There’s already ways to deal with illegal parking – so just get on with it
IN response to Councillor Jason Ablewhite’s proposal to decriminalise parking (Park strife, January 16) I would make the following points.
The police are abdicating responsibility for parking, it should be part of the road traffic plan. At this rate they will farm out all their work to companies and then turn round to find they have nothing to do and are therefore out of work. It is already happening, we read that they are in negotiations with security companies for ‘back office’ contracts. If your bank card is cloned and you report it to the police, you will be pointed to your bank.
Politicians will tell you that crime has actually dropped. Yes minister it has because: You are not recording it correctly and people are so fed up with the response, they say why bother.
Private companies that enforce parking restrictions are in it to make profit, profit and finally profit. Nothing wrong with that, they are not a charity. They will maximise their revenue at every opportunity. We will hear stories of wardens ticketing everything that does not move. No doubt they will use cameras to ticket registered keepers if the driver of a vehicle stops momentarily to pick up or drop off someone.
Free parking in a town encourages people to go in to do their shopping and makes it vibrant. It should be limited to three hours. This would stop people clogging up spaces all day. This would also help stop the haemorrhage of shoppers to out-of-town developments.
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Traffic orders for existing yellow lines out of date? Sheer incompetence on the part of the council. Who is responsible? Surely someone has a job that requires them to monitor this sort of thing and put it to the council for renewal. This raises the question how many motorists have been penalised unlawfully already?
As for the parking on the verge near St Neots railway station, I would recommend a look on the government website, www.trafficpenaltytribunal.gov.uk, there they will read the following:
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‘Appellants sometimes say that they did not park “on” the yellow line, especially where the vehicle was parked on a wide verge. However, a parking restriction is not limited to the metalled carriageway itself but incorporates the width of the public highway from the centre of the carriageway to the building line of property or adjacent land.’
The police and PCSOs need to get out there and deal with matter.
FORMER POLICE OFFICER St Neots
