Why traffic wardens might not be popular

If Barnet Council ever wondered why the traffic wardens that they allow NSL to foist on us, at lower rates of pay then the council used to give them, are unpopular then maybe this decision by an independent adjudicator at PATAS, could be one reason. The traffic wardens are quite simply out of sight of their masters and out of control.

The Appellant attended this hearing.

The Appellant parked his vehicle outside his house in a permit bay and displayed his disabled badge, but the wrong way up. The Enforcement Authority accept that he can park there with his disabled badge, but say that as it was displayed incorrectly this Penalty Charge Notice was properly issued.

The Appellant produced a letter from his neighbour, Mr L, who was there at the time and states that he saw the civil enforcement officer around the vehicle. He told the officer that the Appellant was allowed to park there with a disabled badge and the officer replied that the badge was not correctly displayed. Another neighbour came out and said she would get the Appellant to show his disabled badge. She went to get him, but as she did so the officer issued the Penalty Charge Notice. It was on the vehicle when the Appellant came out. The officer would not let the Appellant open the vehicle door and show him the badge. An argument followed. The officer's notes do not mention any contact with the Appellant or his neighbours.

I found the Appellant to be a credible witness & believed what he told me & the evidence of Mr L.

Whilst the badge must be displayed so that all the correct details can be seen, if before the Penalty Charge Notice is issued there is an opportunity for a badge in the vehicle to be shown to the officer so that he can check it is valid and then be correctly displayed, it is inequitable and unreasonable for the officer to proceed to issue a Penalty Charge Notice.

The appeal was allowed.

This isn't funny but traffic wardens are now known as Civil Enforcement Officers. A misnomer if ever there was one.

What Mr Mustard likes about this story is that the neighbours rally round and help each other just as they do in Mustard Avenue. The bad behaviour of council representatives leads to big society behaviour. Ironic really.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard