London Banter - View Single Post - Off Topic

Colin Rosenstiel · December 28th 06, 08:14 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
(U n d e r a c h i e v e r) wrote:

*Subject:* Off Topic - Parking Wardens
*From:* U n d e r a c h i e v e r
*Date:* Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:26:00 +0000

In article ,
(Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:
No. You stop contrary to parking regulations, you get a ticket.
If you
had a lawful excuse that didn't become apparent in time, the
ticket is
cancelled. Seems fair enough to me.

It's not quiet as simple as that. Police officers, and traffic
wardens employed by the police, had discretion not to issue tickets
under the old, criminal, system. They also had no financial
incentive to issue tickets that they knew someone else would cancel
on appeal. Under the decriminalised system discretion has moved
from the street to the town hall, and it is rarely, if ever,
exercised.

Not at all. Quite a high proportion of Cambridge tickets are cancelled.

Stopping to help at the scene of an accident isn't a lawful excuse
for parking on a yellow line, by the way, so a good sense of
discretion in these cases is essential. What the parking attendant
should have been doing is helping the injured and/or helping to
keep traffic moving by directing it and/or summoning help on their
police radio, which is what would have happened if they were a
police traffic warden. Instead this jobsworth issues pointless
parking penalties! And it seems fair enough to you?

You misunderstand the new system. When did you last see a traffic warden
under the old system?

--
Colin Rosenstiel.