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

Highland Gardens Tree Trail

Mr Mustard is delighted to bring you a guest blog on behalf of the Highland Gardens Tree Trail.

You have struck lucky Mr Wicksteed because Mr Mustard is fond of trees and his alter ego is a member of the Royal Forestry Society. Mr Mustard has therefore registered with the NatWest ( I don't suppose they will want to give a fictitious character a bank account - there also might be some problems in producing identity documents! ) and cast a vote already in favour of this project which is a delightful Big Society initiative. When he gets a minute, not many of those free, Mr Mustard is also going to pop along and have a look at the trees.

As it happens Mr Mustard lived for several years in Woodville Rd, New Barnet and so was only about a kilometre from Highland Gardens and yet he never knew it existed. Mr Mustard hopes that this extra publicity will lead to extra votes and more tree loving visitors for Highland Gardens. If you are in Barnet and fancy a walk, why not walk their way.

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Mr Mustard,

The Friends of Highlands Gardens, in New Barnet near the Odeon, have applied for a grant from NatWest bank's Community Force fund to set up a tree trail, and we were wondering if you could mention us on your blog please? We only get the money if enough people vote for us, and we would like to let the people of Barnet know about it. All the details are at NatWest Community Force or here.

Highlands Gardens has some rather unusual trees which we think people would like to know more about. We have already prepared the artwork for plaques, and just need some funds to get them made into permanent signs. There's a sample for the Black Walnut on the NatWest web site.

I do understand that your blog is more about politics, but I thought it was worth asking.

Thanks,

Charles
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Charles Wicksteed
Abbotts Road, New Barnet
Webmaster, www.highlandsgardens.org.uk 

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Mr Mustard is delighted to have been of assistance. If you have a worthwhile local project that you would like to be blogged about then feel free to send details to Mr Mustard and to the other members of the famous five bloggers of Barnet - as approved of by Eric Pickles MP, details to the side or links here

The Barnet Eye 

Broken Barnet ( Mrs Angry )

Mr Reasonable

VickiM57

who are all doing their bit to make Barnet a better place, despite Barnet Council's best efforts.

Oh, whilst we are on the subject of Barnet Council, lots of council employees and councillors read this blog so do please, in your tea break naturally, register and vote for Highland Gardens. As there are 3,000 of you this could make a big difference and it doesn't cost anything.

Better (wild) service (trees) for less money!

At long last, the slogan is true!

Here is a picture of a Wild Service Tree ( you can join or find out more about the RFS here )

Picture credit : Epping Forest District Council & others

Look what a lovely resource they have put in place at Epping ( nothing like this in Barnet )

Epping Forest trees

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard