This is Midvale Road in Paignton. It is on the 12A route between Paignton Zoo and the Bus Station. At 15:10 today I got stuck with 60 children from Paignton Community College on board. So parents, if your child arrived home late this afternoon here is the reason why.
Not only I was stuck, a whole road full of cars behind me were also stuck. The Ford Focus on the right is parked on double yellow lines which in this country means no parking at any time. Unless of course you have Blue Badge.(1)
After about 20 minutes the white car and the dark car on the right moved away and with the help of a couple of passers by, and there were plenty, I managed to get through.
Foot Note (1) Blue Badges are given to disabled people who may not be able to walk very far and may not be able to use near by car parks. In the conditions that apply to Blue Badges car owners are asked to park their cars with some consideration for other road users. One of the problems with parking in a car park for badge holders is not only the distance they may have to walk to get to and from the car park but the fact that they also have to pay. Or they can park on the road for free.
What would you do? Get elected as a local councilor, persuade over half the other councilors to pass a law allowing Blue Badge holders to use car parks for free or write about the problem in your blog?
6 comments:
Blue badge holders can park in any council owned car park for free here. All of the others still charge though.
In that situation I would have simply rested my hand on the horn for however it long it required to get them to move. You probably have rules about that sort of thing though.
Here in Torbay Badge holders have to pay but they do get an hour free parking on top of what they have paid for. They can not just park for an hour for free and go, but if they pay for an hour they can stay for two.
The street I was in was residential but handy for the shops so the driver could have been out of ear shot but the poor residents weren't. Bus drivers don't have the best image and tempting as your idea is it would do our reputation no good at all.
So what do you do then, just wait?
What should happen to that car is something I saw a long time ago. There was a fire engine on an emergency call and they couldn't get through because of a badly parked car, so they got out of the cab and tipped it up onto its side, drove on by and just left the car there on its side!
simple you should have contacted the local constabulary....
The local constabulary were contacted but the problem is that they have no way of moving the offending car. A city like London could have got a "snatch team" in and lifted the vehicle but down here in darkest Devon the nearest snatch team is in Exeter 25 miles away and costs £150. The police just take so long to get there the problem usually has gone away.
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