Author Topic: LGA goes slopey-shouldered!  (Read 2817 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Coco

  • Administrator
  • Follower
  • *****
  • Posts: 553
  • Northampton
LGA goes slopey-shouldered!
« on: 17 December, 2014, 05:24:11 PM »
The Local Government Association, which represents those responsible for the enforcement of on-street parking ducks its responsibilities and refers enquiries to British Parking Association Limited which represents the interests of companies that seek to make a profit from parking enforcement.

Item on the BBC website

My emphasis in bold and comments in red.

Quote
A Smart car owner has won a year-long battle over a £50 parking ticket given because she parked at a right angle to the kerb. But what is the law, asks Chris Stokel-Walker.

Vanessa Price has managed to get a £50 parking fine levied against her by Gloucestershire County Council overturned by an adjudicator, who said she did not break any road regulations by parking her Smart car at 90 degrees to the kerb.

Price was given the ticket because the front of her car peeked out from the parking bay lines in Stroud, Gloucestershire. It was overturned because the rule that drivers must park within markings does not apply in limited waiting spaces on highways.

Smart cars have been on sale in the UK since 2000, and are immediately recognisable for their small size. Though Smart's current marketing material suggests drivers parallel park into tight spots, some owners take advantage of the size of the Smart car, which at 2.69m is only slightly longer than the average car is wide, to park perpendicular to the kerb.

Price even suggested in her defence against the parking fine that the Smart website illustrates how to park perpendicularly to the kerb. The company's Facebook group has occasionally highlighted such practices. But is this parking legal?

No one is sure.

Two solicitors specialising in parking law could not say whether perpendicular, rather than parallel, parking in a Smart car could fall foul of the law.

The Local Government Association directed inquiries to the British Parking Association (BPA), a trade body that is, according to its website, a "recognised authority on parking".

"As far as we are aware, we have not come across this particular issue before," a spokesperson said. But vehicles have to follow general parking laws, regardless of the type of vehicle, and the size of the space they're pulling in to. Translation: we don't know either.

"There is no law that specifies the size of a parking bay, but there are guidelines. Roads can be different widths so parking needs to be managed appropriately. The BPA works with government But only as long as the government does what we want, otherwise we make lots of rude comments as in the case of the forthcoming ban on CCTV! to ensure parking and traffic signs are reviewed as necessary and reflect the changing needs of society."

The BPA's guide for drivers, Know Your Parking Rights, covers many thorny issues but does not cover anything that might help motorists from being predated upon by its members, nor parking perpendicularly in a Smart car. And until Smart car-specific legislation is drawn up, it seems drivers are safer erring on the side of caution, and parallel, rather than perpendicularly, parking their cars.


Offline The Bald Eagle

  • Administrator
  • Follower
  • *****
  • Posts: 4497
  • THE lowest common denominator
Re: LGA goes slopey-shouldered!
« Reply #1 on: 17 December, 2014, 05:36:32 PM »
A different slant, also on the beeb.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Smart car driver's fine for parking sideways in Stroud quashed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-30512371

A Smart car driver who was fined for parking at a right angle to the kerb in an on-street bay has succeeded in having the penalty overturned.

Vanessa Price was issued a £50 ticket in October 2013 for not parking "correctly" in the bay on George Street in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

But Mrs Price claimed her car had been "picked out unfairly".

Following a year-long appeal process, a parking penalty tribunal ruled in her favour and overturned the penalty.

Mrs Price said she had only been parked for 10 minutes in a 30-minute "limited waiting" bay when she was ticketed.
'Didn't like the idea'

"I often park my car like this and have never encountered problems before," she said.

"And other cars were parked over the white lines without the traffic warden issuing tickets.

"But he [the traffic warden] said he'd never seen a car parked like that before and didn't like the idea of it."

At a parking penalty tribunal, Mrs Price claimed there were no restrictions on the "manner" of parking in a bay as long as the car was within the limits of the parking place.

Finding in her favour, the adjudicator said he was "not satisfied that the contravention occurred" and directed the council to cancel the notice.

Jim Daniels, parking manager at Gloucestershire County Council, said they issue tickets to any vehicles "parked on the kerb" or that "stick out into the road".

"Sometimes tickets are overturned at an independent hearing, but this doesn't set a precedent for any other motorists," he said.

"People should make sure they park legally and safely."

WE ARE WATCHING YOU

Offline Ewan Hoosami

  • Administrator
  • Follower
  • *****
  • Posts: 2227
  • Veni, Vidi, $chunti. I came, I saw, I assisted.
Re: LGA goes slopey-shouldered!
« Reply #2 on: 17 December, 2014, 08:01:25 PM »
As the BPA Ltd might say, "That report is full of inaccuracies". Let's examine one, shall we?,

Quote from: A BPA Ltd spokesweasel
"There is no law that specifies the size of a parking bay, but there are guidelines…………………………….."


I would like to challenge the misconception that there is no law that specifies the size of a parking bay. There is this law, by way of an example,

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/3113/contents/made

The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 is a statutory instrument. Passed by Parliament, this law specifically sets out the design and conditions of use of official traffic signs that can be lawfully placed on or near roads. It is not guidance. It's definitely not guidance. The BPA Ltd are clearly unaware of this piece of legislation. Schedule 6 specifies the size of a parking bay. The minimum and maximum dimensions of the bay itself and also the length and width of the lines and gaps.



I'm not so concerned that the, ahem, 'recognised authority on parking' are completely unaware of the basic statutory framework governing those working within the parking industry. No. What I'm really concerned about is the fact that this bunch of uneducated numpties are advising central and local government along with members of the public on parking issues.

Appealing to the council is like playing chess with a pigeon. You might be a chess grand master but the pigeon will always knock all the pieces over, shit on the board and then strut around triumphantly.

Offline Bazster

  • Follower
  • **
  • Posts: 74
Re: LGA goes slopey-shouldered!
« Reply #3 on: 18 December, 2014, 08:08:22 AM »
I've been parking motorcycles perpendicularly to kerbs for more than 30 years, why should it be any different for a small car?

Offline DastardlyDick

  • Follower
  • **
  • Posts: 1697
Re: LGA goes slopey-shouldered!
« Reply #4 on: 18 December, 2014, 10:07:44 AM »
 Must be a Glocestershire thing - people have been parking Smart Cars like that for years in London, and so long as the wheels of the car are within the Bay/Box markings, nobody bats an eyelid!

I'm surprised it took over a year to get to TPT.

Offline Virgil

  • Follower
  • **
  • Posts: 99
Re: LGA goes slopey-shouldered!
« Reply #5 on: 18 December, 2014, 04:07:14 PM »
 Whilst I'm not opposed to the driver trying to park so as to use space considerately, I beleive that there is some regulation about being parked with the nearside of the car to the kerb, so that at night, on an unlit road, your reflectors (the rear red ones) would let an approaching road user be able to see the parked vehicle and avoid it by going to the right of any red reflection, as you should do with bollards on the edge of the road etc. I'm not sure how widely this regulation applies, but if my understanding is correct there's a reasonable safety arguement applying here.

Stricter regulations apply to large vehicles, where they have to have lights on when parked at night on some roads, and there are also regulations regarding the lighting of things left in the road like skips.

I recall that there is an exception for motorcycles, probably on the basis that if we did this, many would simply topple over into the gutter, and possibly also for reasons of maximising available parking space.

It's a nice idea for her to park in a space that might otherwise be unusable, but I can see a few problems, not just the surpirse for someone driving in poor visibility and being surprised by a car that is sideways on in the road. If (for the sake of argument) she was in between two "box" vans (i.e. no sloping bodywork to allow a view out of her side windows) and needed to pull out, she cannot see to do so to avoid an approaching motorcycle until she's at least a few feet into the carriageway, at least if parked conventionally she can see ahead and use her mirror or shoulder-check behind her.

Offline BGB

  • Follower
  • **
  • Posts: 662
Re: LGA goes slopey-shouldered!
« Reply #6 on: 18 December, 2014, 04:56:58 PM »
There is an offence of parking at night facing oncoming traffic.  This only applies when parked not within a designated parking space.

 


Supporters of the NoToMob

In order to view this object you need Flash Player 9+ support!

Get Adobe Flash player