry -- Not particularly easy! ---- These are my tools
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No, but I did have a laptop in one hand, briefcase in the other and some paper files wedged under my arm to carry -- Not particularly easy! ---- These are my tools
I have a similar toolkit, but I carry laptop and files in a wheelie briefcase-cum-laptop bag. Mine's a Belkin, which cost abt £40 from dabs.com, but there are lots to choose from. It's a brilliant thing, one of my best purchases in recent years.
With those sort of tools to carry, you don't need a carry to carry them, let alone to park it right outside the door.
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