15 December (Part 2) - Bexley’s parking muggers
I suppose if I had kept a postbag tally, parking issues would show itself as the
biggest single bugbear for residents of the borough, with perhaps child care running it a close second.
Six weeks ago a council trap in Abbey Road,
Belvedere was featured where it is not obvious where the pay and display area and the residents only area begins.
There is nothing to stop a resident parking over the feint demarcation lines. As a result a
commuter who has paid £3·80 for two hours parking gets landed with a much bigger bill as well.
Since October I have seen several more drivers fall into the same lucrative council
trap, but the misery they impose on commuters is not confined to them apparently.
From a resident who lives very close to the bays in question - note from the photo that
it is impossible to fit anything but the smallest of cars into a Bexley bay - comes this tale of woe.
I live in Abbey Road. Parking here during the day has become impossible. When I have
a day off work and have to go out for a short while, I am lucky to get another space.
My family needs two cars. I have a permit for one and the second is awaiting the
registration document so that I can get another permit. Until that comes I have to spend £3·80 to park near my own house.
I paid today and displayed my ticket on the dashboard quite clearly. I got a
Penalty Charge Notice for not displaying a permit or ticket in a mixed bay. £110 thank you very much Bexley.
I took photos of the ticket and the car and its position through the windscreen using my phone.
I was talking to a lady who lives a few doors along who said she is sick
to death of the problems with parking. Several times she has stopped an
attendant putting a ticket on her own car for not having a permit.
She explained she has paid and has a permit but the attendant insisted it doesn’t show up on
Bexley’s system. As she said, “that’s their problem”.
We no longer get a paper permit to display and there are no signs in Abbey Road to
indicate where one should park with a permit only. I usually play safe and try
to get a space in Manorside Close where residents and businesses compete for the six available bays.
Having a day off work has become a nightmare. Thanks for the Bonkers blog. I am
an avid follower and tell anyone who will listen about you.
Failing to provide any clear distinction between
the two types of bay in Abbey Road is an obvious deliberate money raising honey
trap and probably an easy challenge at PATAS if the fee has been paid.
Alternatively write personally to Mr. Ben Stephens
(Civic Centre, Stockwell Close, Bromley, Kent, BR1 3UH) who is in charge of the
bunch of professional extortioners that Bexley employs. If you can be bothered
to listen through the webcast archive for 22nd October you can hear him saying
what a reasonable man he is who always listens sympathetically to tales of
genuine errors and mitigating circumstances. I don’t think he said anything
about incompetent Civil Enforcement Officers and officially endorsed traps, but
you never know, it might be worth a try and bogging bureaucrats down with paperwork is usually a very good idea.