"Another Fine Mess" ... Parking Chaos starts today

In a calamity worthy of the slapstick comedy heroes the new Traffic Management Act comes into force today ... ill-thought out, ill-conceived, unregulated and guaranteed to create "another fine mess."

The difference is however, that this one isn't funny.
There will be nothing amusing when you get a parking ticket issued through the post alleging a contravention some weeks earlier. I struggle to recollect events from the day before, but trying to retrace my footsteps (or my vehicle's tyre steps) from weeks earlier will be an impossible task.

Add to that the fact that as the Registered Keeper of a vehicle yo will be responsible for paying the Penalty Charge Notice ... and therefore responsible for tracing other persons steps ( ie. any other legal user of the vehicle).


Penalties will range from £40 to as high as £120 – rising to £180 for late payers – simply according to where in the country you park.

Two tier penalties will be introduced with higher penalties for more serious contraventions ... but no need for the call to the rocket scientist for a quote ... you guessed it, most of the contraventions (the most common) fall into the higher bracket thereby increaing the revenue for councls.

CCTV will be rolled out across the country to harvest revenue in the most profitable areas. Amusingly Wigan Council claimed that they would only be siting CCTV cameras where it was too dangerous for Parking Attendants (now renamed Civil Enforcement Officers under the new legislation) ... I personally do not want to live in a country where it is too dangerous for ANYONE to go and the priority under the Crime and Disorder Act is for the Police and Councils to reduce crime (and the fear of crime) in such areas ... not put up CCTV to harvest fine revenue.

This legislation is going to result in chaos and abuse of the belegured motorist who is going to become even more of a stealth tax victim.

Read what the Daily Express thinks here