| Topic: | WARNING - DON'T ASK A TRAFFIC WARDEN !!! | |
| Posted by: | Jean F Fernandez | |
| Date/Time: | 25/08/15 19:23:00 |
One would assume that a Civil Enforcement Officer(Traffic Warden) would be aware of parking regulations and restrictions after all they are employed by Ealing Council to uphold the law. Thinking this was the case my husband asked the Traffic Warden's advice because he was aware that a yellow sign some way along the road stated that suspension was in force between Bay 1 and Bay 7. The Traffic Warden asked ‘Where are you parked?’ and when my husband pointed to the bay where his car was parked the warden responded with the words ‘OK You are all right there’ so feeling assured my husband left the vehicle a few minutes before 2pm. So you can imagine how annoyed and confused we were to find a parking ticket on the windscreen timed at 2pn exactly! There is absolutely no way we would have parked in that location if there was any doubt about whether or not it was breaking the law. We looked around to try and locate the Traffic Warden in question but of course we could not see any warden around. Counting the bays we thought we were in Bay 8. According to the council the first bay is not counted as it is loading/unloading only. Perhaps the Traffic Warden made the same mistake - who knows. If he was unsure why not say it is up to the driver to double check? Why would the warden tell my husband that it was fine to park in that bay if that is not the case? It is very unfair that my husband then received a parking fine within minutes even though he checked with the traffic warden before parking in that bay. Perhaps it would be better if Ealing Council actually marked out which bays are affected to prevent people getting unfair parking fines, and by the way the suspension sign was quite a few yards along on a lamp post. It should be located at the start and finish of the restricted area. On a later visit we spoke to 2 wardens who just said we sould have got the badge number of the person who said it was fine to park where we did. It seens you cannot even trust a Civil Enforcement Officer who is employed by Ealing Council to give the correct advice! We appealed of course but the Parking Services are sticking to their guns. Easy money for the council I guess, once again the motorist is fair game.In the past when each bay had a parking meter it was easy to check whether or not it was OK to park in that bay, now there is no beginning or no end and left up to the motorist to try and figure it all out. So my advice folks is NEVER take advice from a Traffic Warden, in fact don't even park in a road which has a sign saying some bays are suspended. Unless of course you want to pay a £55.00 fine |