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Advice to motorists caught out by Bexley's parking attendants
If you have been given a fixed penalty notice for parking in the bays on Northumberland Heath that have supposedly been suspended whilst Brook Street is closed for repairs, please read this carefully and take action.
Wandsworth Borough's website quotes from the appropriate regulations which stipulate that the council should display warning notices and leaflet cars and households in the immediate vicinity prior to suspending the bay.
It goes on to say the parking bay suspension notice must be placed on the parking sign plate closest to the suspended areas, not on the post.
Clearly the same regulations apply to the London Boroughs of Wandsworth and Bexley so, given that a parking sign plate cannot possibly be confused with a parking sign post, the parking tickets that have been issued are clearly illegal.
When one of the VINCI traffic wardens was challenged, and asked why he was ticketing cars given the suspension sign was illegal, he replied that he was merely carrying out Bexley Council's orders.
Bexley Council were contacted but have not responded to any of the emails that were sent to them, nor have the Northumberland Heath ward councillors.
If you received a parking ticket, you must mount a challenge with 14 days and you can do that by visiting Bexley Borough's website - click the link below:
http://www.bexley.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=992
You should also contact the local councillors:
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Councillor Alex Sawyer (councillor.alex.sawyer@bexley.gov.uk)
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Councillor Helen Fuller (councillor.helen.fuller@bexley.gov.uk)
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Councillor Peter Reader (councillor.peter.reader@bexley.gov.uk)
Don't forget this is another of those "guilty until proved innocent" situations. Many people do not appeal because they prefer to receive the 50% discount for paying quickly and are scared to risk paying the full amount if their appeal fails.
In this instance, the appeal should be based on the fact that the original parking signs were not covered up so motorists would have no reason to think paper signs fixed to the post took precedence over the official signs.
Additionally, most of the suspension notices were impossible to read as they had pivoted away from the road. And they could just as easily be mistaken for the kind of signs that fly posters attach to road furniture, i.e. Earn £800 a week ... etcetera.
Finally, the suspension notices were not fixed in the way that the regulations prescribe, so they are not legal.
Editorial Comment:
Bexley Borough has quite a track record for breaking the law when it suits them. You can read about more about their antics on this website.
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Editorial Comment:
I wrote to all three ward councillors - only one replied. Information received subsequently from other residents in the ward suggests that talking to these three is almost as productive as talking to a brick wall!