When in a pothole - stop digging

Mr Mustard read a story in the local Times newspaper about Barnet having the most pothole complaints in London last year, and particularly as a motorcyclist that does concern him, and as ever, he wondered why? Mr Mustard raked through his old emails and found one of 28 February 2011 from Cllr Rutter who had so unimpressed him at the first Residents' Forum he went to, which said:

Barnet has however prioritised to fixing the potholes and we are doing everything we can to get the potholes repaired as quickly as possible.

all figures came from a council report

So doing everything we can would include spending more on planned maintenance presumably? Oh no, the spend went down in the following year.

What we can see from the chart is that 10 years ago, far more was spent on vital infrastructure and there has been a steady drift down over the following years until now, with the roads in an awful condition, spending is once again increasing, but is still short of what it used to be and there will have been about 20% in total inflation since 04/05 so the shortfall is even more marked.

That measly 1% / £1.6m reduction in Council Tax take looks very foolish to Mr Mustard.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

A $chunting we will go

Yesterday, Mr  Mustard went $chunting and thought he should write about the experience. This children's rhyme came to mind.

A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go
Heigh ho, the dairy-o, a hunting we will go
A hunting we will go, a hunting we will go
We'll catch a fox and put him in a box
And then we'll let him go

$chunting, for those who don't know, is a contraction of $camera car hunting. It is very civilised and does not end up with the CEO driving the car being ripped to pieces by anyone although Mr Mustard was a little surprised by the number of passing motorists who aimed invective at the CEO who was quietly sat in his car.

The day dawned and Mr Mustard opened the curtains. Drat, he thought, it is wet and the new rear tyre on the yellow Aprilia will call for some cautious riding (motorcycle tyres are slippery when new and need 100 miles of scrubbing, preferably on a dry road). Mr Mustard was due at the secret rendez-vous at 9.30 but there aren't many yellow Aprilias about and even less pairs of white boots so he does stand out. Bald Eagle was the main man and although Mr Mustard was characteristically early Bald Eagle was late. Oh well, at least Bethnal Green Dude (should be Bloke but there was a misprint on his NoToMob jacket and BGB became BGD so he has been re-christened) was there early and bought the teas (thanks BGD). Bald Eagle turned up late (not unusual apparently, but he is allowed one bite so Mr Mustard isn't complaining) and so more tea was required. This $chunting lark looked easy so far. Bald Eagle's early morning had gone all wrong, he made the mistake of looking at his computer and they suck time out of you like a dementer out of Harry Potter and then his Cargo Net broke (not his hair net, the clue is in his name) and he had to turf everything out of the shed to find the spare.

So all tea'd up the 3 of us set off to the $camera car pen, in reality a deadly dull industrial estate. We sat around and waited for a $camera car to move which it did after a few false starts. We followed the car at a safe distance to its first honeypot which was the no left turn at Tufton Rd which probably exists to stop people cutting out the traffic lights. To monitor this no left turn the camera car made to stop on the right and realised he would have to park on a single yellow line and thought better of it with 3 motorcycles in high-viz jackets behind him as a photo of his bad parking would have appeared in a public place. So he moved off, went right and then did a u-turn on the front of a multi-storey car park which is probably what everybody does thus making the no-left turn a waste of time. We followed.

This is where we ended up. Waverley Avenue, E4.

Note the bad angle of the right hand no entry sign which is illuminated but the left hand one isn't. If you were coming from the right as you look at the road you could easily miss the first sign. Nor are there warning signs showing no left turn / no right turn as you approach from the left or right. Apparently this no entry sign is often ignored in the rush hour but it was Saturday morning so very calm at times although heavily backed up at others. The $camera car parked bang opposite the junction (there are no parking restrictions there) and the driver settled back in his seat with nothing to do except wait for lunch. 

We NoToMobbers (Mr Mustard has always been a supporter but is now a member) then held up signs warning people of the $camera car. Many motorists thought we were highlighting a speed trap (that would be illegal and we don't do it) and crawled past and others wound down their windows to ask for more information which was given and many toots of the horn, thumbs ups and smiles came our way. Some drivers hurled abuse at the driver, sat in this parked car, which is not deserved and NoToMobbers do not do that either, they talk politely to traffic wardens when the opportunity arises and if allowed. On this occasion the driver didn't even glance at us.

So we spent about 3 hours there and not a single car did so much as put an indicator on to suggest that they would commit a moving traffic offence. The sun came out and all was right with the world. The $camera car didn't make a bean. Local residents who stopped to chat said that the car is often at the no left turn we had come by earlier and that it was a waste of time to monitor this no-entry junction at this time.

It got to about 1.30 and we thought it must be time for the traffic warden to go back to the pen for his lunch so we make sure we all had our gloves and helmets on. Sure enough the Toyota IQ, for that is the nice little car that has the camera on a stalk through the roof, suddenly departed.

Now here is the part that shocked Mr Mustard about the $camera car. It was parked for the entire time with its engine running. Now it is only a small engine, 1000c.c., but even so, it apparently has to sit there with its engine running to power the camera and recording equipment. This is an ecological scandal and the council, are responsible for air quality. Here is their web page on the council website. Scroll down to the suggestions and what does it say

Don’t leave your engine running when you are parked.

except that Waltham Forest Council forget to add, except we will in order to make money out of motorists, and

We prefer pounds over pollution.

Waltham Forest Council, you are diabolical hypocrites and need to take all of your $camera cars off the road until you can use them without the engine running 24/7.

By this time CoCo had joined us (no he isn't a clown as if he was the wheels would probably fall off his motorcycle and that wouldn't do) and so the four of us followed the $camera car expecting it to go back to the depot. Instead he suddenly pulled up on a single yellow line (Mon - Sat 8am - 6.30pm) opposite the exit to no left turn hoping to bag at least one victim for his work. He thought we wouldn't be able to stop and observe except that we used the front of the multi-storey car park to stop on and one of us went round the block to the exit of the road the $camera car was monitoring. Mr Mustard took a photograph.

Hall Lane E4

So having parked on an in-force single yellow line and forced all of the traffic out to the middle of the road the traffic warden thought better of it after a couple of minutes, did a u-turn (very good turning circle on the IQ) and ambled back to base with us following.

It was time for tea again and a toasted cheese sandwich after a hard morning's work doing what it is that many local authorities profess to want which is 100% compliance with all parking restrictions and rules of the road. 

NoToMob people help maintain the law and slow down councils insatiable appetite for cash from parking. You can join them. You don't have to have a motorcycle although it helps. You can do this on foot or on a bicycle in the West End as you can't get a PCN and you could operate solely at the spots which are local to you. Find out all about it on the NoToMob website.

Mr Mustard, proud to be a NotToMobber.

Nearly forgot, here is one of this council's $camera cars showing us all how not to do it. Whoops.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

BAPS' leaflet

These leaflets are being dished out in Hale Ward on Saturday. Do give BAPS a call on 07534 407703 if you can help.

Internal audit now agree with armchair auditor Mr Mustard

For almost 2 years Mr Mustard has been reporting on the failures of the NSL contract. No-one at the council (well no-one in power anyway) seemed to care or even, Richard Cornelius told a public meeting that the contract was making savings, how would he have known? Finally, Internal Audit have caught up with Armchair Audit (forget External Audit who have their eyes on a bigger prize; the NHS).

Here is the accurate state of the One Barnet / NSL parking enforcement contract

Imagine if the enforcement and bailiff processes were also to be audited what a catalogue of catastrophe would come to light?

Mr Mustard has submitted some questions about this report to Audit Committee which is next Tuesday 29 April at 7pm at Hendon Town Hall with Lord Palmer (he is Monroe to the bloggers, a gentleman who now has bigger fish to fry in the House of Lords) and just to make his last chairing of a meeting memorable and exciting Mr Mustard is busy thinking up some devilish curve ball questions for him to try to hit out of the park.

Mr Mustard does hope that Monroe will be free for a glass of something refreshing in the Greyhound afterwards - an emailed invitation has been sent.

One Barnet, the commissioning Council, really isn't working.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Listen to Bob's tale

Mr Mustard was misguided

Mr Mustard is perfectly capable of being mislead. He thought Barnet Council had messed up Blue Badge parking at Edgware because of what he read on page 16 of the Department for Transport guide "Rights and responsibilities" which is reproduced below.

and he wrote a blog which came out at 8am and which was then deleted at about 8.03 as it was wrong as Mr Mustard woke up early with a bell going off deep in his brain. Mr Mustard reflected as to what was wrong & then printed out the guide and looked at page 18, viz

so page 16 tells blue badge holders they can park for ever at a parking meter (or pay by phone bay) and then page 18, which they haven't read because there was no need, overturns the earlier advice. Great, as by now you could have a PCN.

This all came about because Mr Mustard was told about new limits introduced in 2013, on pay-by-phone bays in Edgware. Here is the relevant sign.

a free ad for the vegetarian Chinese

So you want to do a little shopping in Edgware and are happy to pay to park? You can't because the lower sign says that the bay is limited to disabled (blue badge) holders only for the entire day. It is impossible for a motorist who wants to pay to park to comply with this parking restriction. 

Every sign like this one in the whole borough (probably only actually in three of our High Streets) will have to be changed, to remove the word "only".

Blue badge holders, remember to put your time clock out.

Mr Mustard has tweeted the Department for Transport and suggested that the guide is misleading. Hopefully they will use clearer wording in the next issue.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

NSL mess up and send in NSL owned bailiff - how to profit from incompetence

never before seen, the Notice Processing Officers of NSL

Sometimes people ask Mr Mustard why he spends his time helping people. It is because the system has failed them, they have done their best, at their age they are slightly below their best and they need his help and expertise. He is happy to provide such help.

Yesterday, following a request from a friend, he went round to see a senior citizen at home who had been relieved of £406 that she did not owe. She had tried to sort it out with the council, but customer services didn't serve her well. Mr Mustard cuts through bureaucracy.

---

Dear Parking Manager

AG12345678

I represent Ms E of Barnet as attached authority. She is, I am told, and it would not be gallant to ask her to be more exact, a lady in her late seventies.

I find it necessary to complain on behalf of Ms E about the actions of your enforcement contractor NSL Ltd.

The story in brief is that on 14 April 2014 she paid the bailiff, N Brooks of Task Enforcement Ltd, the sum of £408.52 in respect of the above PCN to prevent the removal of her car.

On 28 November 13 the Notice of Rejection of Representations said "...have decided that the reduced amount of £55 will be accepted if payment is made within 14 days from the date of this letter. ..." (normally the offer would be within 14 days of service of this letter).

As she was shortly going abroad for a month Ms E decided to pay, even though she felt she had been poorly treated following the difficulties she had encountered in obtaining her permit, and the fact that she was not told that her dispensation was only for 14 days (she lives inside the recently extended D zone), in order to avoid any possible difficulty.

A cheque was sent by Special Delivery on 5 December 2013 (barcode AE123456789GB) and was signed for by "Frost" on 6 December 2013 (I have the proof of delivery). This was therefore 10 days after the offer to accept 50% in full and final settlement was made.

On 11 December the cheque was cleared so it was evidently banked pretty quickly. I have seen a bank statement.

A Charge Certificate was issued on 18 December 2013. It records the payment of £55. The council was absolutely not entitled to continue with enforcement as it had made an offer of settlement which had been satisfied.

What should happen now is that the sum paid to the bailiff of £408.52 is refunded as it was not due for payment and in compensation the PCN value paid, of £55, should be refunded. A letter of apology should also be sent by NSL Ltd to Ms E as she has had the worry of this to deal with and can ill afford to be without the funds paid to the bailiff.

This whole mess has come about because permits were dealt with in one place (I have not studied it in detail but Ms E did try to get a permit in good time and had two applications returned by the looks of it, probably due to the judicial review of the price), customer service calls in another and enforcement in a third. The system that is in existence in Barnet is simply not fit for purpose. I know it is not your decision to be set up in this way but it isn't properly serving the residents of Barnet.

Our senior citizens should not have to suffer the attentions of bailiffs as a result of the administrative incompetence of NSL Ltd, the parking enforcement contractor of the council.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard