my car had German registration plates so the parking tickets ended up in the bin.
Tut tut Bagpuss. You are about to be attacked from all sides for your criminally cavalier attitude to regulations, nay, to the Law itself. People are going to ask what is the difference between your actions and major fraud or tax evasion, even perhaps burglary and offences of violent assault. They will wonder what is the difference between your foreign-registered vehicle and the uninsured collapsing jalopies allegedly driven by the millions of East European immigrants now infesting our country with their bad habits, loose morals and barbarous dialects.
It may even be suggested that you probably threaten the lives of respectable citizens and their innocent children by exceeding speed limits. I would keep my head down if I were you.
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Thanks for the warning Lud. Yes, I can imagine the sense of outrage causing people to splutter tea all over their copies of the Daily Mail, even as I write. I loved the comment above about the OP being as bad as a shopfitter, sorry shoplifter. Really made my day.
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Next time, go to Dovercourt Bay (Nr Harwich).
You will find a pay car park if you look hard, but most of them are free, without time limits, and are right by the shore.
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Lets just step back and look at the op again - he had a ticket which was valid for 3 days, that means he knew 3 days beforehand that he needed to get out of bed 10 minutes earlier on the last day...cor, wow!
He didn't.... and so got a fine...
So where's the problem??
"Blame someone else" culture yet again - take it on the chin, BS, you knew what the consequenses were 3 days beforehand, so quit moaning for something which was your fault....
And before anyone says anything, I got a fine when these pay and display car parks first started many years ago, I was annoyed, yes, but I had to admit to myself that it was my fault and paid up - I didn't try to blame someone else... and I'm more careful now! ;-)
Edited by b308 on 02/08/2008 at 16:55
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It seems to depend on whether the place wants or needs tourists. There is a charming market town near Offa's Dike called Kington. It has a huge free car park right in the centre of town, well signposted and welcoming. Terrific little town too; it is the only place I have ever found a harware shop stocking barbed wire, sheep dip and baling twine for combine harvesters! Not great for the tourists but it gets the locals into town! And there are nice touristy shops and tea rooms too I should add!
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Just a word in support of traffic wardens. They perform a thankless task and receive a huge amount of abuse. They have no discretion as to whether or not to issue a ticket. If you have overstayed the limit you will get a ticket. The local authority do have an appeals procedure and in the case outlined i.e a 10 minute stay over 3 days, I would say that a polite letter explaining the position is quite likely to lead to the fine being be waived
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CGN is right about traffic wardens, a downtrodden species. And he may well be right about the polite letter too. Worth trying anyway (although one does get very tired of correspondences with brick walls sometimes).
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I know from the evidence of my own eyes that traffic wardens - police controlled as they were then in most areas - used to exercise discretion.
So what has changed? It appears that parking wardens - now controlled by local councils in most cases - are ordered to issue tickets for fund-raising reasons.
BTW - I once received a heavy fixed penalty for overstaying my time in a Weymouth car park, because I had misread the ticket and thought I had paid for two hours, not one. I cursed and paid up.
The only time I have ever been booked for parking on a public road was in Devon. The Devon and Cornwall Constabulary central ticketing unit took no interest at all in my protests and told me to take it to court if I had a problem.
I did and the case was immediately thrown out.
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Traffic wardens don't have to be traffic wardens! It is entirely voluntary SFAIK. They could clean hospitals or work in an abbattoir or do something else really worthwhile, and people would appreciate them for it too!
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If that was the choice AS, I think I might choose to be a parking warden. Outdoor work... passing scene.... bonus schemes... promotion prospects... a uniform to pull the girls
I would think too that although the abattoir might be better paid, the hospital cleaning might not.
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>>a uniform to pull the girls<<
Helpless laughter ;-)
I bet whatever you like that no uniformed traffic warden in the history of parking has EVER pulled a girl!
Unless, of course, you know different...
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I know different' They might have been a female warden of a certain tendency! What is know at Wimbledon as a Mixed Single!
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Thanks Lud - I think we both know we are joking - up to a point!
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>>do something else really worthwhile
As most Traffic Wardens that I know of look after "road" parking as well as car parks I think that they are already doing a worthwhile job and I have sympathy with them for the abuse they get, which in most cases the driver should be directing to themselves, not the TW.
Round our way it used to be a real sod to find a space on those 15min or 1 hr "on street" parking spaces as people regularly used to flaunt the times - that meant if I needed a quick visit to town i could spend ages looking for a space or end up parking a long way away... now that the times are strictly enforced its great and very easy to park... more power to their elbows (or pens!), I say!
Edited by b308 on 02/08/2008 at 20:25
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can i just say that i have lived in N. wales for almost 4yrs now.......and never got a ticket........the abundance of speed cameras is a myth there are no more speed cameras in N.wales then anywhere else in the country........in fact there are probably less then some other places around the uk.
Yes brainstorm hates motorist but this whole vendetta of his is a total myth, the Heddlu have on a COUPLE of occasions stepped over the line and been somewhat zealous but thats all it been, caught on by the media who have blown it out of all proportions.
I have yet to come across any area where there are cameras Mobile or fixed where the area speed limits are'nt signed properly and clearly and therefore if you get caught you only have yourself to blame.
yes we have traffic wardens but arent they there to catch parking violation, again if you cant organize yourself properly to fall within the law then you only have yourself to blame.....ticket for parking on double yellow.......no excuse ticket deserved.......parking in excess of payment....ticket deserved........parking where you shouldnt......ticket deserved whats so hard to understand about that.
if its not signed correctly or clearly then fine try to appeal it that helps everyone but knowly doing something that got you a ticket like returning ten minetes late when you knew that would be over your alloted time.... well learn the lesson and get over it
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Brunstrom has resigned as ACPO's coordinator of traffic/enforcement matters - probably before he was pushed. He has openly advocated the sale of Class A drugs, after a suitable change to the law I suppose. He is a dangerous egotisit and a recent highlight of his career was:-
Brunstrom showed journalists photographs of a motorcyclist decapitated in an accident in 2003 on the B5105 near Llanfihangel Glyn-Mytyr. He claimed that excessive speed caused the accident, but as is usual with such claims, details of precisely how the accident happened were conspicuous by their absence.
.*******
One has to wonder if Brunstrom was not in fact delighted at the opportunity the tragic accident afforded him. "It is a matter of serious concern that someone in charge of a police force should not have the common sense and decency to seek the victim's family's consent to use such images."
If anybody is happy to have him as their Chief Constable they must must be easily pleased or have very low standards!
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Oh well fill your boots - he's going next June, according to a well placed source
Class A Drugs:-
So HMG takes on their sale. The street price comes down, thus reducing acquisitive crime, the mix is pure and the taxpayer gets a cut and all the nasty low life dealers and sub-dealers and all the violence around it takes a dive - that's the theory.
Not that I have a view - drugs and their victims have kept me in work for thirty years.
Alcohol is a bigger problem and that's legal - far more people hooked to it and causing ten times the misery.
Edited by Pugugly on 03/08/2008 at 00:31
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Mike Hannon and other like minded dudes - round of applause.
I will now await the response from my MODERATELY worded letter to the tourism authority. And that warden MUST have been waiting knowing some tourists, having spent loads of money on their holiday, might just have been unable to resist a few minutes in bed. Just as bad as a shoplifter. In a half empty car park?
People who carry their houses on their backs - at least one of these words or phrases must apply - toupee - y-front - moustache - anorak - no mates
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People who carry their houses on their backs - ..........
:-D
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I live near Chester and there have been many complaints in the local paper from people who have spent the day shopping in Chester, often spending considerable sums, only to get back to their cars 10mins late and find it ticketed.
Of course, what people are doing now is going to Cheshire Oaks and the Trafford Centre. The City Council's initial reaction to falling parking revenue was to increase parking prices!!
Chester City Council is now in panic mode as the city centre largely starts to resemble a ghost town. Now they have a "free after 3" thing to try to bring people in for a couple of hours later in the day, but it's too little too late.
Edited by Bill Payer on 03/08/2008 at 10:59
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Wow, sour grapes time, bs, get over it m8, you were in the wrong, just accept it and get on with life, eh!
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Despite my various posts on all this I am still neutral really! I think it odd that the LA will only sell a 3 day parking permit, according to OP. What happens if you want to stay for 5 days or a week? I think there was an element of lying in wait to ticket vehicles at 09.01 but that is how thay make their money. OP knew full well what time his ticket expired and missed the cut-of so really no come back. If he had to catch a 1030 train somewhere and got to the station at 1040 would he be here complaining? Probably not I think. As others have said, with varying degrees of understanding, carp happens - time to move on. I am glad you enjoyed your holiday overall.
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Isn;t there a very good park and drive in Chester ?
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Yes there is PU but that involves sitting next to, well, people ! Yeugh !
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Ah I see. Public Transport. Keep away from there then.
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Ah I see. Public Transport. Keep away from there then.
Likened to going to the pictures these days, always manage to sit near some alcoholic who's had 12 pints and as many fags just before the film and stinks accordingly, or the one who eats constantly with the finesse of a birthing sow.
Public transport's wonderful, its the public that make it unbearable.
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That bloke goes to our local cinema too GB. He gets around a bit doesn't he ? Maybe that's why he doesn't get time to wash !
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That's why the DVD player was invented!
Wife has solved the Chester parking problem. She regards taking her car in for a service as free parking and goes off and spends even MORE money. Still she earns it so mustn't complain.
JH
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Tesco in the city centre seems a fair deal - free if you spend a decent amount.
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Yes there is PU but that involves sitting next to well people ! Yeugh !>>
Pal of mine is a park and ride bus driver and it has its advantages.
No schoolkids and generally no single mothers with pushchairs because neither tend to have cars.
So if you did risk it Humph, you might not be sat next to the most yucky of people.
Actually, there are some quite bonny lasses on their way to work on the park and ride I use.
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Actually there are some quite bonny lasses on their way to work on the park and ride I use.
All very well IIH, but regretably they seem to take far less notice of me these days !
I like to think it is because I have become too "sophisticated" for them. Others might reasonably argue that it is more to do with my cunning disguise as a somewhat dishevelled and careworn middle aged slob.
;-)
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Perhaps we should stage a day of action, boycotting all of those areas, at which we have at some time been wronged (or just caught doing something wrong).
I suggest that all who have been given speeding fines and points should start the protest by avoiding the M6N, M74/A74/A702 this coming Sunday and anyone given a parking penalty, protest by staying out of Edinburgh for the following four days.
That'll show 'em.
Power to the People, right on.
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A whole new meaning to "Tooting Popular Front" :-]
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Got to go to Edinburgh from Cheshire later this week. However in a gesture of solidarity I could nip over the Cat and Fiddle towards the M1, quick zap up the A1/M come off at Newcastle and shoot up past Kielder, Otterburn and Carter Bar then hack across country and pop out at Hillend. No great hardship now that I am re-discovering a world beyond 4000 rpm.
Heh Heh !
;-)
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No great hardship now that I am re-discovering a world beyond 4000 rpm.
Used to be someone on here called Shoespy who rated diesels.
He was also a canny Scot who would have known the cost of 'a world beyond 4,000 rpm'.
Wonder what happened to him?
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A whole new meaning to "Tooting Popular Front" >>
Who said anything about sounding your horn?
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I have no sympathy. I was five minutes late in moving my car this morning, and had I received a fine, I would have cursed and suffered it without complaining. Traffic regulations exist for a reason; if more people obeyed them then the world would be happier.
Westminster Council will have illegally parked cars towed away within 30-60 minutes. This proves the point that they're not into making money, but actully intp providing parking for their residents who pay for it. I've been caught... and am happy that I can generally park.
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