A couple of days ago I heard a story that suggested that one of our buses had been given a parking ticket. The place this was supposed to have happened was Preston Bus Shelter, which at the moment is in the middle of a diversion route while some road works are going on. The bus lay bye is full of No Waiting cones and on a near by lamp post there is a sign stating No Parking at any time. Park your car there and a ticket would appear as if by magic in 30 second flat. But a bus? Aren't they allowed to stop and pick up and let down passengers on a bus stop without getting parking tickets?
Well normally yes. But today I heard the full story. What had happened was the driver had stopped to pick up passengers but had also noticed that rare event. Someone upstairs was causing trouble so the driver switched the engine off and went upstairs to sort the problem out. An N.C.P. Parking Attendant came round the corner and seeing a bus with engine switched off and no driver in the cab assumed the bus had been parked there and started to write out a ticket. The driver came down stairs and explained what was happening. As anyone who has parked a car and come back to find the parking attendant writing out a ticket will know, the parking guy said, "I've started so I will finish."
Bit like bus drivers, once we start to pull away from a bus stop there is a certain reluctance to stop and pick up the poor sod who comes running up at the last second plus 3. This is for reasons of road safety, it can be dangerous to stop suddenly when the driver behind has let you out and expects you to keep going. Me? I usually keep going even though I don't like Horlicks.
PS For the latest on the Napoli click here
3 comments:
I once got a parking ticket for parking a tour bus in a zone marked "No parking, tour bus loading only". The parking officer claimed that I wasn't "loading" and that I was blocking traffic. I showed her paper work that said that I was supposed to start loading in 5 minutes. I also pointed out that traffic was being blocked, not by me, but by taxis, which were tripled parked, half a block in front of me. She replied that they were parked in a taxi loading zone, and wrote the ticket. I took the ticket, but refused to move the bus. By the time the tow truck arrived, I had loaded my passengers and was long gone. I still haven't figured out what that was about.
PS, the Napoli is on the front page, even in California.
We had a similar problem with parking attendants attempting to ticket buses parked momentarily on bus stops whilst awaiting relief ... after about a week of it we solved the problem by banning parking attendants from our canteen facilities (which they used extensively, not having their own) and removing the concession by which they travelled free with us whilst in uniform...petty? yes... bullying? yes...fun? yes... effective? too bloody right...the message got through same day...seems it was some numbskull supervisor wanted to make a name for himself...he succeeded
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