by Tricky Dicky » Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:55 am
Last week, I called in to a cafe on Tower Bridge Rd for a cuppa. It was 5.50pm and I was looking for somewhere to park. Tower Bridge rd has those double red lines down the side, apparently they signify an 'urban clearway'.
There are two lanes for traffic in that section from the Bricklayers Arms round-a-bout and probably halfway down the road heading North but the place I parked my car was out of these two lanes in a recessed section next to the curb. The double red lines STOPPED just before a =====[boxed off parking area]==== (probably for loading and unloading) and probably comenced again straight after. So, I was not parked on double red line and the two lanes for traffic were left unaffected. There was a square white sign on a pole which read:-
P permitted 20mins
(Except 10am - 4pm)
I understood the sign to mean parking was permitted for 20mins only but not between the hours of 10am to 4pm. With the time being 5.50pm, it was not a bus lane and i would not be blocking the flow of traffic I desided to pull in, park up and go get that cuppa.
!5 mins later, one of those checker board quads/trikes pulled up behind my car. The guy got off his Bike/trike/quad think and looked like he was going to be ticketing my car. I caught his attention from across the road and asked him what he thought he was doing as I had only been parked there for 15 minutes?
He shook his head at me from across the road in what I took to be disbelief. I told him don't you call me a liar. He then told me I couldn't park there AT ALL, as the car was on an 'urban clearway'. I pointed out the sign in question and told him it said parking was permitted for 20 minutes EXCEPT between the hours of 10am and 4pm. He said NO, you are only allowed to park for 20 minutes between 10 and 4. To which I replied, that is not how I read the sign and I think you need to make it much more clearer. I then walked to my car, got in and drove around the corner, where, conveniently placed pay and display bays were situated. When I got out of the car to pay for parking in one of these bays at the meter, I noticed someone had ALREADY put a FIXED PENALTY NOTICE on my windscreen,tucked under the wiper. The cheeky swines had ticketed me within 3 minutes of parking up and the guy on the bike thing must of turned up after, probably to arrange to have my car towed away. The ticket was for £130 but only half that amount if I paid within 14 days.
Personally, I don't think I have done anything wrong and shouldn't have to pay the 'Dandy Highwayman'. How do I make this go away?
Tricky Dicky (Plumber)