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FightBack Forums _ News / Press Articles _ Fined for stopping in a bus stop. On Christmas Day. With no buses running.
Posted by: Fredd Tue, 6 Feb 2018 - 21:27
Post #1354897
Leicester City Council are apparently showing all the sensitivity, compassion, and unerring ability to turn a potential good news story into a PR disaster one has come to expect of petty council bureaucrats, by insisting on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-42961418. Because it's apparently dangerous to stop at that bus stop when you're not a bus, even on Christmas Day when there are no buses, and hardly any other traffic either. 
Posted by: DancingDad Tue, 6 Feb 2018 - 21:38
Post #1354902
But Fredd, a cyclist died there !!!!!
But you have to wonder if CCTV would have made any difference or if penalizing someone on Christmas Day would.
Can understand a PCN though you would think that someone would actually consider the interests of justice.
And certainly that someone would, if a challenge came in, think woops, we can do without enforcing this one.
But they don't, time after time we see that on council forum.
Bus stops do seem a magnet to people though, really need to get into their heads that they are far more likely to get away with it stopping on double yellows.
Posted by: glasgow_bhoy Tue, 6 Feb 2018 - 22:05
Post #1354909
I don't understand how a cyclists death has anything to do with a bus lane camera being enforced on Christmas Day.
If a cyclist cycles into a parked car and dies, I think that is natural selection playing out as it should.
Bus lanes being enforced on days where there are no busses is ludicrous at the best of times, so I hope this one gets cancelled. I seriously doubt there isn't a camera in the area which the council could use to corroborate this guys story.
Hopefully whoever at the council has made the decision to enforce this on Christmas Day is one day homeless, and hopefully nobody will show any compassion or help in any way.
Posted by: stamfordman Tue, 6 Feb 2018 - 22:20
Post #1354912
Come on - it's Leicester's one and only CCTV bus stop and it cost them £45k. They are very proud of it. At all times.
https://www.leicester.gov.uk/news/news-story-details/?nId=89188
Posted by: Fredd Wed, 7 Feb 2018 - 15:14
Post #1355117
Well, that was quick - it seems even in Leicester http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-42973471 if you go high enough up the tree.
:
:
"You can take rules to a crazy extreme. We should do everything we can to make absolutely certain that Lee is not punished for doing this good deed and his parking fine is cancelled."
Not that it was clear from that whether the mayor actually has the power to overturn the fine, or has got agreement to do so, or is just making a wish.
Posted by: DancingDad Wed, 7 Feb 2018 - 16:08
Post #1355139
I would think that if the mayor had a quiet word in the shell like of the head of the Parking Dept, all would be covered.
Hopefully a quiet word along the lines of WTF are you lot playing at?
Posted by: roythebus Thu, 8 Feb 2018 - 00:20
Post #1355343
Quite. Someone with common sense at last. where did he escape from??
Posted by: bill w Thu, 8 Feb 2018 - 01:04
Post #1355355
Not Sheffield, that's for sure.
The thread on https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1531363&highlight=bus+lane ran to 9 pages on why Bus Lanes were enforced on Christmas Day; again, no buses running.
It seems they issue about 7 or 8 tickets per Christmas Day, unlike bank holiday Mondays, which are rather more lucrative; I think just over 3 times as many folk get done on a BH Monday as do on a normal working Monday.
Posted by: ManxRed Thu, 8 Feb 2018 - 09:55
Post #1355413
Brighton CEOs are usually out in high numbers on Bank Holidays. That includes Boxing Day.
I think the additional revenue is probably why they call them 'Bank' Holidays.
Posted by: ManxRed Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 09:46
Post #1355834
More insanity from a Local Authority:
http://metro.co.uk/2018/02/08/man-given-parking-fine-permit-hidden-snow-7295516/
Unfortunately, and most irresponsibly, he didn’t put heaters underneath his parking permit, failed to pay someone to keep the snow clear from his windscreen and didn’t use his magical powers to prevent the snow from falling on his car. So a worker from Derby City Council put a parking ticket on the driver’s window. He told the BBC, where he works: ‘I thought it was odd because if I wasn’t displaying it I would have got a parking ticket every day because I had left my car there while I was in London.
‘I was thinking what could it possibly be that meant they couldn’t see the permit on this particular day? ‘When you go on the website they have the photographs they took and the reason the permit wasn’t visible was because it had snowed overnight and the windscreen was covered in snow. I just laughed. It was ridiculous.’ He added that if they had swept the snow away, they would have seen the permit.
The council said it is now looking into the case and that it would respond to Mr Claxton, who works for the BBC.
Sue Meakin, who worked as a traffic warden for 30 years, said she thought it was ‘silly’ he had been fined. Derby City Council said: ‘We’re not able to comment on individual cases but we are looking into the challenge and will be responding to the individual directly soon.’
Interestingly, in the half sarcastic poll, 16% think he should have made provisions to employ someone to wipe the snow from the windscreen while he was away although I suspect most of those are being sarcy too.
Posted by: DancingDad Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 10:14
Post #1355845
Just when you think you have seen most types of stupid enforcement from local authorities, another sneaks in to further beggar belief.
Posted by: Fredd Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 11:30
Post #1355870
What's surprising about that case is that there aren't dozens of others queuing up to complain about being ticketed in that road on that day; surely the knuckle-dragger responsible for not seeing through snow on one car would have been consistently stupid with all the others?
Posted by: ManxRed Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 11:44
Post #1355879
Maybe there were, but the guy in question works for the BBC so maybe had an advantage in getting it into the media?
Posted by: freddy1 Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 21:21
Post #1356060
and the warden has now admitted that when checking if the vehicle held a permit he did not know the difference between o and 0 , yup its on the bbc news (website)
Posted by: DancingDad Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 21:34
Post #1356066
No, not quite.
However, it later emerged the number plate had been recorded incorrectly, with the last digit stated as a zero not the letter "O".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-43002171
Seems if a permit is not visible, CEO checks against a database. Which had the offending digit incorrect.
Or council BS to explain a c0ckup by the CEO.
Takes your pick.
Posted by: freddy1 Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 21:40
Post #1356068
yes and if a "trained" enforcement officer can make this mistake , what chance have the general public , when the keypad on the terminal has a digit that is not used on UK reg cars
Posted by: DancingDad Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 22:07
Post #1356091
The story infers that the CEO got it right.
But that backroom staff populating the database made the error.
I would assume they were using a standard qwerty keyboard
I'm not a fan of the antics we see from many CEOs and councils but trying to turn the BBC report into CEO error is perhaps stretching it a little far.
Whether they should have been bothering with enforcement in snow is one argument but if they have the tools to check and used them, cannot really complain about the CEO.
Nor the council when they check, acknowledge and explain an error and cancel.
And the story does go onto say that the admin staff were being told of the error.
Posted by: freddy1 Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 22:19
Post #1356098
the backroom staff took there there input , from the imput entered by the CEO , had he/she have typed it correctly , no enforcement was needed (snow) however if the CEO has not been trained , or has equipment that accepts a non existent VRN , what chance the public
"The story infers that the CEO got it right."
NO the ceo entered the wrong vrn!
the article on the BBC website has been altered from the origional
update 7 hrs ago , the original stating the CEO entered wrong VRN was at o9.00 this morning
Posted by: DancingDad Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 22:33
Post #1356102
Ah well, not seen that version.
We do know that CEOs get it wrong with number inputs.
Gets a few PCNs cancelled every year.
Posted by: freddy1 Fri, 9 Feb 2018 - 22:41
Post #1356104
very quickly edited , as per BBC
Posted by: Fredd Sat, 10 Feb 2018 - 09:51
Post #1356167
Assuming you're talking about this particular case, both '0' and 'O' are valid characters in GB VRMs.
Also many if not all councils have arrangements to issue parking permits for foreign-registered vehicles - generally only for an interim period while the vehicle is being re-registered with DVLA, but their systems still have to be able to cope with non-UK VRM formats.
Posted by: 666 Sat, 10 Feb 2018 - 10:09
Post #1356170
"I have asked the manager in charge of the admin staff who process the permits to remind them that British vehicle registration numbers do not end in a number but a letter, to avoid this happening again."
It's hardly surprising that the staff make mistakes if they get advice like this.
Posted by: ManxRed Sun, 11 Feb 2018 - 11:05
Post #1356519
Or he could simply have wiped some snow from the windscreen and had a look, or perhaps that's not in his manual, or someone else's fault. Or a database error.
But not the CEO, its never their fault.
Posted by: big_mac Mon, 12 Feb 2018 - 15:47
Post #1356926
this is actually the same person who originally made the 'dangerous' claim.
Presumably enough people told him he was being a muppet for him to take notice.
Posted by: bill w Sat, 17 Feb 2018 - 22:42
Post #1359009
The thread on https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1531363&highlight=bus+lane ran to 9 pages on why Bus Lanes were enforced on Christmas Day; again, no buses running.
It seems they issue about 7 or 8 tickets per Christmas Day, unlike bank holiday Mondays, which are rather more lucrative; I think just over 3 times as many folk get done on a BH Monday as do on a normal working Monday.
Apparently I was misinformed, according to the local rag, https://www.thestar.co.uk/news/absolutely-outrageous-sheffield-council-rake-in-thousands-on-bus-lane-tickets-issued-on-christmas-day-1-9021571?utm_campaign=Sheffield%20Star%20-%20Daily%20RSS&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=60758520&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8A0BqnX1f9Mj09kAlJ9p6YbZJQt97BSfqRhnCsMAh0VATUOCdTG6IIln7x1SgIDyoxjiqn9Nl96sXPCXhq9r1mo9jVXg&_hsmi=60758520 for bus lane contraventions.
I guess 4 grand covers the CCTV operators wages even at triple time.
Posted by: DancingDad Sun, 18 Feb 2018 - 10:13
Post #1359065
There is the one obvious question on why a council feels the need to issue PCNs when buses aren't running..... the answer to that is cash, not need or traffic management.
And the second obvious question about why 141 people felt the need to drive in a bus lane anyway?
But the comments are as clueless as always.....
"Just pay it back at a pound a month you haven't refused to pay it so they can't touch you for it...." uhm, wrong, £30 at discount becomes £60 at full wack, becomes £90 at CC stage and then bailiffs appear with their costs
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