Bedford Driving Lessons » Fines

30,000 motorists get bus lane fines repaid…..

admin — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:26:37 +0000

A Hertfordshire council is to refund motorists who have paid fines for using a bus lane, where a tribunal has ruled that the signs had been illegally placed. The amount that is being returned is a whopping £1.3million.

A boost to some who have paid their fines. But a major help for others in the future, as it now shows that councils can’t just stitch up motorists with poor information, and will now have to correctly (and clearly) inform them about rules and regulations that need to be followed.

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Council to refund £1M parking fines after using wrong camera!

Motorists get victory over the use of CCTV cars to give out tickets…..

admin — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:41:05 +0000

A Traffic Penalty Tribunal has ruled that the controversial and annoying CCTV vehicles can only hand out penalty notices, when it is impractical for the traditional traffic wardens to carry out enforcement. The landmark ruling comes after a motorist appealed a fine, when issued with a ticket for momentarily parking on yellow line outside his house, to swap cars round on his drive.

In his ruling, James Richardson, a Traffic Penalty Tribunal adjudicator, said: “The sensitive nature of evidence gathered by CCTV is specifically considered and addressed by the guidance issued by the Government. Recommendation is made that such devices are only used where enforcement is difficult, sensitive or enforcement by wardens is not practical.”

Some relief for motorists who can sometimes be on the wrong end of overzealous enforcement, and a smaller revenue stream for authorities.

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Motorists against proposed rise in fixed penalty fine…..

admin — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 06:49:02 +0000

The current rate for a fixed penalty fine is £60, and the government are considering raising it to £90 and using the £30million it raises to help victims of crime and witness support. A survey by IAM, has shown that 51% are against the proposed rise to the fine for motoring offences. Worryingly 68% wanted to avoid getting fined to just avoid being hit in the pocket.

If everyone were to drive to high standards at all times, there would not be a worry about the increases, and the roads would be much safer as well!

Speeding tickets and the cost to the motorist…..

admin — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:56:08 +0000

Research from the AA, has highlighted the real cost of getting a speeding ticket. Over the years insurers have not adjusted premiums for those with a speeding conviction, but in these days of trying to get as much cash out of policy holders as possible, motorists could see increases for three years after offences. This may add up to an extra £200, in addition to the £60 fixed penalty charge.

Simon Douglas, director of AA Insurance, said: “Those who flout the law are more likely to make a claim and their premium reflects that risk. Why should the majority of motorists who stay within the law, subsidise those who don’t?

Certainly a hit to the pocket, but best reason not to speed is to keep safe on the roads!

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Six minute cat nap gets driver parking ticket…..

admin — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 09:38:55 +0000

It was recently reported in the mail, that a guy in Salford was handed a parking ticket after nodding off in his car. Apparently he eagle eyed enforcement officer spotted the guy falling asleep with no ticket on his car, but rules stop him from waking the guy up. When the motorist woke up it was too late, as the attendant was already writing the ticket out.

There is a complete lack of common sense and over zealousness from some areas of bureaucracy, that just annoys the general public over minor transgressions. Is this head-handed action really needed, or is it just a way for authorities to make money from the public?

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Fixed penalty fines could soon be increased to £100…..

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 10:53:39 +0000

It has been reported that the Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke, is undertaking a review into help for victims of crime. One of the proposals, is to increase fixed penalty fines for speeding, using mobile phones while driving and not wearing seatbelts, and they could rise to between £80 and £100, with £20 of each fine heading into the victims of crime fund. It is estimated that this move would raise an additional £50 million each year.

Another good way of raising income for the government, and great if all the money goes to the proposed fund. Many will not be happy, but if you drive safely, you won’t get collared with the higher fines. Could help road safety, if it encourages motorists to drive safer!

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Motorist gets ticket overturned after warden blunder!

admin — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:41:57 +0000

A motorist has won his appeal against a parking ticket after the traffic warden claimed he had visited two towns 28 miles apart in 35 seconds. Leighton Leyton-Purrier, 53, obtained official logs which appeared to show that the warden had travelled between the Shropshire towns of Shrewsbury and Ludlow faster than a jet. Mr Leyton-Purrier, who got the ticket in Ludlow, took the case to an independent tribunal, claiming the suspect statistics undermined the council’s credibility, and the tribunal ruled in his favour. He said he believed the council had attempted to find a way to make the penalty stand despite the bizarre statistics. Mr Leyton-Purrier, a publisher who lives in Ludlow, said: “I parked my car but moved it for more than two hours when I went home. “When I came back later in the afternoon the same space was available and so I parked in it. Later, I found I had a parking ticket. More

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Motorists overturn unfair ticketing!

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 21:52:49 +0000

Beleaguered motorists are being hit with more penalty fines than ever. Last year, traffic wardens handed out more than four million tickets, with penalties of up to £105 a time — generating up to £420 million. This number was inflated by the increasingly underhand methods which councils are using to catch out drivers. Many tickets were generated through mobile CCTV cameras, often hidden in Smart cars parked at junctions. The camera cars were originally introduced to provide traffic safety outside schools, but have been increasingly used to capture motorists who park illegally even for just a few seconds. More and some overturned tickets

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300,000 get others to take their penalty points!

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 20:24:03 +0000

A new AA survey shows that up to 300,000 drivers (mainly males) may have persuaded others to take their penalty points for speeding. But drivers who look for someone else to take the blame and the penalty points for a speeding offence face a one in eight chance that they will be reported to the police – 12% of AA members said that if asked, they would not only refuse to say they were driving at the time of the offence but would also report the point-swapping attempt to the police. More

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Mad motorists collared by Police in crackdown!

admin — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 20:57:56 +0000

Hampshire Police have revealed they spotted a motorist driving while using a laptop, writing down the answers to a quiz on the radio and drinking coffee all at the same time. Here are some other motorists whose driving left a lot to be desired. More and videos

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Sleeping driver gets a ticket!

admin — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:54:20 +0000

A tired motorist who stopped in a service area in the early hours of the morning to grab three hours rest has been hit with a £50 parking fine. The penalty imposed on James Orr by Moto Services was condemned by motoring and safety organisations as well as a former transport minister. Mr Orr had been driving for several hours before deciding to break his journey from London to Cornwall at Moto’s service area at Exeter shortly before 2am. “I was exhausted and I didn’t want to risk falling asleep at the wheel,” he said. “It wouldn’t have been safe for me to continue.” Several weeks later he received a Parking Charge Notice – a private parking fine – issued by a contractor on behalf of Moto, which photographed Mr Orr’s van arriving and leaving the service area. The penalty, which has since been rescinded, showed he spent three hours and three minutes at the service station, just over an hour over the two-hour free parking limit. More

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Bus lane camera rakes in £20,000 a day!

admin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:47:45 +0000

One of Britain’s most lucrative road traffic cameras has issued £600,000 of fines in less than a month, it has been revealed. Astonishingly 10,000 drivers have been caught using a bus lane in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, a number which equals around an eighth of the total population of the town. Currently it is raking in a staggering £16,000 per day but local MP Mike Penning says the reason for this is that the warning signs close to it are far too small and the lane should be painted red. Hertfordshire County Council, who installed it at the beginning of August, is refusing to suspend its enforcement despite Mr Penning being ‘inundated’ with letters from angry constituents. The local authority says the signs in Moor End Road are legal but the MP disagrees, and he is the under secretary for transport in the current Government. ‘I have been inundated with letters. Ignorance in the eyes of the law has never been a defence but some of the signage is clearly wrong,’ Mr Penning said. More

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Speeding drivers caught by Police hiding in the bushes!

admin — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 22:00:58 +0000

These policemen lurking amid trees are not members of Special Branch – but traffic officers hiding to trap speeding motorists. Their tactic of suddenly emerging from the undergrowth to catch drivers was branded ‘unfair’ and potentially hazardous yesterday. Critics say that alarmed motorists spotting the officer abruptly slam on their brakes and put themselves and other road users at risk. Wearing luminous yellow jackets and carrying speed guns the Central Scotland Police officers were pictured camouflaged by shrubbery in Dollar, a village in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. But police claim that they have not broken rules as their officers were not operating the speed guns while hiding in the bushes. Guidelines issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers state police using speed guns ‘must be clearly visible to the public and the target vehicle throughout the check’. More

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10,000+ drivers with 12 points keep their licence!

admin — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:14:48 +0000

Thousands of British motorists have been allowed to carry on driving despite having amassed 12 or more penalty points on their licence. Official figures obtained by The Independent on Sunday show that more than 10,000 motorists have totted up at least 12 points for offences including drink-driving, speeding, and failing to produce a specimen. One Bradford motorist is still on the road even though he or she has collected 32 points. The DVLA confirmed yesterday that 3.8 million driving licence-holders were recorded as having current penalty points. Some 13,449 people are disqualified from driving by a court as a result of collecting 12 or more penalty points – meaning that more than four out of 10 drivers who hit the limit manage to keep their licences. Although accumulating 12 or more points over a three-year period is usually enough to earn a driving ban of at least six months, many motorists have managed to escape the sanction by pleading that it would cause them undue hardship. Police officers claimed that driving standards were deteriorating, but warned that, even if every repeat offender received a ban, cuts to highway patrol budgets meant that the get-tough measures would be “ineffective”. “In our view, 12 points should lead to a ban,” said Neil Greig, director of policy and research at the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). “Anything above that risks bringing the whole system into disrepute. Clearly any court can hear mitigating circumstances but anyone with points on their licence can hardly plead ignorance of the law, having already had interaction with the points system.” Guidelines from the Sentencing Council state that serious offences such as drink-driving carry an obligatory ban of at least a year. But where the defendant has already amassed 12 penalty points from lesser offences, a ban of at least six months is discretionary. Courts can impose sentences short of a ban where a disqualification would cause a defendant, or others who depend on them, “exceptional hardship”. More

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Motorists could get CCTV fines refunded!

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 22:08:51 +0000

Parking and bus lane fines worth millions of pounds could have to be refunded by councils using mobile CCTV vans. As many as 24 local authorities face potential claims from motorists after a successful challenge to a ticket by a driver in Richmond-upon-Thames, west London. Nigel Wise contested a ticket issued by a mobile unit claiming that the device had not been formally approved by the Department for Transport. His appeal was upheld by the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service and the council also agreed to pay Mr Wise £50 costs. Richmond Council alone estimates that its liability could be as high as £1.05 million if it refunds an estimated 20,000 parking tickets issued between 2009 and 2011. Proposals to refund the money, drawn up by Lord True, Richmond’s leader, will be considered by the council next month. But in its own trade journal, Parking News, the industry estimates that as many as 24 councils could find themselves in the same position as Richmond. The mobile CCTV units which use cameras fitted to a periscope are normally found on Smart cars. More

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Fined for parking for 17 seconds as tickets issued on the rise!

admin — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:20:50 +0000

Persecuted motorists are being handed five times as many parking tickets as they were a decade ago, figures show. New mobile CCTV cameras are being used to catch drivers who may only have stopped momentarily. One case was based on just 17 seconds of film. There have even been instances of automated fines being generated for moving vehicles. More than four million tickets with penalties of up to £105 a time were dished out by wardens and councils across the country last year. Numbers have leapt more than ten per cent in the past two years, fuelled by the introduction of controversial CCTV-equipped camera cars. More…How to fight a parking ticket – and win Instead of tickets being slapped on the windscreen, drivers discover a fine only when the automatically generated ticket drops through their letterbox. But misuse of the cameras has led to a stinging rebuke from the official appeals watchdog, the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. In one case that was thrown out on appeal, a council issued a ticket using CCTV footage of ‘some 17 seconds’. In another rejected case, a fine was issued when a car stopped for 46 seconds to allow driver and passenger to swap places. The report also highlights cases of camera cars parking on double yellow lines to catch errant drivers and councils that fail to put up signs warning drivers that CCTV is in operation. More

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Banned for using two mobile phones when driving!

admin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 21:42:59 +0000

One-year ban and £150 fine for motorist caught speaking on one phone and looking at another. A man spotted behind the wheel on a 70mph road as he used two mobile phones has been banned from driving. Police spotted David Secker making a phone call with one hand and apparently sending a text message with the other, Norwich magistrates’ court heard. When officers pulled over the 34-year-old they had to wait for him to finish his conversation. Prosecutor Denis King said: “He was seen holding a mobile phone to his right ear and as he moved closer the officer saw he was holding another phone in his other hand as though he was texting.” Simon Nicholls, in mitigation, said his client had been reading a number from one phone to somebody on the other end of the line. He disputed claims that his client had been driving his M-reg Vauxhall Tigra with his knees. More

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Motorist fined for being stuck in a traffic jam!

admin — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 22:10:33 +0000

No one likes to be stuck in morning traffic – especially if it cost £110 for the privilege. Christopher Barham was fined after a CCTV camera took a picture of his car in gridlock outside Gidea Park station in Romford, Essex. Mr Barham was sent the fine along with a CCTV photo taken from a council camera at 8.22am on June 8. The picture clearly shows two cars in front of his car with their brake lights on. Mr Barham, of Hornchurch, Essex, said that after stopping his son got out to go to the station. More

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30 Points and still driving!

admin — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 22:11:53 +0000

A driver clocked up a remarkable 30 points on their licence but still managed to avoid a ban. The motorist, from Blackburn, Lancashire, convinced magistrates that they would suffer ‘exceptional hardship’ so were able to stay on the roads. Normally 12 points triggers an automatic ban but the driver escaped despite being two-and-a-half times the limit, according to a Freedom of Information request. Another driver from Burnley, Lancashire, also had 27 points on their licence but did not lose their licence. Across East Lancashire there were 165 drivers who had 12 or more points but were not disqualified. The 30 point motorist is the latest in a line of motorists to escape a ban. A 27-year-old man from Stockton-on-Tees was not banned from the road despite having 54 points on his licence, it was revealed last year. More

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No traffic wardens but mayhem in Aberystwyth!

admin — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 22:40:50 +0000

Every traffic warden in town has hung up their uniform, torn up their tickets and put away their camera. But what sounds like a driver’s dream come true has turned into a nightmare for the once sedate Welsh coastal town of Aberystwyth. Yesterday residents told of punch-ups over sought-after spaces, businesses unable to find room to take deliveries, and fears that ambulances and fire engines would be caught in the gridlock. So serious is the situation that many are now pleading for someone to resume the practice of slapping tickets on illegally-parked cars and lorries. However, the council has said it could be a year before replacement wardens are introduced – resulting in warnings of parking anarchy. Cyril Baker, who owns a jewellery store in the town, said: ‘If people come here and find chaos in the streets and people arguing over parking spaces, it isn’t going to encourage them to return.’ Unlike most of the rest of the UK, Aberystwyth had kept the old-fashioned system of traffic wardens employed by the police force. More

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Drivers urged to fight unfair parking tickets!

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 18:28:20 +0000

Motorists are being urged to consider contesting car parking tickets if they think they have been given one unfairly. Fewer than 1% of drivers took issue with their fines in 2009/10 out of a total of almost 4.25 million tickets, according to the chief adjudicator of the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. But of those who did, just under 60% won their case, Caroline Sheppard revealed. She is head of a team of 24 lawyers who rule on appeals from dissatisfied drivers within the 250 or so councils in England and Wales which are responsible for parking tickets. The adjudicator makes her plea in a new report which says councils on the whole are issuing slightly fewer tickets than before. “The aim of the tribunal is to provide an easy, convenient, fair and informal service for motorists,” Ms Sheppard said. “We believe it is important for people to understand better the rules and regulations, for councils to exercise discretion in cases where it is due, and finally, for people to know that they have the right to appeal to an independent adjudicator if they want to continue to challenge a penalty after the council has rejected their case.” More

Parked car moved for road work then ticketed!

admin — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 17:33:09 +0000

We’ve all experienced the age-old problem of forgetting where we’ve parked. But the driver of this Audi would have had some difficulty working out how his vehicle ended up on the other side of the road. These pictures, taken by a stunned onlooker, show a car removal truck moving the illegally parked motor into a different parking spot in Camden, North London. The Audi A4 was parked in a restricted area on the residential street where council contractors were due to undertake tree pruning work. But instead of towing it away, the removal truck lifted the car into the air and placed it into an empty parking bay on the opposite side of the road. Even though it was legally parked, a warden then slapped a parking ticket on the £35,000 vehicle. But the owner still avoided the huge expense of having his vehicle removed and impounded. More

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Warden slaps ticket on mobility scooter!

admin — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 20:54:48 +0000

A disabled man, who stopped in at his pensioner’s club for breakfast, leaving his mobility scooter outside – returned to find it slapped with a £70 parking fine. Keith Chapman, 67, left his scooter parked up against a wall outside his local community centre while he chatted with friends in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire. He returned to find a warden had stuck a £70 ticket on the handlebars claiming it was parked illegally. Mr Chapman, who was disabled in a motorbike accident 50 years ago, said he was in ‘hysterics’ when he spotted the fine. East Hertfordshire District Council has apologised and revoked the fine, claiming the warden involved was ‘confused’. Mr Chapman said: ‘I called in for breakfast and because there was no room in the car park I left it up against the wall. ‘Later on people came in and said a traffic warden had put a parking ticket on the scooter. I thought they were winding me up. More

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Venezuela suspends first ever speeding driver!

admin — Fri, 20 May 2011 22:56:38 +0000

Car-friendly Venezuela, where gasoline is almost free and troublesome highway rules rarely imposed, has suspended a bus driver from the roads for a year in the first case of a suspended license in the OPEC nation. Police stopped Ramon Parra, 41, for driving at excessive speed in a large, overladen passenger bus that was missing one of its rear wheels. The bus was packed with more passengers than legally permitted and one of its six wheels was wedged in an aisle inside, national police chief Luis Fernandez told reporters. “It is important to emphasise that this is a totally new act; for the first time in Venezuela we are suspending a driving license, for 12 consecutive months,” Mr Fernandez said. More

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Fake 40 sign causes motorists to get fined!

admin — Thu, 19 May 2011 21:16:26 +0000

Hundreds of motorists were issued with speeding fines after ‘crassly irresponsible’ pranksters put up a fake 40mph sign in a 30mph zone. Residents in the road described seeing the camera – calibrated to catch motorists travelling above 30 mph – flashing like a ‘strobe disco light’ as drivers put their foot on the pedal, mistakenly thinking the speed limit had changed. Furious highway chiefs condemned the practical joke after the road sign was put up before a speed camera on the busy road in Bradford. Bradford Council has now removed the rogue sign, which it believes was installed by a member of the public several days ago on Woodside Road in Wyke, near the junction with Carr House Lane. Resident Dave Clarke, an HGV driver, said: ‘People were coming at 30mph but this sign brought them back up to 40mph so people were picking their speed up and setting the flash off. ‘Some evenings it’s been like a strobe disco light. There have obviously been a lot of people who have been caught by it. ‘Whoever has placed the sign there, it’s a stupid thing to do. It costs time and effort for all those involved in the fines process.’ Darren Badrock, Bradford Council’s principal engineer for Bradford South, said: ‘The 40mph sign was not put up by the council and appears to have been placed there by a member of the public. We have now removed it. ‘Whoever put it up may think it was just a practical joke but it is actually crassly irresponsible. More

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Council to refund £1M parking fines after using wrong camera!

admin — Fri, 06 May 2011 21:58:26 +0000

Motorists could be in line for a £1million refund of parking fines after council bosses used the ‘wrong sort of camera’. The CCTV Smart car cameras had not been declared an ‘approved device’ by the Department of Transport. As a result thousands of tickets issued by Richmond Council, in south London, could be ruled invalid. The surveillance cars have since been taken off the streets and Lord True, leader of Richmond Council, has now indicated that all affected drivers could be due refunds. He promised a full investigation after it was claimed cameras on the council’s two CCTV cars were not correctly certified and fines had been issued illegally since 2009. Last year alone, the council issued 12,305 tickets, raising more than £573,000. A council spokesman said: ‘We are taking advice and are considering the question [of refunding motorists].’ More

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39 penalty points and still driving!

admin — Thu, 05 May 2011 22:17:00 +0000

A Swindon motorist has 39 penalty points on his or her licence – the most in Great Britain – but not been banned. A Freedom of Information request to the DVLA showed 638 drivers in Bristol, Dorset, Wiltshire, Somerset and Gloucestershire have 12 or more points. Twelve points usually means a temporary ban for a driver unless they can prove it would cause exceptional hardship. A court decides if a driver is banned and the Magistrates’ Association agreed the Swindon case needs investigating. The DVLA’s response to the Freedom of Information (FOI), from BBC West, did not say which offences the penalty points related to and gave no further information about the driver from Swindon. It explained that although it compiles the figures on court cases involving driving offences it has no influence on verdicts. More

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Soon to be new fines for throwing litter from cars!

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 22:28:25 +0000

Drivers are to face automatic £80 fines if litter is thrown from their vehicles – even if one of their passengers is to blame. Ministers are considering a change in the law that will make motorists responsible for any rubbish dropped from their vehicles. Council officers will be instructed to note the number plates of ‘offending’ vehicles, and an £80 penalty will then automatically be sent to the car’s registered owner. Evidence could also be collected by CCTV cameras. Unless drivers are willing to identify the culprit they will have to pay the fine, even if they were not aware litter had been dropped while they were driving. Those who refuse could face trial in a magistrates’ court, with a potential fine of up to £2,500. More

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Footballer pays £10,000 in parking fines and has car impounded 27 times!

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 22:09:19 +0000

Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has racked up nearly £10,000 in parking fines and had his white Maserati impounded an astonishing 27 times, it has emerged. The £100,000-a-week Italian player’s attitude to the city’s parking regulations has left his club’s liaison officers exasperated – especially as each time the car is towed away, they have to go and get it back. A source at the club told The Sun newspaper: ‘Mario will drive from his luxury apartment to a restaurant a few streets away and leave the car on double yellows. ‘The other week the Maserati misfired so he just abandoned it. Staff have had to bail it out 27 times. ‘The valet the club uses empties the glovebox of tickets every time he cleans it. Mario doesn’t seem to care. It’s a drop in the ocean to him.’ Balotelli’s remarkable attitude to money was further highlighted in the report which stated he was once allegedly pulled over by police with £25,000 in cash on his passenger seat. When asked why he had the money he simply said ‘Because I can’. More

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Parking restrictions on the rise as local councils cash in on motorists!

admin — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:59:30 +0000

New figures show more than 40 councils across Britain are adding metered spaces or permit zones to streets where drivers currently park for free. Liverpool, Gloucestershire and Blackpool are among those facing the biggest increases, in a sign that “residents parking zones” and other cash-producing charges are spreading beyond the centres of the busiest cities. In total, at least 63 miles of new restrictions are planned – enough to stretch from London to Northampton. “Councils are treating motorists as an easy source of revenue, using price rises to fill empty coffers,” said Nigel Humphries, spokesman for the Association of British Drivers. Official estimates made by councils indicate Britain’s 30 million motorists will pay a record £1.48bn in pay-and-display charges, permits and fines this financial year, equivalent to £50 each. More

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Motorist clamped after 30 seconds!

admin — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:07:34 +0000

The incident happened outside Exeter’s Central Station, which has become notorious for overzealous clampers. Network Rail had recently given assurances that the parking firm Premier Parking Solutions would not affix clamps or issue tickets to any car parked at the station for less than five minutes. Peter Webber, 48, a teacher, said his car was clamped about 30 seconds after he got out and went into the station to get change to feed the parking machine. More

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Less motorists now being caught by speed cameras!

admin — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:03:14 +0000

Statistics published by the Home Office showed that 935,000 motorists were caught speeding by camera in 2009, the latest year for which figures are available. The last time cameras caught fewer than one million speeding motorists was in 2001. The numbers rose steadily until they peaked at more than 1.8 million in 2005. However at the same time the soaring number of drivers facing fines and three points on their licence triggered a wave of anger among motorists who claimed that the cameras were being used as a stealth tax. It led to the previous Government scrapping the system which allowed local safety partnerships to keep the fines and reinvest the proceeds in yet more cameras. The change, which saw all fines going to the Treasury, coincided with a reduction in both the number of cameras and motorists being fined in the latter half of the decade. More

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Devious yellow box junction rakes in £1M!

admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:33:47 +0000

Motorists have been hit with more than £1million in penalty fines at just one road junction – even though traffic bosses privately admit the road markings on it are somewhat deceptive. More than 9,000 drivers were fined £120 each after being photographed entering the box junction, but not being able to drive out of it before the traffic lights changed. Under the Highway Code, motorists must not enter the box until the exit road or lane in front is clear. But the extended yellow criss-cross lines at the junction in South London mean drivers taking one of the left turns are getting stuck in the box junction. Cameras monitoring the junction have caught out dozens each day because of its frequent traffic jams. A total of 9,098 fines were handed out to motorists unable to leave the box junction on the A3 in Clapham, South-West London, since February last year. More

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New rules let you do 86mph and not get fined!

admin — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 22:25:20 +0000

Motorists will be able to do up to 86mph but still escape fines and penalty points under a new police framework for speeding. Although the official limit on major roads remains at 70, drivers caught exceeding it by as much as 16mph will be allowed to keep a clean licence by agreeing to go on a speed awareness course which costs them around £100. The money raised will be used to fund more speed cameras or reactivate decommissioned ones. Thirty-seven out of 44 police forces have signed up to the scheme so far, and last week Oxfordshire became the first county to put it into action. But critics say the framework is simply creating a new speed cash-cow industry and allowing motorists to break the law. Until now, speeding drivers have been given the option of attending courses up to certain limits, but now these are being raised. More

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Bailiffs target 500,000 drivers a year over council parking fines!

admin — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:23:22 +0000

Town halls are setting bailiffs on to nearly 500,000 drivers every year over parking fine disputes. Local councils are involved in more than a third of the 17million cases handled by the £3billion-a-year debt recovery industry. The employment of bailiff firms over minor parking infringements mean drivers risk having their cars impounded over trivial and often disputed sums. Recently one firm tried to seize a pensioner’s mobility scooter when she failed to pay a parking fine as she was in hospital. In another case a woman’s car was impounded and sold after she refused to pay a fine for overstaying in a council car park by three minutes. The figures were gathered by the Big Brother Watch campaign group, which put freedom of information requests to more than 300 councils. More

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Drivers could get back £60m through unfair parking ticket appeals!

admin — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 23:17:46 +0000

Drivers lost almost £60million last year by failing to appeal against unfair parking tickets, according to a survey. In 2010, around 5 per cent of motorists in the UK received a parking ticket where they had grounds for appeal, paying out an estimated £58.5million, the poll by car insurer LV found. Of these, only 22 per cent bothered to contest the ticket but of those who did, 88 per cent were successful in their claim. More than half (53 per cent) who chose not to appeal said they assumed they would lose, while 8 per cent did not know how to initiate a claim. The poll of 2,003 adults, including 1,728 drivers, showed that the majority of unfair parking fines are issued in areas were parking signage is unclear. A total of 2 per cent of drivers said parking attendants had fabricated evidence to support the issuing of a ticket. More

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£120 fine on the way for having engine idling!

admin — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:23:57 +0000

London’s mayor wants to increase the current £20 penalty and bring it into line with fines imposed for parking offences. If his plans are adopted, it would see motorists in the capital being fined £120 and outside London the charge would be increased to £70. Higher penalties would hit an array of road users from delivery drivers and taxis to mothers waiting to pick up their children from school. Mr Johnson has written to Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, urging him to toughen the law. Motorists who leave their cars idling “unnecessarily” while parked can be fined under powers given to local authorities in 2002. But according to Mr Johnson’s new air quality strategy, the law is too weak to tackle the noise and pollution caused by motorists who leave their engine idling. It also said the current £20 penalty charge is “too low to be a powerful disincentive.” More

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Foreign drivers escape punishment for UK offences!

admin — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:26:20 +0000

Foreign drivers will be able to drink and drive, break the speed limit, jump red lights and escape without punishment because the Government has not signed up to an EU crackdown, it was claimed. This week 25 EU states agreed a pact to make it easier to track down and prosecute drivers breaking the law in another country for fines. Britain and Ireland were the only countries not to sign – although Ireland is expected to join after its post-election disruption. Under the Cross Border Enforcement Directive, foreign drivers would have been prosecuted for offences committed on British roads, the Daily Mirror reported. The directive allows EU states to share information on millions of motorists though an electronic database. Brian Simpson, a Labour Euro MP and chairman of the European Parliament Transport Committee, warned that Britain’s decision to opt out would allow foreign motorists to think they are beyond the law when driving on these shored. More

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‘Sniffer wardens’ out to catch company car drivers smoking!

admin — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:56:05 +0000

Drivers who light cigarettes in company cars are being hunted down by ‘sniffer wardens’ after a council teamed up with police to smoke them out. Tendring District Council and Essex Police are so eager to catch employees having a puff behind the wheel that they’ve set up road blocks across the county. Armed with nothing but a heightened sense of smell, the sharp-nosed enforcers lie in wait, sniffing inside the cars of suspected lawbreakers, and scouring for used ashtrays. Anyone caught smoking in a company car faces a £50 fixed penalty fine or taken to court and issued with a £200 fine and conviction. And if they discover signs that the driver may have been smoking, they can alert the company boss who too may receive a fine up to £2,500. Failure to apply no smoking stickers inside the work vehicle can carry a fine of up to £1,000. Smoking in work cars was banned in 2006 under the Health Act. It made illegal smoking in any vehicle used predominantly for business which more than one person might use. But council chiefs have been blasted for the ‘ridiculously disproportionate clampdown’. More

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Driver wins 30 hour stand-off with parking warden!

admin — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:21:10 +0000

A terrified young care worker barricaded herself inside her car for 30 hours after the vehicle was clamped by an over-zealous warden – despite displaying a valid parking permit. Jessica Davey, 22, became embroiled in a marathon stand-off with a clamper after her Renault Clio was targeted outside her home. Determined nursing home carer Jessica refused to pay a £110 release fee – claiming a parking permit was on her car dashboard – and locked herself away in the vehicle. She refused to leave the driving seat of her cramped car for fear it would be towed away and sparked an incredible 30-hour stand-off. Jessica’s worried pleas for help to the police were ignored and her boyfriend Simon Baker, 23, was even arrested as he tried to free the chained vehicle. Eventually, after more than one full day in her car, Jessica won out after managing to free the clamp wheel herself – but she is fuming about her ordeal. She said yesterday: ‘I couldn’t afford to pay him and I didn’t see why I should so I decided to stay with my car until he took it off so he couldn’t tow it away. More

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Freeing pedestrians from pavement parking blight!

admin — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:33:29 +0000

The Government is making it easier for councils to tackle pavement parking and stop it causing an obstruction to pedestrians Regional and Local Transport Minister Norman Baker announced today. Vehicles parked on pavements can cause particular problems for people in wheelchairs or with visual impairments and those with pushchairs. The Minister has today written to councils prompting them to use their powers to prevent parking on the pavement where it is a problem. Along with the letter, the Department for Transport has given all councils in England permission to use signs to indicate a local pavement parking ban. Until now councils have had to gain special signs authorisation from Government each time they want to put a pavement parking ban in place. While in some circumstances pavement parking is unavoidable – for example in narrow residential roads with no off-street parking – the Government believes that in many cases it can be avoided. Pavement parking is completely banned in London.” More

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Footballers are top of the league for motoring convictions!

admin — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 23:13:37 +0000

Why do professional footballers often fall foul of the law when driving, while au pairs keep their licences clean? A new survey sheds some light. Professional footballers are the drivers most likely to commit offences such as speeding, running red lights and using a phone while driving, new research suggests. Almost a third of footballers have points on their licence, making them nearly two and half times more likely than the average motorist to be caught breaking the rules of the road, according to car insurers, elephant.co.uk. Riggers (workers who lift and shift heavy objects) come in at number two on the list, with 24.8 per cent having a licence endorsement. Politicians come in at number seven in the list of the 10 occupations most likely to have points on their licence. More than a fifth of politicians have motoring convictions, making them almost twice as likely as the average driver to have points. “Powerful cars are closely associated with the footballers’ lifestyle so perhaps for some of them the temptation to speed is simply too much,” said elephant.co.uk managing director, Brian Martin. “As for politicians, our research shows they are not above the law. Why so many have motoring convictions isn’t clear but many spend quite a lot of time on the road commuting from constituencies a long way from the seat of government. I think we can safely say driving isn’t an area where we should be looking to them for guidance.” More

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Cowboy clampers make £55m a year!

admin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:37:30 +0000

Cowboy clampers take up to £55 million from drivers every year, the Home Office said. The figures, released as the Government takes steps to make wheel-clamping on private land a criminal offence from next year, back concerns that rogue operators were extorting millions of pounds from unsuspecting motorists. But some critics, including the British Parking Association (BPA), criticised the Government for creating “a charter for the selfish parker”, giving drivers the freedom to park wherever they want. Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone said: “For too long motorists have fallen victim to extortion and abuse from rogue clamping companies. “I have been outraged by cases of drivers being frog-marched to cash points late at night or left stranded by rogue operators who have towed their vehicle away. Clearly this is unacceptable. “By criminalising clamping and towing on private land this Government is committing rogue clampers to history and putting an end to intimidation and excessive charges once and for all.” Evidence from England and Wales showed around 500,000 clampings take place annually on private land with an average release fee of £112 and 98% of fees being paid as drivers want to get their vehicles back, the Home Office said. More

Half of parking ticket appeals are successful!

admin — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:07:50 +0000

Approximately half the number of people who appeal against being given a parking ticket in England are successful, the Government has said. Penalty charge notices were either cancelled or waived for 47% of those who submitted an objection to the ticket in 2009-10, leaving the motorist with some extra cash to put towards car insurance costs. The Department of Transport also said 59% of those who argued against being given an off-street parking ticket, which applies to car parks, were successful. More

Segways banned from footpaths as first in UK rider is fined!

admin — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 22:12:37 +0000

Electric-powered Segways were banned from Britain’s footpaths today in a court case that gave new impetus to campaigners who want to see the self-balancing 12.5mph two-wheelers allowed on the country’s roads. A district judge fined 51-year-old Phillip Coates £75 with £265 costs for riding on pavements in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, but said his verdict pointed to eventual road use. After evidence including a successful ride by Coates’s 86-year-old mother, the judge, Michael Rosenberg, said: “I am inexorably driven to the conclusion that the Segway is a motor vehicle.” This automatically bans the Segway from pavements but opens the door to a challenge – given mechanical improvements – to the current position that they fail legal requirements for “a motor vehicle for use on the highway”. Coates, who was reported by a civilian police worker, has yet to decide whether to appeal, but sympathisers are certain to encourage further moves in what they see as a test case. They include the former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik, who said at an earlier hearing that the 1835 Highways Act was outdated and unable to cope with the 10-year-old invention. Rosenberg told Barnsley magistrates court that contemplating the issue since an initial hearing last summer had been “far from easy to determine”. He acknowledged fears among other road users, which were exacerbated in September when the Segway company’s owner, Jimi Heselden, died after losing control of his machine. Rosenberg said: “The crux of the matter is for me to interpret whether or not the Segway is a mechanically-propelled vehicle intended or adapted for use on a road.’ More

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Motorist fined for warning others of speed traps!

admin — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 21:36:02 +0000

A DRIVER who flashed his headlights at oncoming motorists to warn them of a police speed trap has been left with a £440 bill for “obstructing police”. Michael Thompson thought it was his “civic duty” to warn other drivers of the mobile speed cameras ahead. Thompson, 64, of Grimsby, Lincs, denied wilfully obstructing a policewoman in the execution of her duty on July 21 last year but was convicted after a trial. The vigorously-pursued prosecution was branded “ridiculous” and “a complete waste of taxpayers’ money” by lawyers. One solicitor praised Thompson and said: “He should be given a medal.” The trial, which took half a day at Grimsby Magistrates, cost the Crown Prosecution Service at least £250 and three police officers were in court for much of that time. Even they privately questioned the decision to pursue the case to prosecution and admitted that members of the public believed police time should be given to catching criminals. The trial heard Thompson was driving out of Grimsby on to the A46 dual carriageway when he spotted a police speed trap. He flashed his headlights about seven times to warn oncoming drivers heading towards Grimsby but was pulled in by the police. He claimed that, after he challenged the officers, one of them told him: “I was going to let you off with a caution but I’m not now.” More

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Motorists abusing Rat-Run could face fines!

admin — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 18:30:10 +0000

Drivers making unauthorised shortcuts are being threatened with a £45 penalty under what is believed to be the first scheme of its kind in the country. It is being enforced at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, where cameras have been installed at both ends of a road running through the grounds. This has been done by Cambridgeshire County Council, with the restrictions being enforced by Cambridgeshire Police. Such cameras are commonplace on roads, especially in London, where they are used to enforce moving traffic offences such as driving in a bus lane. They are also employed for private and council parking enforcement. But motoring organisations believe that the Addenbrooke’s scheme targeting drivers taking “rat runs” sets a worrying precedent. Cars using the road are photographed as they enter and exit, with journey times being monitored to distinguish between motorists visiting the hospital and those who are just cutting through to save time. Motorists who are believed to have used the road as a rat run are initially sent a warning letter. But repeat offenders face a £30 fine, rising to £45 if the penalty is not paid within 28 days. Anyone receiving a warning letter can appeal, by proving that they had a legitimate need to use the road. This concession applies to delivery drivers and motorists dropping people off at the hospital. The council was able to introducer the scheme after the Department for Transport, which under the Coalition has pledged to end the war on the motorist, approved the necessary traffic order. More

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Lady gets fined after snow covers parking ticket!

admin — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 22:25:08 +0000

MOTORIST Sue Cooke is furious a penalty notice was slapped on her windscreen, because a warden said he wasn’t allowed to scrape away snow to see the valid parking ticket underneath. The sales assistant had parked on a car park in the centre of Leek during Wednesday’s blizzards to avoid causing a traffic hazard on side streets. But she was given a ticket by a warden employed by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council; even though her pay and display ticket still had two hours 10 minutes on it. She is doubly angry the warden was able to prise the frozen windscreen wiper from her car to put the ticket on, but was not able to dust the snow off the window. The mother-of-two will now have to go through the appeals procedure against the £50 penalty – at a cost to the council taxpayer. Traders now say they fear over-zealous parking wardens will deter customers from visiting Leek in the run-up to Christmas. Mrs Cooke, who works at WH Smith in Derby Street, Leek, confronted the warden later in the day, and he claimed he could not clear the snow in case he was accused of scratching her car. The 55-year-old grandmother-of-two, of Fernwood Drive , Leek, said: “I was absolutely livid. He said he was not able to touch the car, but he was able to lift the frozen cold windscreen wiper, which must have been absolutely stuck solid. “There was more of a chance damaging the car doing that, than wiping away snow. I showed him the ticket and he said he had not been able to see it because of the snow. “There was an absolute blizzard that day. I bet I was not the only one to have got a ticket and I hope everyone else also appeals.” Other motorists, who were unable to move their cars from the town’s High Street car park during heavy snow were also fined. Vice chairman of Leek Chamber of Trade Marc Briand, who is the co-owner of Colloco, said the fine was ‘outrageous’ given the atrocious weather conditions on Wednesday. He said: “It shows the appetite is for booking cars, rather than freeing up parking spaces and keeping the traffic moving.” More

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Parking fines could soon be doubled to £120!

admin — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 23:14:05 +0000

Parking fines could nearly double as councils try to hit motorists across the country with £120 penalties. Local authorities insist the move is needed as the current £70 fine payable outside London is not enough of a deterrent. And the British Parking Association says the extra money is needed to meet the rising cost of parking management. A number of councils have already lobbied the Government for an increase. But opponents of the move say the fines are simply a stealth tax that will be used as a ‘cash cow’ – in breach of Whitehall guidelines – to fund revenue at a time of austerity cuts. Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has warned councils that they must cope with cuts of more than a quarter of their budgets without damaging services. More

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Increases to penalty fines proposed!

admin — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 23:49:09 +0000

Laws surrounding penalties for motorists not wearing seatbelts or violating number plate laws are set to change in the New Year. Road Safety Minister Mike Penning has announced a series of draft amendments to current legislation, which means drivers from overseas will also have to pay when caught. “If laws are to be effective then it is vital that they are enforced fairly and proportionately, no matter who you are or where you are from,” said Mr Penning. If the changes gain Parliamentary approval they will increase the on-the-spot penalty deposits – those which are issued in the place of on-the-spot fines to offenders who are unable to provide a UK address – for seatbelt and number plate offenders. This brings them into line with the normal £60 fixed penalties for those offences. Meanwhile, driving or keeping a vehicle with an obscured registration mark, or without a registration plate, will also be penalised more harshly, with the charge rising from £30 to £60. More

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