howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
our local bus driver was stuck in melbourne avenue this morning unable to get between two badly parked cars.
noticing that one was parked on a double yellow he rang the police who were there very quickly. the driver was then told that the police had no powers anymore to ticket anyone parked on them and that it was the job of the council.
i m beginning to wonder what powers the police have left.
FFS
Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
They might not have powers to deal with double yellow parking but surely they have powers to deal with obstructing traffic flow?
Terry Nunn
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,316
This is bloody ridiculous, if the bus couldn't get through then neither could the Fire and Rescue service. Think about how serious that would be.
Last week and a couple of days ago a Range Rover was parked in London Road all day in the one hour zone and was ignored by the wardens who happily ticketed other cars. The owner is obviously friendly with someone! And before anyone comments, it didn't have a council permit displayed.
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
apparently not, i have heard our driver ringing the police countless times over obstructions, nothing is ever done.
saturday is always the worst day when everyone is at home, parking on double yellows is the norm as they know the wardens are highly unlikely to leave the town centre where easy pickings are to be had.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
lo and behold parked outside my house when the bus came past again an hour later.
full details of locations of obstructions were given, hopefully problem will be resolved for today.
Amazing what a bit of publicity will do! Nice one.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
how about this for parking, well away from the kerb and on double yellow lines.
last saturday was even worse, another bouncy castle van was parked similarly whilst there was a car parked on the other side of the road.
difficult enough to get a small car through let alone a bus or dare i say it a fire engine.
Good snap, Howard. Let's hope the boss is looking in and takes a responsible line. If they don't, the company phone number is clear to see........
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,888
Parked about the same distance from the kerb as the Parking Services van, both of them to lazy to park properly. I assume he was delivering a carpet but he could have parked partly on the pavement which is another no no.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
he wasn't parked jan, to be fair he was waiting patiently for traffic to come up the hill.
the bus then arrived and the driver collared him.
good point about pavement parking, i get cheesed off seeing people with baby buggies and others in people buggies having to go into the road to pass.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,888
I hate using Balfour Road for that very reason but where else can home owners park on a very narrow road with nowhere else to go.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 652- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 595
If that castle was being delivered to the community centre for a party Howard, the hirer should have asked for the gates to be opened to park the van while delivering, if only the hirers would tell us, then we could open gates
Sheila
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I have emailed the Manager at DDC who is in charge of the CSU and Parking Services, with your comments - deleting your names of course, so maybe he will talk to the Enforcement Officers and make sure they are not favouring certain people's cars.
I have also sent Howard's one with the photo of the bouncy-castle van.
Roger
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I have now heard back from the CSU and Parking Services Manager and this is his reply on the various matters raised:
Obstruction:
"Contrary to what is stated in your e-mail, the police do have powers to issue Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) to vehicles parked in contravention of parking regulations. However, the incident related by you amounts, in my view, to obstruction and again the police have powers to deal with this. In fact, they are the only enforcement body who can deal immediately with obstruction. Any police officer who tells you or any other member of the public that they do not have the power to deal with parking contraventions and/or obstruction is simply abrogating their responsibility.
The CEO (Civil Enforcement Officers) role is to enforce parking regulations and to issue PCNs in appropriate circumstances when they see contraventions. They do not have powers to remove vehicles; that is a police matter.
Of course, we need to recognise that many of our roads are narrow and not suitable for modern day traffic levels. This is exacerbated by many households having more than one car, and many instances of inconsiderate parking, some of which you have highlighted in your e-mail".
Range-Rover Illegally parked:
"I am very concerned about the second issue you raise, that CEOs have allegedly allowed a Range Rover to park in London Road all day whilst other vehicles have been issued with PCNs. I would therefore appreciate it if I could be given details of times, dates, registration number, precise location and any other information. This will enable me to investigate the allegation, to identify the CEO(s) on duty and hold them to account for their actions".
Terry - you posted this, can you email me will the details please ?
Parking Contraventions:
"In relation to the parking contraventions not being addressed (e.g. the bouncy castle van parked away from the kerb) you will no doubt appreciate that we have a limited number of CEOs who simply cannot be everywhere. We regularly patrol the three town centres and also visit rural areas. I have also introduced a system where we record and prioritise parking complaints and respond to these, resources permitting.
I would add that contrary to popular opinion, the Council CEOs are not on any form of bonus system or performance related pay, nor do they have targets to achieve. I mention this only in response to the comment that the CEOs do not leave the town centres "where easy pickings are to be had."
I hope that clears up many of your concerns and misunderstandings about parking and obstruction matters.
If you can email me Terry, we'll sort out the Range-Rover issue too.
Roger
Terry Nunn- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,316
Little point in emailing you Roger. I can only vaguely remember the VRN and didn't note the dates and times. I can state though that it was not a similar vehicle which did have a permit as it was involved in the current gas main replacement. The vehicle in question does return from time to time as I believe it to belongs to one of the shopkeepers. I shall take note next time.
Terry
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
there was no reference to staff being on bonuses or performance related pay, the easy pickings referred to are revenue to the council.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
What surprizes me, is having attended the car owner could have been identified in seconds, and a knock on the door)(owner probably lived near by)
a uniform usually gets people to move more so a police uniform.
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 675- Registered: 30 Jun 2008
- Posts: 1,610
Dealing with parking problems entails paperwork and it is a fact of life that the police do not like paperwork. It is also a sad fact of life that most drivers treat parking regulations as an annoyance to be ignored. Any parent will be able to recount numerous horror stories of blocked pavements and near misses from vehicles cutting corners. Pedestrian zones are always treated as short cuts, free parking or somewhere to pull into while using a cash point or collecting a Big Mac. Any fading in yellow lines is looked upon as an excuse to ignore them and squeal about the legal technicality of incomplete lines if caught. One of the weakest excuses I ever heard for parking on the pavement on a corner was, " where else can I park to visit my 80 year old mother".
Probably the deciding factor in reluctance to deal with these issues is that, once you start there will be another 50 yards down the road, then another and another.
Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong.
Richard Armour
