19 May 2020

Bank Holiday bonanza

Back at Easter, gosh a whole month ago, Mr Mustard tweeted about traffic wardens being on overtime despite the bank holiday and also pushing back against the reduced enforcement which councils have been advised to undertake during the pandemic. Council budgets are under pressure so enforcement continues. Mr Mustard decided to take a look at the number of PCNs issued by Barnet Council on a recent bank holiday, New Year's Day 2020 and the following day for comparison, totalled by the actual contravention for which the PCNs were issued.

As you can see the council managed to issue 90% of the usual number of PCns on a bank holiday. Mr Mustard sense checked this by looking at another bank holiday, 27 May 2019 (380 PCNs) and 28 May (409 PCNs) where there was only a 7% variance in ticket issuing.

Parking is free on bank holidays in council car parks and pay to park bays and in addition there is no restriction in residents bays and that leads to about 170 PCNs not being possible. Most of that is compensated for by catching people on single yellow lines who make the assumption that either single yellows don't apply on bank holidays (that is only true if the sign says excluding bank holidays and Barnet's don't in the main) or that there won't be any traffic wardens about on a bank holiday. There most definitely are and they are hunting for people like you who think they won't be caught and those drivers who made an erroneous assumption about the applicability of the lines on bank holidays.

Please remember this for Barnet (other boroughs may be less miserable) and try and ruin the council's game and make it uneconomic to send traffic wardens out on the prowl.

People still keep getting caught with a wheel on the pavement. Stay off them, save £110 and let pedestrians use them (except where marked out for parking).

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

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