Newham: no sign = no problem - issue PCNs

The council's photo of 13 July 15.

In 2014 Mr Mustard was a regular visitor to Newham to see his then +1. He used to enjoy parking in this parking bay as there was no notification of the times of it & as it was a mere 4 cars long and only had one sign, which was missing.

Given that Mr Mustard does not trust councils not to come along, erect new signs and then happily issue PCNs he photographs his car every time he needs to, in order to protect himself. The below photo of Mr Mustard's Mercedes was taken on 4/1/2015 so we know the sign has been missing for at least 6 months.

It is the theoretical duty of traffic wardens to check signs before they issue PCN and to report any signs (& lines) which are not correct, not compliant or are non-existent. Clearly in Newham the demands of the traffic warden's job are such that 100% of the time has to be spent on issuing PCN.

The Sky van was parked in the unsigned bay, as per the first photo. A traffic warden appeared. Mrs +1 came out of her house and politely pointed out to the traffic warden that the absence of any signage meant that no contravention could be committed - the bay was to all intents and purposes a free bay, 24/7/365.

Guess what the traffic warden did next? Yes, he issued PCNs. He told Mrs +1 that he could. She knows better and will give out Mr Mustard's contact details to the affected parties.

This is to the right of the bay - you can see the red brick wall continues.

Mouchel employ the traffic wardens in Newham. Face & pips redacted by Mr Mustard.

The behaviour of the traffic warden is downright dishonest. Mr Mustard hazards a guess that the bay sign which he photographs will be from the opposite side of the road and that has different rules and the sign on the other side is never applicable in any event (although it may be identical). Mr Mustard recalls that the bay on the opposite side of the road is for resident permits holders only and the bay in question was also for residents but also offered 2 hours of free parking. The occupiers of the bay today were dished out with PCN pretty much instantly.

If traffic wardens aren't on bonus why are they so keen to issue the maximum number of PCN every single day? is a question that Mr Mustard has yet to hear a satisfactory answer to.

So this will be 3 or 4 more easy wins for Mr Mustard once the motorists get in touch.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

One rule for the council (NSL)

So here we are in Salisbury Rd, High Barnet where Mr Mustard had just walked past a traffic warden giving a PCN to a 4by4 that had it's front wheel on the double yellow and the rest of the car over the single yellow; however, the traffic warden must have ridden his scooter the wrong way up a one way street. You can't park against the flow of traffic in a one way street, even on a scooter. If councillors ever wonder why residents hate the venal and rapacious enforcement to which they are subjected then they should look at the hypocrisy of situations like this one and the fact that enforcement vehicles (not sure this is one, surely it is merely transport) park in contravention when they don't need to (scooters can be parked in almost any bay) is what annoys the public. Parking in contravention by traffic wardens has to be reasonably necessary, it clearly isn't when there are parking bays nearby. This sort of thing should stop.

Having to park properly, like the public have to, would slow the traffic wardens down so they don't issue sufficient PCN to please their bosses. Why they are so keen to issue PCN is one of life's mysteries. Someone somewhere has targets in mind even if the contract forbids them. The only pseudo target is that the council project a certain annual income from parking and if they see slippage they take action to correct it which usually means more PCN.

The traffic warden was also in breach of the NSL contract with Barnet Council as he was wearing his crash helmet whilst issuing the PCN. If traffic wardens are supposed to engage with the public then they need to be able to fully hear them which Mr Mustard knows you can't when you are sporting a crash helmet, even without ear plugs.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

p.s. Where was Mr Mustard going you ask yourself? To the post office to send two PATAS appeal forms and some representations to Enfield Council against a bus lane PCN. Enfield have sneakily placed their camera where the imminent end of the lane is not shown and so they dish out PCN to anyone who cuts the corner off the lane which is too trivial to merit a PCN.

Saracens - takings on 31 August were £22,165

A motorist and resident's view of Barnet Council and the Saracens Event Day (ED) zone

Back in May, Mr Mustard suggested the following to the council.

Leaflet motorists rather than ticket them inside the Saracens zone for the next event?

This suggestion seems to have been widely ignored. 

Fast forward to the first match of the season, Mr Mustard doesn't follow rugby and only knew it was on Saturday 31 August 2013 because he made it his business to know and as he actually drove the blogger bus through the zone towards the end of the restricted time. Mr Mustard tried to find out last season's PCN figures for each match day and was rebuffed as having posed a vexatious question (you'll see why in a minute). Another independent requestor asked and was told that 1,289 PCN were issued in the months of February through to May 13 so probably about 150 PCN per match. The conversion rate has ramped up in the new season with traffic wardens tumbling over the try line in an unstoppable manner. There must have been a whole team of them out shimmying up and down the roads looking for local residents who know nothing about rugby or the new zone because the number of parking tickets (PCN) issued on 31 August 2013 was

403, yes 403.

For perspective, the average daily PCN count across the entire borough is 450.

Of those probably 50% will pay up in order to get the 50% discount and so 403 PCN at £110 times 50% is £22,165

If there was a match day every day of the year Barnet Council could gross £8,090,225 in a year out of this zone alone at the discounted rate. As it is with 18 match days they will gross at least £398,970 (some of the people who don't pay at the 50% rate will end up paying at the 100% rate and some at 150% so the final out turn will be more). Last year, PCN income for the whole borough was £5m.

Mr Mustard thinks that greater efforts need to be made to educate those motorists who find themselves within the zone when they should not be, and residents, businesses and charities can get free permits and vouchers for their visitors. His answer would be to put an explanatory leaflet on every car on the next match day rather than a PCN. One resident described Barnet Council to the Transport Select Committee as "venal and rapacious" and this does not seem wide of the mark.

Until the £7m which the Special Parking Account is budgeted to make in a year is moderated down to a mere £million or so this is the sort of behaviour we are going to have to put up with.

You can of course fight back. Barnet Council are struggling with the PCN for this zone which reach PATAS. Download yourself a copy of my appeal guide which is on the top left of the page. Here is your appeal.

1 - I did not know it was an "event day", please provide proof by way of a Traffic Management Order that it was.

2 - I saw no signs showing that it was an Event Day. Please provide contemporaneous proof that there were the necessary signs in place to cover my car's location and all approach roads and that they are either standard signs from the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 or that they have been approved by the Secretary of State and provide a copy of the relevant authorisation and indicate which sign letter or letters you are relying on.

You can use this same argument at both the informal (after the PCN i.e. now) and formal (after the Notice to Owner) stages and then appeal to PATAS. You can easily do the informal and formal appeals yourself and once you get the Notice of Rejection Mr Mustard will gladly take over for you.

Take no notice of any tosh that NSL, on behalf of the council, tell you about the onus being on you to check the council or Saracen's website. If you were to drive from, say, Inverness to Barnet you are not expected to check the website of every council, rugby, football, cricket etc club that you are going to pass by. Local signage should clearly demonstrate the applicable restrictions. Mr Mustard happens to know that some of it is wrong.

So get writing to that PO Box in Worthing or emailing ( barnet@nslservices.co.uk ) and stick your appeal in now. The first PCN has been appealed. Can we get another 402 in?

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard