School zig zags - don't stop there

East Barnet School

Mr Mustard was consulted by a motorist who had been caught on the school keep clear markings as he stopped on them briefly in order to reverse past them into a parking space, the car in question is the one to the right of the word 'clear'.

In order to move from forward motion to reverse it is necessary to stop for a short while during which time you have to change gear and the laws of physics require that you are stationary for an instant. The computer decided the lack of motion should be considered for a PCN and a human being pressed the button to confirm the computer selection. How much time they spent thinking about this we do not know.

The contravention on school keep clear markings is of 'stopping' and a millisecond may well be long enough to make out a contravention but context is key. In this case Mr Mustard did not think a penalty was deserved and so he wrote to the parking manager:

In this case 'T' stops fleetingly in order to reverse into a space which would otherwise not be accessible. To my mind he doesn't deserve to be sent a PCN because this was a trivial period of stopping for good reason, although presumably a team member thought he did & technically yes he did stop.

I was wondering if you might think the same? If so, please cancel the PCN & save us all from extra paperwork.

It turned out that the manager did agree and the PCN was cancelled accordingly:

This is sensible as there wasn't any intent to do anything dangerous which would endanger the life of a child and none are in the picture that early afternoon.

Notwithstanding that Mr Mustard has put this PCN to bed he suggests you don't park in this way but go up the road past the zig zags, turn around where safe and then return and enter the parking space head on such that you don't have to stop on the entrance markings.

Mr Mustard has seen a PCN lost at the tribunal because the motorist pulled up on the zig zags in order to execute a 3 point turn. Mr Mustard agrees with that decision. Outside a school is not the place to be turning around.

The other problem he sees is when the keep clear zig zag lines are placed outside fire and ambulance stations. Those probably won't have a time plate as they apply 24 hours a day. He saw a PCN lost at Hartley Close around the corner from Mill Hill Fire station for this reason.

One further problem he has seen is when you have to stop on or alongside the keep clear markings because the road is only wide enough to let one car through and you obligingly waited for the other car. If you have your dash cam running that recording will help you overturn a PCN for stopping, as it was to avoid an accident, which amounts to an exemption.

Mr Mustard hopes that his advice keeps you out of trouble.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

East Barnet School - a zig zag problem

Of course you don't stop on school zig-zags, unless you have to.

This is a tale of an over zealous computer and an apparently under zealous contractor, NSL Ltd, as represented by an unknown employee (maybe).

You can see that what might happen here, especially at school drop off time is that parents may be perfectly properly dropping little Johnnie off after the zig-zags have ended and probably on both sides of the road. That narrows the carriageway way down to a single car width through which self evidently two cars cannot pass in opposite directions at the same time, ergo one of them has to give way and probably stop. If you are heading in the direction shown above then you have no choice but to stop on the zig-zags. No-one gets in or out of your car so surely you won't be sent a PCN, will you? Oh yes you will, by NSL Ltd on behalf of Barnet Council. Here is a photograph from one such event.

Mr Mustard's client was driving the teal coloured car (the Barnet Council corporate colour as it happens) and she could not proceed as the black car in front had stopped to let another car pass in the opposite direction. This was the first occasion on which she received a PCN, she got another one 5 days later when she was equally courteous to a driver coming the other way. The second PCN has been cancelled and the first should be very shortly as Mr Mustard has raised the problem with the parking manager.

The decision as to whether or not to issue PCN for cctv derived contraventions is undertaken, under contract (not yet seen) by NSL Ltd. Mr Mustard thinks that this breaches public policy interests as a private company, a profit motivated company, should not be undertaking public interest decisions. Mr Mustard has this argument in front of an adjudicator at the moment.

The council is required to have a belief that a contravention has occurred before deciding to issue a PCN. Mr Mustard has watched the cctv. It shows the reflection of a car in the side of the black car going through in the other direction and then later on when his client moves up another car also going through in the other direction. So it is clear that a contravention did not occur.

Therefore, either the computer decided to issue a PCN which means that the council itself did not hold a belief or the operator who watched the video isn't up to the job. Neither is a satisfactory situation.

Mr Mustard dealt with the same problem in Richmond Rd last year.  Clealry lessons learned were not applied to other locations.

Mr Mustard has asked for compensation for his client who has been wronged and who has been put to time & trouble and the worry of having to find £260 just after Xmas when budgets are tight. Luckily she is a client of Cafe Buzz who told her about Mr Mustard. She won't now be parting with a bean.

If this happened to you, do not pay, make representations & take the case to the tribunal if rejected.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard