Don't you know who I am? Why? don't you? Haringey Council know now.

extracts of Barnet Council's ludicrous attempt to nobble Mr Mustard in 2011

Haringey Council wanted Mr Mustard to prove he was one and the same as Derek Dishman, or the other way around, before answering his questions about what, if anything, the parking department had written about either of them. It would have been a data breach for Haringey Council to phone Barnet Council and ask who I was but that sort of thing does not (oops) go amongst councils. Searching on google for "Derek Dishman Mr Mustard" also brings up ample proof in a second.

Anyway, as he is so helpful, he did prove it.

Dear Ms Pietikäinen

I refer to your below email.

I prove that Mr Mustard is my nom-de-plume by the following methods:

·         I have placed your below email on the Mr Mustard blog

·         Your chief Executive, Nick Walkley, can confirm my identity

·         I attach a complaint made to the ICO, which was not upheld, by Barnet Council which understands that Mr Mustard is Derek Dishman and that the blog should have been registered under Data Protection Act.

·         Derek Dishman as his character Mr Mustard has been seen on BBC1 in the programme Parking Mad. The following iPlayer link will work for 2 weeks http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b041d6z6

·         Derek Dishman as Mr Mustard was seen on C4 news which you can watch on this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfJ6QOz-iC4

·         Derek Dishman mentioned Mr Mustard is his evidence to the transport select committee (PE33) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmtran/118/118vw29.htm

·         Just one example from the local paper http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/13612861.Man_criticises_Barnet_council_s__soviet_style__parking_rules/

I look forward to my request now being complied with.

Please add to my SAR request all internal council communications with any member of the Feedback & Information Team since 1 January 2015 in my real name or nom-de-plume.

Best regards

Derek

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Since doing this Mr Mustard, or his alter ego, have received an email thanking them for the £10 cheque and saying that an answer should be provided by 3 October.

It will be interesting reading.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

ConAll Crescent, Ealing

Mr Mustard may have got the road name wrong in the title

Yesterday, Mr Mustard and another NoToMob member, a veteran as it happens, by the name of Bald Eagle, and here is the photographic evidence of him in action

Mr Mustard was also with him that day, evidently not wise to let him out on his own, lol

decided to do something about the huge number of motorists who, by dint of habit, were missing a new "no motor vehicles" sign at the exit of Hanger Green into Connell Crescent in Ealing, near the Boden shop (suppliers of flowery shirts to Mr Mustard and shoes to Mrs Angry)

So at 3pm we started. By 4pm we had prevented 50 motorists from going into Connell Crescent when they shouldn't have, all going there by force of habit after driving down there for many years.

So that was £6,500 that Ealing Council didn't sent out demands for.

Motorists we met fell into 2 camps.

Camp 1, who have had 1,2,4,6,7 PCN here before they found out the new rules. Big thumbs up from them.

Camp 2, are you sure? Oh I see, now I see, thank you very much. We'll go along the A40 then.

About 10 motorists decided to ignore us and go down Connell Crescent despite being warned. You will all get a PCN for £130 in the post and listen to NoToMob members next time.

About 6 cars came the other way out of Connell Crescent which is fine and we met some of the residents who said that even they had not been warned about the new restrictions and some of them had been ticketed. We suggested they talk very forcefully into the ears of their local councillors. Clearly the necessary local publicity which should be a vital part of any new restriction had not taken place. We absolutely understand the need to restrict this location being used as a cut through as it is not suitable for more than light local traffic. The Ocado driver was bit hacked off at having to go the long way round but he will adjust to it.

Local business John Lewis had warned all of its drivers. The presence of the NoToMob ensured that a number of other local businesses with many drivers would now be warning them all.

3 driving instructors were prevented from entering the road and were suitably chastened (sorry if you were embarrassed in front of your students but you did save £130 apiece).

Numerous mini cab drivers didn't know about the new signs. They do now and will hopefully spread the word.

The one black cab driver who happened along wisely touched the side of his eye in a knowing manner to show that he did know.

A police car with 4 officers in it stopped for a chat. They were perfectly happy with our activities and we chatted for a few minutes during which time one car escaped us into Connell Crescent.

One driver tried to press a tenner into my hand. It was declined. He was directed to the NoToMOb site to sign up instead and so some prevention work of his own.

At 6.25 dinner was calling (7.30 at Ai Sushi in Finchley) so we mounted our bikes to leave and even then whilst parked up Mr Mustard, who could be mistaken for a policeman if you aren't concentrating, with his high-vis jacket and clear hand signals, managed to stop two more cars from entering the banned entry.

A good afternoons work with about 170 motorists who didn't commit a contravention on the day, nor will they another day, thus saving a collective £22,100 from being demanded by Ealing Council.

Who said it was all about revenue raising? NoToMob did. This coming Thursday at 22.35 on BBC1 you can see Bald Eagle and other mobbers on the tv doing their stuff.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Mad about Parking? Parking Mad is coming to a TV near you

Regular readers will recall Mr Mustard's appearance in the first episode of 4 of the 1 hour Parking Mad series on BBC1.

Another 3 programmes have been commissioned and people with parking stories are needed. It could be you on the silver screen and you'll end up like Mr Mustard (slightly better known than he was a year ago) who takes parcels in for all his neighbours and one of today's delivery drivers said "You're that parking ticket bloke off the telly, aren't you". His employer challenge any PCN he gets but then make him pay if they lose which seems pretty tough on a delivery driver who is doing anything up to 160 drops a day for them and not earning a fortune. The next PCN he gets will be handled by Mr Mustard. Interestingly one problem he has is the shared use "loading" bays which cars can often use in the borough of Barnet from 10 until 4. His van is quite large and he can't then get to park in the High St and it makes his job more difficult. The idea that there weren't deliveries between 10am and 4pm was always a dubious one.

If you have a story to tell, then contact James Lewis of Century Films (the same production company as before) by email on james.lewis@centuryfilmsltd.com or telephone him on 0207 378 6106 and tell him your story.

Don't expect to be on the TV next week, it takes months of preparation and filming to make a TV documentary.

Traffic wardens and parking managers are equally welcome to join in.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Are we over-managed in Barnet?

Mr Mustard can't find the tweet now but @publicnaylor (Chris Naylor, the Chief Operating Officer) brought to his attention by re-tweeting, something about local government management and Mr Mustard tweeted back about the excessive number of levels of management. At this point the Guardian invited him to submit his view but he didn't have time as his world had gone mad following the Broadcast of Parking Mad. The final episode will be out on Thursday at 9pm on BBC1.

Unless he was dreaming (and they have been problematic recently, his new motorbike's brakes failed at 100mph approaching a T junction in France and a lady taxi driver in England took him down some country lanes that were even more pot-holed than the typical Barnet road and then she nudged a cyclist off his bike and when she got out to pick him up Mr Mustard saw her knickers were on the dashboard along with other clothes and yet she was fully clothed?)  he tweeted @publicnaylor that he could do with the latest organogram but it didn't arrive. Mr Mustard then went onto the council website and found that, for a change, it was up to date. Here is the latest staff organisational chart - Mr Mustard expected 2 or 3 pages but boy was he in for a shock.

Corporate Structure 2014, Barnet Council by MisterMustard

That rather brought Mr Mustard to a halt. Instead of a 2 or 3 page chart he found himself looking at 134 pages of corporate structure. They say that less is more but in Barnet Council management, more is more. The size of this management tree, actually more of a small forest, is ridiculous. There will be managers in this chart who don't come out of meetings from one month to the next and who add nothing to the borough apart from overhead.

We are over-managed beyond belief, we are providing a whole field of troughs for snouts to dip into. Don't talk to Mr Mustard about miserable miserly mean £45,000 cuts to Mapledown School and expect him to believe that every single person in the above structure chart is necessary and that none of them are overpaid. Someone with some management and organisational skills needs to take an axe to the chart and get chopping, hard and fast. Don't think for one moment that the above represent all of the management either as the Parking Manager and the Parking Process Manager are not listed and their equivalents in every other department (the people who actually do all of the work and get their hands dirty) are not listed.

Feel free to tweet this blog to the heavens.

Yours frugally (unlike the council who are spending our money like drunken sailors)

Mr Mustard

Parking Mad - Tonight - BBC1 at 9pm

in which Mr Mustard makes his white booted appearance (oh dear, described as a crime against fashion by Mrs Angry's daughter who has her own blog, here). Mr Mustard hasn't had the pleasure of meeting Maddy yet but will be sure to dress "properly" if there is a chance that he might.

Mr Mustard also name-checked Mr Reasonable, and Barnet is stuffed full of bloggers who are all well worth following and the other member of the famous four (the fifth having escaped to Nottingham) is Roger at The Barnet Eye.

Do keep reading the soap opera that is Barnet.

Here is a link to the programme on iplayer .

Three more episodes yet to go featuring other people and places.

Has a parking ticket got your goat?

http://www.nannygoatsinpanties.com

During the last 2 years Mr Mustard has read some appeals which went to the independent adjudicator PATAS in which parking tickets were issued in absurd, ridiculous and downright unreasonable circumstances. These parking tickets cause anger, confusion and a feeling of helplessness when dealing with a pedantic and intransigent public official.

Now is the time to have your say.

Century Films, the makers of Parking Mad, are making another film about parking and it will feature some footage shot in Barnet (it being a hotbed of stupid decision making such as removing cash parking meters) so if you have a bonkers parking ticket, and the madder the better, please email liz.allen@centuryfilmsltd.com with the briefest of summaries of the problem ticket and what has happened. If the story is still continuing then so much the better.

You could be a film star.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Parking Mad - Tuesday 8 Jan at 10.35pm on BBC1

and afterwards on iPlayer