Car accident - that will be £20 please or £4 a day

I really don't think that it is the duty of Barnet Council to kick a man when he's down but they seem to think otherwise. Here is an email I received from an acquaintance who wishes to remain anonymous - probably a good choice as far as Barnet Council is concerned.

Thought you might like to know this -

1.  My son was in a car accident.  He rang Parking re dispensation for courtesy car.  Can only get 5 working days dispensation.  Longer than 5 working days either use Parking Voucher (£4) OR switch resident's parking permit to courtesy car (free) BUT to switch back to his own car when repaired will cost admin charge of £20. 

2. My son, who has for the last five years been second car for resident parking, renewed his permit and was not allowed to be second car as he applied first. This means he pays £100 and I pay £120 even though I'm the houseowner and pay the council tax and for the last 12 years have been first car.

  

Is Barnet Council's aim to make life as difficult and expensive as possible for the people who pay their salaries etc.

Its stressful enough when you have a car accident dealing with the insurance company, the other driver, the garage etc etc without Barnet Council then making your life administratively more difficult and more expensive. 

So where has this new 5 day rule come from then. On the Council's own website it says 14 days. Click on this link Barnet Council Parking info

I don't suppose that customer services (sic) are being trained in the art of mis-selling are they ?

They very wisely didn't offer the driver the option of a 3 month temporary permit because they are now £240. Bonkers ! a 3 month permit costs 2.4 times what an annual one costs; who is going to buy that ?

It also appears to be quite arbitrary  as to what constitutes the 1st or 2nd car. I would certainly be writing to my local Councillors about that. They are the newly important Cllr Longstaff, and Cllrs Perry and Prentice, one of whom simply echos what Cllr Longstaff says and the other never replies to anything. And only one of them lives in a CPZ but they all have free Permits for every zone. Of course, they don't use them except when they are on Council business. Sorry, lost concentration for a moment.

So here are their email addresses so that you can kick back.

cllr.d.longstaff@barnet.gov.uk

cllr.b.perry@barnet.gov.uk

cllr.w.prentice@barnet.gov.uk

or you can beard them in their den, otherwise known as Chipping Barnet library, on the 3rd Saturday of every month, 10.30am to 12 noon ( no appointment necessary - I don't suppose security guards are needed to control the crowds trying to get in ). Oh how handy, the next 3rd Saturday is the 20 June.

You could also email Cllr Coleman whose portfolio these CPZ charges fall into but I must warn you his replies are usually short in length, and sometimes even shorter in the phrasing of the content.

cllr.b.coleman@barnet.gov.uk

So there we have it Barnet Council; another unhappy resident - so much for "OneBarnet - better services for less money" - such a hollow ring to that mantra.

And by the way Barnet Council if you look at the page I link to above I think you will find it is "separate" not "seperate". ( I expect that you will now go off and spend £100,000 on an on-line spell checking system. ) The whole page could do with a rewrite in the opinion of Mr Mustard both in its use of the English language and as it is not comprehensive and is possibly mis-leading.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard