Transport tip of the day

[zoltan]

If you are pissed and too tired to walk home in case you fall asleep - drive as fast as you can - statistically, the longer you are on the road, the more danger you are in of being pulled by the filth or pranging your wheels - therefore, the shorter time you are on the road, the better it is for everyone else involved

go on - put yer foot down and make the road a safer place

 

[PacificOcean]

Moving to Epping or West Ruislip will always guarantee a seat on the Central line in rush hour

 

[mattie]

Just work from home, the shortest commute possible.

 

[marty21]

moving to the end of the line, then you won't fall asleep on the bus/tube/train and miss your stop

 

[PacificOcean]

moving to the end of the line, then you won't fall asleep on the bus/tube/train and miss your stop

No, you will just wake up coming back into town like I did on the N279

Fucking bus driver could have woke me up.

 

[milesy]

If you have a bicycle then cycle to work at 3am. The roads are relatively empty and you won't be distracted by school girls in mini skirts.

 

[Hocus Eye.]

I would just like to point out that my reference to training a horse to eat uniform type hats was a jest. The rest of the post was of course a serious suggestion.

Also I have nothing against traffic wardens, I am not wardenist in fact some of my best...

...no that isn't true, but I do know one traffic warden with whom I have been known to have a chat. But then I don't park illegally ever. I have no means of transport but my boots.

 

[pogofish]

and once it's been put in the computer it can't be retracted.


To all you people who hate traffic wardens: they are merely doing a job assigned to them by your elected representatives.

Either that, or stop fucking parking illegally.

You simply phone the number on the ticket, inform them that you intend to appeal.

If you drivers en masse could be trusted to park sensibly and considerately traffic wardens wouldn't exist.

Computer - untrue, it can.

No, in post-91 act areas they work for some of the shittiest UK & US private contractors you can imagine.

Nope, being illegally parked or not seems to have no bearing on your chance of getting a ticket. As I said earlier, I've had 13+ successful appeals to one deserved ticket - a very long time ago. Also, in some areas (particularly London) anything up to 80-90% of appeals are upheld, compared to less than 25% in areas still working under the pre-91 regs. Maybe a hint of something being a bit wrong?

Nope, almost all contractors, authorities & the tribunals insist on appeals being handled entirely on paper.

We don't have many traffic wardens left. Usually only a handful in post-91 areas. The guys who issue tickets are not traffic wardens & have none of their powers. They are merely private enforcers who are there to issue tickets.

 

[marty21]

No, you will just wake up coming back into town like I did on the N279

Fucking bus driver could have woke me up.

wear a sign asking to be woken up at your stop, pin a tenner to the sign as a reward

 

[bluestreak]

Computer - untrue, it can.

No, in post-91 act areas they work for some of the shittiest UK & US private contractors you can imagine.

Nope, being illegally parked or not seems to have no bearing on your chance of getting a ticket. As I said earlier, I've had 13+ successful appeals to one deserved ticket - a very long time ago. Also, in some areas (particularly London) anything up to 80-90% of appeals are upheld, compared to less than 25% in areas still working under the pre-91 regs. Maybe a hint of something being a bit wrong?

Nope, almost all contractors, authorities & the tribunals insist on appeals being handled entirely on paper.

We don't have many traffic wardens left. Usually only a handful in post-91 areas. The guys who issue tickets are not traffic wardens & have none of their powers. They are merely private enforcers who are there to issue tickets.

They cannot be undone from hand, according to Islington Council's appeals department.

The contractors are hired by the Council. The wardens are hired by the contractors. If you believe that democracy or people power has any effect then simply lobby your Council to cancel the contract.

You need to learn a better appeal system. in this day and age there should be no excuse for not beating a wrongly given ticket. use your phone cam (with date and time stamp on) to take pictures of the vehicle and local parking information to show that you are in the right. you wouldn't believe the amount of people who, when making an appeal, forget to provide any evidence other than claiming they were allowed to park. it's their word against yours and theirs carries more weight. also, many of them actually take pictures to back up their evidence. if you're in the right this will work in your favour. ask if there are pictures and request a copy. most places will send them automatically.

yes, appeals are handed on paper, you can't simply state your intention to appeal by phone but seeing as i mentioned the paper process shortly after that i think it was fairly obvious.

pedantry. knowing your rights, using your brain, knowing how the system works, and being on the right side of the law will get you through.

i suspect, pogofish, that you'd rather be a martyr to the evils of traffic policing and parking enforcement and dehumanise people doing a shit job for piss all money than actually offer any solutions.

here's why we have parking controls.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/15/npark15.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/15/ixhome.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2004/10/04/st_albans_parking_attedants_arrive_feature.shtml

 

[bluestreak]

added: this isn't to say that i believe in the blanket ticketing of vehicles, or the use of incentives by various councils or contractors in order to encourage ticketing, merely that my experience of three nightmare months working for islington council has taught me that the system can be beaten more times than not by someone who is in the right.

 

[pogofish]

They cannot be undone from hand, according to Islington Council's appeals department.

The contractors are hired by the Council. The wardens are hired by the contractors. If you believe that democracy or people power has any effect then simply lobby your Council to cancel the contract.

You need to learn a better appeal system. in this day and age there should be no excuse for not beating a wrongly given ticket.

i suspect, pogofish, that you'd rather be a martyr to the evils of traffic policing and parking enforcement and dehumanise people doing a shit job for piss all money than actually offer any solutions.

They can, one of the main English contractors was caught-out rather badly on this a while back -

True enough but given the nature of the council/private partnerships & contract terms enshrined in the post-91 regs I'd be better taking ice-skates to hell & the staff are not wardens, only a very few of them are employed in post-91 areas, mainly to supervise the contractors. I think we have 6 here.

We only have the one system & I'm getting rather good at it thanks. Especially as our lot have just had another large mass of tickets disallowed because they were wrongly worded - which must be no comfort to anyone who actually paid - they don't get a refund/

No, I've no problem with them doing their job - I'd rather just park & get-on with my buisness & the less I have to do with councils & their contractors the better. Never mind that every place I've been ticketed wrongly happens to be pretty near places where there is absolutely no shortage of truly jaw-dropping examples of illegal/selfish/utterly unsafe parking that rarely seems to be hit. If they had any concern about regulating parking, I's prefer to see them there. Not filling quotas by dumping tickets on legit vehicles.

 

[mattie]

........


here's why we have parking controls.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/08/15/npark15.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/08/15/ixhome.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/threecounties/content/articles/2004/10/04/st_albans_parking_attedants_arrive_feature.shtml

Maybe I'm missing a joke, but I'm getting lots of pictures of Mike Newell in that last link.

 

[Janh]

Get a seat all to yourself on a train or bus by beckoning to oncoming passengers with a crazed glint in your eye. (acknowledgement to Clement Freud for this tip)

 

[London_Calling]

Having a car is all about freedom, I've seen it on ads for the last 30 years.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Maybe I'm missing a joke, but I'm getting lots of pictures of Mike Newell in that last link.

God, yes. Why?

 

[soulman]

Don't forget your brolly

 

[Wolveryeti]

Have consideration for cyclists who risk their lives shooting red lights by boxing them in with other cars.

 

[bluestreak]

God, yes. Why?

i have to admit that i scoured the article to ensure that it wasn't a joke of some sort due the mike newell stuff.

pogofish, i'm afraid that you come across as a bit paranoid. why would they ticket legally parked cars and not illegally parked cars? if they were just out to give as many tickets as possible then surely they'd target illegally parked cars in the first instance and not ignore them?

re: handsets, perhaps it varies from contractor to contractor?

 

[Donna Ferentes]

But still: why?

 

[Prince Rhyus]

Traffic wardens and bendy buses rock! (But then not being a car-driver nor a cyclist in London I would say that )

 

[pogofish]

pogofish, i'm afraid that you come across as a bit paranoid. why would they ticket legally parked cars and not illegally parked cars? if they were just out to give as many tickets as possible then surely they'd target illegally parked cars in the first instance and not ignore them?

Fuck knows, ask them?

I'm not a twat parker but 13+ tickets to the one deserved seems a bit much by any standard - All but two of the wrong ones have been since the post-91 regs were adopted fairly recently as well.

Also, when reading-up on the subject, it does seem that post-91 areas are characterised by a very much higher level of innapropriate ticketing than the pre-91 areas - which of course don't have the same financial benifits for the authority & are operated with a much greater emphasis on proper traffic management rather than penalty.

Try the Mayor of London's website for an annual report on the performance of contractors in different bouroughs, it makes quite interesting reading.

 

[wtfftw]

No, you will just wake up coming back into town like I did on the N279

Fucking bus driver could have woke me up.

Gosh. Bloke and I were almost convinced that no one else ever got the N279.

 

[donkey]

aberdeen = g00d t0wn f0r b00ty venues= way hey party!
but s0uth b0und m6
jct 44 park £13 secure shat fud
park n0n secure ! £ 7 n0 fud
0r estate £ free
pub chnky... better pub d0wn r0ad
4 m0nths 0f that?
s0me0ne hekp
fem preffered....

 

[donkey]

that came 00t funny eh?
must be sc0t transat0n
funny j0cks are

 

[Augie March]

aberdeen = g00d t0wn f0r b00ty venues= way hey party!
but s0uth b0und m6
jct 44 park £13 secure shat fud
park n0n secure ! £ 7 n0 fud
0r estate £ free
pub chnky... better pub d0wn r0ad
4 m0nths 0f that?
s0me0ne hekp
fem preffered....

 

[moose]

Don't waste costly electricity on a hairdryer - buy a convertible

 

[donkey]

yeh
wtf
rand0m