Tis the season of goodwill

A poke in the eye isn't a goodwill gesture

It’s all rather strange.

Let’s compare and contrast a few points.

In High Barnet
•    We are told we have to pay to park without cash meters
•    We are told there is no money for troughs and hanging baskets.

•    We are told the council would have no means of watering them in any case.

•    We are told there is no money for a Christmas tree.

In East Barnet

•    There is a car park where It is free to park

•    There is lovely municipal planting that is regularly refreshed

•    There is a council owned water bowser that visits to keep everything looking tip top

•    There is to be a Christmas tree to be switch on by the Mayor

From what I see in social media and the papers, the Mayor is having a very jolly time turning on the Christmas lights in high streets all over the borough. Whereas here in High Barnet it seems that the council is doing nothing to help Christmas on its way, no lights, no tree, no bonhomie and seasonal cheer. It seems that Christmas is happening everywhere else except High Barnet.

Whilst writing I have just had a customer come in a say that Barnet High Street was the most forlorn and unloved shopping street she had recently been to. To sum up she said there was a “TOTAL ABSENCE OF CIVIC PRIDE”.

For a start we were led to believe that we were getting new Christmas lights for our lampposts – clearly we are so far down the list of the council’s list of Christmas priorities.

So what’s going on?

What’s to be done?

This is not a trivial matter. High Barnet’s commercial offering has suffered so dreadfully as a result of the council’s parking policies and lack of support. It really is time that the council put something back to help the struggling High Street. In retail this period is SO VERY IMPORTANT to us traders – it just seems that High Barnet is losing out.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Kentish
Hon. Treasurer
Barnet Businesses & Traders Association

c/o: Hopscotch Trading Ltd
88 High Street, Barnet, Herts, EN5 5SN
T: (020) 8364 9777

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Mr Mustard was somewhat surprised by the tone of the reply from an elected representative especially one charged with responsibility for resident engagement. A good councillor would soak up the criticism, do something about the complaints if he could and write with grace and style. Instead, this poke in the eye arrived.

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Dear Michael Kentish,

East Barnet doesn't have a tube station. High Barnet does have a tube station. If you want free parking I can assure you the car parks will be full of commuters. (A one hour restriction would solve that supposed problem)

The High Barnet Town Team agreed to maintain the baskets if the Council bought and installed them, but did not. The HBTT is now defunct.

High Barnet had a publicly funded Christmas Tree in 2011. East Barnet did not.

High Barnet had OLF money in 2011. East Barnet did not.

Several shops had makeovers with that money... and even then Pacino could only be motivated to put up one half of their shutters. Did you email them to complain about their lack of pride?

As 'Barnet Traders' did you constantly write to the previous owner of the market as she ran it into the ground and destroyed footfall?

What about the owners of the former 'Greggs' shop? Have you contacted them about their pride? I did speak with the owners this week and told them it was in a dilapidated state. There are 'legal' issues that need to resolved first, but I have implored them to get on with it.

This year High Barnet had the Freedom Parade by the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment. East Barnet did not. That parade brought a lot of people to the High Street, but that parade could have been done anywhere in the borough.

There is free parking on the High Street. There hasn't been free parking on the High Street for many years.

The local Barnet Resident Association and Barnet Traders (reps' names removed by Mr Mustard) had a recent meeting with Cllr. (Dean) Cohen regarding the parking changes. It was agreed that parking was greatly improved (figures confirm that), but that Moxon Street Car Park needed changes and they will be announced very soon, along with another parking change.

There is free parking after 2.30pm at the north of the High Street. There are no restrictions on Meadway, there are one hour restrictions on the streets west side of Barnet Hill/Wood Street. You frequently complain that this is not close enough for your shop, but if you needed vehicular access then why set up shop on a narrow bend with double yellows on both sides of the street? (it's all you own fault you idiot is how Mr Mustard reads this sentence) 

There is free parking on the weekends up to Christmas in December.

High Barnet has had substantial amount of money put into transforming the Churchyard Gardens; and nearly £20,000 this year on further works. East Barnet hasn't, to my knowledge.

The High Road has been resurfaced. East Barnet's, to my knowledge, has not.

High Barnet has a tremendous Remembrance Parade - over 500 residents involved or watching this year. The best attended in the borough. The High Street was looking excellent. Was your shop open to serve the visitors?

The Council is a major stakeholder in the Chipping Barnet Town Team. The Barnet Traders should have a major part to play as a stakeholder in the Town Team. For reasons I don't understand, the most successful trader in High Barnet was once part of the Barnet Traders, but hasn't been for three years. His presence would surely have a galvanising effect on the Barnet Traders. Why is he not part of Barnet Traders?

If you want the Christmas Tree lights switched on by the Mayor, then you could have requested it through the Mayor's office, or asked a local Councillor for advice on contacting the Mayor. (This one sentence is actually sensible advice) 

The Mayor does open the Barnet Christmas Fayre each year - because the organisers request it.

I believe (redacted) has been in discussion with Council officers and arranged Christmas lights - 'simple design but elegant' her email said.

I will speak with Cllr. Cohen, but money and resources are tight. High Barnet is a large area with a large number of demands. The area does get a reasonable share (a completely unsupported statement, no comparative figures with other town centres, easy to write but hard to prove). One always wants more and that's what I'm constantly trying to deliver.

Regards,

Cllr. David Longstaff

Cabinet Member for Safety and Resident Engagement

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Mr Mustard isn't Richard Cornelius's biggest fan, although enjoys perfectly cordial chats with him and will happily buy him a pint when time allows after a council meeting, but at least Richard's politically tuned brain for self preservation, and that of his team, doesn't let him down. He never writes much but that is a whole lot better than what his cabinet member wrote.

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From: Cornelius, Cllr Richard
Sent: 24 November 2013 18:40

To: <mail@hopscotchsweets.co.uk>
Cc: Longstaff, Cllr David;
Cohen, Cllr Dean;
theresa@theresavilliers.co.uk
Rams, Cllr Robert;


Subject: RE:

I think David has replied to this email, perhaps more directly than I might have, but correctly.

Yes, we do want to help High Barnet and all the high streets.

regards

Richard

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Suitable chastened, David Longstaff wrote again. So much better when you write fewer words David, take a tip from the leader, least said, soonest mended.

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Dear All,

I have spoken with Cllr. Cohen and he has agreed to look at his budget and see what can be put toward the Christmas Tree.

Regards,

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By this time the High Barnet traders had raised enough money for a Christmas tree but they can put that aside for now and use it on hanging baskets in the spring or other initiatives. The flowers on the crossing near the police station are still looking fab thanks to Hopscotch Sweets (well worth a visit for their huge range and warm welcome).

Merry Christmas to one and all. The council are lucky that we have traders who care and do things collectively to help the High Street survive whilst the council tax it to death with high business rates and a vicious parking ticket enforcement regime.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Mr Toyota is innocent

Not the car of Mr Mustard's friend who is not called Mr Toyota

Here is the text of an email that Mr Mustard sent to his friends in the parking department to give them a sporting chance of doing the right thing before they read about it in the local papers.

Imagine you are Mr Toyota, step back in time to June 2013, you have an old but lovely car on your drive and you haven't heard of Mr Mustard and your life is normal. Suddenly everything changes. You are at work on 19 June 13 when your girlfriend telephones to say that a clamp has been applied to your car on your own drive. You telephone the bailiff to find that this is because you have an unpaid Barnet Council PCN from July 2011. This is the first that you have heard of it.

The bailiff demands £606 which you don't have at this moment.

That evening Mr Mustard comes to call at the suggestion of a mutual friend. He says the council are acting improperly but it will take more than that knowledge to get them to stop. He explains about the Witness Statement procedure although you are out of time because you didn't know about the PCN. You file forms TE7 & TE9 the next day.

On 20 June the bailiff comes back and removes the car by transporter.

The council file their evidence and ask that the Out of Time Witness Statement (which winds the PCN back to the beginning so that the PCN can be appealed) be refused.

The TEC (Traffic Enforcement Centre) is a sausage machine for PCN legal processing. They duly reject the Out of Time witness statement on 22 July 2013.

You have to buy another car as you can't run your business without one. You have people and equipment to ferry about.

On 3 August 13 you file the N244 form which says you want to argue your case in front of a District Judge at the Barnet County Court. You have to shell out a Court Fee of £80 which you'll never see again, even if you win. (Actually you could ask for costs but it is pushing your luck given that your car is at stake.) You get allocated a Court Date of 8 November 13. Your car will be rotting in the pound until then.

The 8 November arrives and you attend Court. The District Judge is unconvinced until you explain the complete lack of service of any document and then she grants the Order required. Your PCN will be rolled back to July 2011 and the bailiff will no longer be entitled to retain your car.

In the meantime having purchased another car you have no insurance for the impounded one, you have declared it as off road, the road fund licence has expired, the battery and tyres will be flat and it isn't legally drivable.

After a delay of 10 days the Court decision arrives. You speak to the council contact centre who tell you that doesn't mean that you are due to have your car back. You tell them the papers have a whiff of your story and you are inclined to spill the beans. You are put on hold for 5 minutes and magically now you can have your car back. You are sent on an email and telephone number chase round. The bailiff refuses to return your car. You have to go and get it. Where is it? Roydon in Essex, where else would it be?

Now you are hacked off. You have had the fright of your life when you car was clamped, you never received any paperwork prior to clamping nor the PCN itself, you have been without your car for 5 months, your girlfriend has been made ill with the stress, you have had to buy another car and you are £80 out of pocket on a £110 PCN and now the council expect you, Mr Toyota, to pay out to a car transport firm to get your own car back when you are totally innocent of any wrong-doing whatsoever.

That can't be equitable, surely?

Now happily Mr Mustard can report that the parking manager at Barnet Council pretty quickly came to the decision that the car should be returned to Mr Toyota free of charge (a goodwill gesture and not a precedent) and it is now back on the drive from which it was taken some 5 months ago. The fact that it was Mr Mustard who wrote probably helped.

The battery is flat as are 2 tyres, hopefully they will be OK once pumped up again. A bailiff has a duty of care for goods in their possession and Newlyn have clearly failed in that regard. They couldn't easily charge the battery without being in possession of the keys and a motorist is likely to be resistant to handing them over. However, it probably makes sense if in return the bailiff agrees to keep the battery charged and if you do end up losing the car a better price will be obtained for one that is in running order. There is absolutely no excuse for bailiffs not pumping up the tyres once a month. If vehicles are stored indoors they should be covered and if they are outdoors they should also be washed once a month especially if they are on an airport flight path or a quarry.

The price of innocence

So my question to all readers, and do please retweet this blog, is "can it be right that the bailiff removes your car and you have to go and get it back once your PCN is back at the first stage at which you can appeal it?"

You are now officially innocent. You have a PCN which you can appeal.

You have been deprived of your vehicle for 5 months. 

The car is in a pound 20 miles away.

You are already £80 out of pocket.

The bailiff wasn't wrong to take it as when he did as he had a valid warrant (actually in this case the warrant address was doubtful but we'll let that go) so we can't look to the bailiff for recompense.

However, the bailiff is only ever the servant of the council but is a mercenary who gets his pound of flesh (they usually take about a stone) from the motorist.

Surely the council should foot the cost of returning vehicles which they are no longer entitled to keep out of the super profits that the parking regime generates?

Mr Mustard couldn't find any case law on this and he thinks some might exist? If you know what should happen when your car is taken away and then you get the PCN put back to the beginning of the process i.e. should the car be returned or do you have to go to the pound to collect it, which might be 50 miles away? please email mrmustard@zoho.com

The one thing that Mr Mustard has realised out of this is that penalty for falling outside of the process is very severe indeed and completely disproportionate for whatever the trivial offence was in the first place.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Eat-in for the library - 13 December 13

hmm, prawn cocktail, lovely

Now then friends of Friern Barnet library, readers of this blog and recipients of Mr Mustard's parking ticket help, the time has come for you to eat a lovely dinner, enjoy good company and raise funds at the same time. How easy is that?

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Friern Barnet Community Library invite you to a delicious 3 course fundraising dinner, on Friday 13th December at Trentasei, '36' - within easy reach of the library.

We've teamed up with an excellent local business to bring in some much needed funds as well as to support our local business. Community pride at its very finest!

The cost is £30 - not including wine, which we have negotiated at a special discount rate of £10 a bottle. Or you can book a table of 10 for £250!

Menu:

Starter

Prosciutto e Melone (Parma Ham and Melon)
Melanzane Ripiene (Stuffed aubergines) (v)
Insalata Tricolore Avocado (Sliced tomatoes and mozzarella) (v)
Coppa de Gamberetti (Prawn cocktail)
Gamberoni Piccanti (King Prawns with Garlic, Chilli, and White Wine sauce)
Calamari Fritti (Deep fried squid)
Salmone Affumicato con Gamberetti e Rucola (Smoked salmon with prawns and rocket)
Penne Vegetariane (Pasta with mixed vegetable sauce) (v)
Minestrone (Fresh vegetable soup) (v)

Main course
Tortelloni (Spinach and Ricotta tortelloni with tomato and cream) (v)
Pappardelle ai Funghi (Pappardelle pasta with cream, mushrooms and a touch of tomato sauce) (v)
Tacchino Arrosto Natalizio (Roast Turkey with Christmas Trimmings)
Vitello alla Milanese (Sautee veal escalope in breadcrumbs)
Filetto alla Boscaiola (Fillet steak with mushroom, shallots and wine)
Petto di Pollo agli Asparagi (Breast of chicken with a touch of cream and asparagus sauce)
Halibut al Rosmarino (Halibut with rosemary)
Filetti di Spigola al Limoncello (Fillet of sea bass with Limoncello)
Agnello Marinato (Marinated lamb steak)
Penne ai Fruitti di Mare (Penne with seafood)

Desserts
Sweets from the trolley
- usually includes tiramisu, cheesecake and creme caramel as well as a selection of cake.

WHEN

December 13, 2013 at 7:30pm - 11:30pm

WHERE

Trentasei (36) - Queens Parade, Friern Barnet, N11 3DA
London
United Kingdom
Google map and directions

CONTACT

Reema Patel · reema@reemapatel.co.uk

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Well what are you waiting for? send that booking request off to Reema.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard 

Why do councils ignore operational guidance?

who is meant to be serving whom?

Local councils exist to provide services to residents, businesses and visitors. Parking is often described as a service which part of it is but much of it is a vast money making machine serving itself and taking your money. Councils are rightly concerned at the cost of providing services and always try to drive the unit cost down and a favourite method is to nudge you, or force you, to channel shift i.e. to make you use the method which is the cheapest for the council to process. If they can ramrod you into using a webform or eform (probably also have other names but basically a box or series of boxes on their website into which you can only enter certain details and these then get entered directly into the correct fields of the relevant software then you have taken the data processing requirement away and reduced input cost to zero) then you are using the quickest and cheapest method for the council. However they have forgotten they are there to serve. If you complete a webform you only get a copy of what you have done if the council send you one and this could be vital evidence in a PCN appeal.

The council have placed their administrative convenience in front of the customer's and have made us their servant by this forced channel shifting. In Mr Mustard's case this usually backfires as he simply refuses (unless there is no option) to use webforms. The reason is simple, if he is helping people with their PCN then he has a number of appeal points which he uses time and time again and it is easier for him to have all his emails together in neat files in the parking ticket section of Outlook from which he can easily cut and paste into a new email than to navigate his way through up to 17 pages of a webform (Camden council's form has only 5 pages to wade through som isn't the worst but really!). Mr Mustard has this year handled appeals in at least Barnet, Harrow, Islington, Camden, Hammersmith & Fulham and Haringey although he prefers to stick to Barnet as he knows their process errors inside out. He should be able to contact them all by email and letter but often he sees the dreaded webform being put forward as the first option. The upshot of this is that unless Mr Mustard is bang up against the deadline, he uses a traditional letter, for which he gets a free proof of posting, instead of the webform and thus the relevant council is faced with the most expensive method to handle. Hard cheese!

Mr Mustard decided to do something about operational guidance being ignored. He happened to have two PCN to appeal for a blue badge holding friend in Haringey and so he lodged a complaint. He has no particular beef with this borough who aren't actually the worst offenders (they are going to suffer when cctv for parking gets taken away though).

Here is the complaint.

I wish to complain about the fact that PCN issued by Haringey Council do not include an email address for appeals to be made to. This is a general complaint and not about a specific PCN.

I attach a copy for your convenience of Operational Guidance from the Department for Transport. Paragraph 1.4 points out that information printed in Comic Sans is something that authorities must have regard to.

In paragraph 10.4 it says, (in Comic Sans) that you should include an email address for motorists to use. The council does not do so. Please amend your practice as soon as possible to include an email address for appeals within a PCN.

Here is the response.

Thank you for your enquiry.

We have ( with our IT contractor) developed a more sophisticated online representation / appeal service for motorists.

This replaced the previous email offer. We do not intend offering the email option in addition to the online service and feel that we not only comply with recommendations and guidance in the Operational Guidance, but have gone beyond that expected.

How you can go beyond something you don't actually do is an interesting use of language.

Mr Mustard restated his complaint.

I refer to the below answer. We could debate for some time whether a webform (the system to which I think he refers) is more sophisticated or not than an email but that is the not the question at issue (something more sophisticated may not necessarily be more convenient or better).

I have no complaint with the council choosing to offer a webform in addition to email but not in place of it. Interestingly you offer both for complaints but not for PCN.

The council is not complying with Operational Guidance and so my complaint stands.

The council then said they were not going to change.

Thank you for your further enquiry with regards to the Council not complying with Operational Guidance.

I note your reference to paragraph10.4 of operational guidance and we are satisfied that this places no direct obligation on us or any other authority to explicitly offer an email channel for appeals.

We do comply with operational guidance and I am also satisfied that the channels we provide to motorists to appeal comply with statutory requirements.   As stated in our previous response, we have (with our IT contractor) developed a more sophisticated online representation / appeal service for motorists that you can use if you have internet access, something also needed to send an email.  Therefore  it remains our clear view that we have not removed any access channel that will disadvantage any motorist wishing to appeal a Penalty Notice.

Since the introduction of our online system (in line with many other authorities)  we have had no appeals to PATAS  based on grounds similar to that which you have outlined. In fact motorists are far happier to receive direct confirmation from our online appeals system that the appeal has been logged and immediately receive a receipt/ reference number for any future reference that their appeal, rather than simply sending an email.

I hope that you are satisfied with my response to your complaint. If you are dissatisfied, we cannot consider your complaint further under the Council’s complaints procedures. This is because your complaint related solely to the application of a council policy, which I have concluded has been properly and fairly applied. However, you may complain to an independent complaints service, the Local Government Ombudsman, who may be able to help you.

Mr Mustard sent a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman who has a huge postbag and a reduced budget so takes some convincing to take up the cudgels and is currently resisting. How did Mr Mustard have to submit his complaint, yes you guessed it, only one method was offered, by webform which of course discriminates against the poor who can't afford a computer, the computer illiterate, the disabled, the elderly & Mr Mustard. He duly filled in it. To be fair he was sent a copy but you can see how Mr Mustard was forced to present his complaint whereas he would have preferred to wax lyrical in his own way.

The omens for Mr Mustard's complaint were therefore poor from the start.

So Mr Mustard got to thinking about if other boroughs were better or worse than Haringey. He knew for example that Barnet's PCN (and he is only talking about ones attached to vehicles, not those sent by post) only allow on the back for written and webform representations but they do actually accept them by email to barnet@nslservices.co.uk even if their auto-acknowledgement is somewhat confusing in saying both that they do and don't accept representations by email! NSL have to print out your email, scan it and put it on the relevant PCN file which they often get wrong by forgetting to scan or attaching to the wrong file so using email is fraught with danger, but danger is Mr Mustard's middle name (actually he doesn't have one, his first name is Morris, any suggestions for middle names gratefully received).

So Mr Mustard duly sent off an FOI to every London Borough and the City on 1 October 13, although Mr Mustard didn't bother Barnet as he knew the answers. In theory by 1 November every borough should have replied but FOI (and Mr Mustard has rather too much experience in the field!) is rarely responded to on time by every London borough so there are gaps in his information which will be filled in as FOI officers read the blog and are now embarrassed (I know you all talk to each other about who this bloke is in Barnet who asks questions & insists on proper answers) and rush some answers out.

That is the good folks in Barking, Bexley, Brent, Enfield, Harrow & Lambeth, who subject to Mr Mustard being shown to have overlooked something, get "nul points".

please email corrections & additions to mrmustard@zoho.com

The answer in the letter column is, and should be, yes every time as that is specified in the Appeals Regulations 2007.

The email column should really also be a yes everywhere but it isn't. There are seventeen good boroughs and 10 bad ones in this regard, including the afore-mentioned Haringey.

The using the council website column has 19 yeses (so a method that isn't required features more often than the one that is specified in operational guidance, go figure). 14 of these councils do the decent thing and also offer email as a choice so should be praised for offering the choice. The 6 who only offer webforms and not email should be castigated or nudged back into line by the LGO.

Camden
Greenwich
Hackney
Haringey
Sutton
Westminster

please sit yourselves on the naughty step and reflect upon your behaviour. To get off the naughty step all you have to do is to add an email address for representations on the back of your PCN and you will go into Mr Mustard's reformed characters box.

Special praise goes to the City and almost as good as them Southwark. The City will hear from you in almost any way that you want to communicate with them and Southwark are also very considerate. It is easy for the City to be helpful & generous as they don't rely on parking for their income and have far fewer streets than most to worry about.

The phone option should be offered for those PCN which are glaringly wrong and can thus be cancelled at the first opportunity and for the benefit of the illiterate, the disabled, the blind (don't laugh, they may own the car and have a driver) and for anyone else who can't at this moment write a letter (broken arm maybe, etc).

Interesting to see the fax machine hanging on in 6 offices, it is a bit of a relic although many people now have all-in-one scanner/printer/fax machines so may have made a slight comeback from approaching obsolescence.

Having given out the prizes the wooden spoons (three are needed) go to

Hammersmith & Fulham
Havering
Lewisham

all three of whom insist on receiving representations by letter alone. Please bend over whilst the spoon is forcibly applied. You should be red-faced as well as red-cheeked.

Would any council who just happens to read this blog post please have a look at your policies and see if they could be improved? Barnet are, despite him getting nearly every PCN he touches cancelled, very helpful to Mr Mustard in this regard and when he brings to their attention, by direct email to a parking manager, some glaring ticket issue error they are usually pretty quick to agree and get it cancelled. Not all is perfect as the council won't give way on the moribund 2011 PCN which they are desperately still trying to collect and Mr Mustard is trying to kill off wholesale. They need the money!

Mr Mustard also asked a question of all councils at the same time about the extent to which each council implements the London Councils Code of Practice on Civil Parking and Traffic Enforcement. The entertaining answers to that, sent as a business as usual question rather than FOI, will have to wait until another day.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Cricklewood cross

http://brentcrosscoalition.blogspot.co.uk/