Not so pro Force

Union St, High Barnet

If you are a security guarding company and decide to dress your vehicles up to make them look like police cars and thus highly visible then Mr Mustard's advice is to follow the rule of the law and not park for 7 minutes on a double yellow line whilst you buy your lunch in the Victoria Bakery, because, quite simply, you are being hypocritical in breaking the law whilst supposedly being in business to uphold it.

During those 7 minutes a traffic warden had patrolled the next road along, Salisbury Rd, and after that was 30 metres away in the High Street checking on people who had properly paid to park.

Never a traffic warden where you want, when you want, is there?

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.

Peace - at a time of elections - a good idea.

and "we" trust Capita with Barnet Council's accounts?

they can't even get their own in on time.

It is a truism that late accounts are often bad accounts.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Let's help Barry Beavis fight for us

That's Barry Beavis in the foreground against Crapita (Parking Eye) in front of the crowd

This is all about private parking tickets (parking charge notices) that you might pick up at Asda, motorway services, Barnet Hospital etc etc.

As reported yesterday by Mr Mustard's friends at Parking Cowboys (who are far from cowboys), Barry Beavis’s appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. However, the court did grant him the option of appealing to the Supreme Court. Following that, Barry has decided to go all the way but he needs to raise around £6,000 to fund it. That comprises £1,600 to lodge the Notice of Appeal, and £4,500 for lodging the appeal bundle itself.

As of 18:00 on 24th, £1,770 has already been donated (Mr Mustard has put £100 in the pot)

If you want to contribute, you can do so here.

Whatever you can spare, please spare it as if Barry can beat Parking Eye then he will have done the whole country a great service.

Mr Mustard is grateful to you all.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Another rubbish council decision in progress

Something is cooking in RAAD!

(The Residents Against Abbots Depot is a committee set up by the residents of Brunswick Ward to protest against the relocation of the Mill Hill waste depot in our heavily populated area.)

We are baking cakes and offering coffee to talk about what we can do to stop the
waste.

NO is the word.

Lets keep the waste out of our lovely neighbourhood and away from the New
Southgate Recreation Park and our lives.

Donating cakes to sell in our stand are also welcome, so please contact us prior to
Saturday.

What: Fundraising event where everyone is invited for coffee and cake and talk
about the waste coming to Oakleigh Rd.

When: Saturday 25th April from 11.00am-13.00pm

Where: New Southgate Recreation Park.

Camden Council FOI response sinks Camden Council PCN

So here we have it. A car, sporting a blue badge & clock, on Sunday 25 January in a pay-and-display (actually bound to also be pay-by-phone) bay that has been suspended as follows

Given that there isn't a workman in sight, on day four of the supposed works, the driver could have phoned up Camden Council on the given number (but they only answer it from 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday so what use is that?) and asked if it was safe to park. Instead, the common sense decision was made that no harm was being done by parking there (Mr boring Mustard wouldn't have without being sure). Naturally along came a traffic warden who isn't paid to look at the situation and wonder if a PCN had any purpose other than revenue raising and after an observation period of just one minute, dished out a PCN.

Mr Mustard looked at the sign, which is in an authorised format and saw that he could argue that P&D Ref S07 was arguable as to location as he couldn't see SO7 anywhere. However he thought he would probably lose on that basis as the bay was signed along its length.

Mr Mustard first saw the PCN on Saturday 31 January 15.

On 2 February 15 he submitted a Freedom of Information request for job sheets, time sheets & invoices relating to the footway works which had supposedly been carried out.

On 5 February 15 he submitted an informal challenge to the PCN asking Camden Council to use their discretionary power to cancel the PCN as no works were apparent and so there was no traffic management purpose to the PCN.

The council's response was that a contravention had occurred so the PCN would stand. Here is part of the letter received, which often seem to Mr Mustard to have a holier than thou tone to them.

Mr Mustard suggested to his client that his magic powers were being stretched to breaking point in this case and that paying the 50% might be the best option. His client didn't have the money so opted to carry on.

On 3 March 15 the slightly late response to the FOI request arrived and the answer was

"There were no footway works carried out between 22 & 25 January in Kiddepore Avenue, NW3". Mr Mustard smiled to himself.

On 13 March the Notice to Owner was issued.

On 20 March Mr Mustard made the formal representations. They were the same as the informal challenge with the addition of the council's own FOI response to prove the absence of footway works.

On 8 April Camden Council accepted them and cancelled the PCN. The council couldn't resist though telling Mr Mustard, as if it was his car and not his client's, how wrong he had been. This sort of sanctimonious letter (who is responsible for ensuring that councils works are in progress if not the council?) does not endear motorists to councils.

The council had made a very sensible use of their discretion. Mr Mustard isn't sure that a PATAS adjudicator would have been able to cancel as legally the PCN was correct, they would have had to recommend cancellation to the council, he thinks.

The joke though is that his client could have moved the car forward by 5 metres and parked quite happily on double yellow lines for 3 hours.

Wasn't it a waste of parking bays though for Camden Council to suspend a long bay for 4 days whilst absolutely nothing was going on? Someone must have known that the works were not going ahead as planned. Not a good example of joined up government and not helpful to the residents of Camden where parking space must be at a premium.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard