Parking in the Wrong Place

I took this photo a couple of days ago in Torbay Rd in Paignton of a Civil Enforcement Officer (used to be called traffic wardens). He was in the process of putting a parking ticket on the red car. Not because the driver of the car hadn't paid, nor had the driver over stayed his time. What he had done is park his/her car in a bay reserved and marked out as for Solo Motor Cycles Only. Now regular readers will know I think people who park their cars where they shouldn't deserve all the get. But in this instance my sympathy is with the motorist. Please read on.
This bay used to be, until mid May, for cars, but has been marked out, as I said for Motor bikes. Over the last couple of weeks I have noticed that people were still parking cars in the bay and several of then had got tickets. So yesterday while waiting time at our bus stop which is just across the road from the bay I decided to do a small amount of investigatative journalism. So each time I saw a car parking in the bay I nipped over the road and conducted an indepth interview with the driver.

Actually what I say was, "Are you aware that you are parking in a bay for solo motor cycles only?" and pointed to the writing in the roadway and the sign up on a post. None of the 8 drivers I spoke to had even noticed either the sign or the writing in the road. Which to my mind wasn't surprising. The sign is facing the road and is invisible to drivers approaching the bay. Similarly the writing (Solo Motor Cycles Only) has been placed so it can be read by someone standing in the road but to an approaching motorist it is small and would be like turning a book through 90% anticlockwise and trying to read it.
Almost impossible to see and defiantly impossible to read, especially if you are a weary motorist desperately seeking a parking place. It might be that this bay is legally set up and signposted but it would be nice if Torbay Council had a look at the site and did something to improve the chances that motorists could see the signs before that park there and get an undeserved parking ticket.
Plus it would leave the bay open for the people it is intended for, the solo motorcyclist.

please Don't Leave Your Brains at Home When You Got Out For A Drive.

This is what happens when you leave your car on a bus stop even if it is just for a moment. The car driver had just nipped into a shop for a few seconds but got talking. Time flies when you are having fun but for all those motorist stuck behind the bus that couldn't get on the bus stop it wasn't fun.

Please don't park on a bus stop, you don't know when the bus is going to turn up and block the road. And it could cost you 70 quid, it's an instant ticket if you stop on a bus stop and you aren't a bus.

As you can see from the photo it was a wet miserable day here in usually sunny Paignton.

Friday 110930

I sometimes go on about people parking on the bus stop in Torbay Rd. Most drivers move on when we turn up in the bus some don't. The ones that do move on tend to be car drivers who have just stopped to drop someone off or are having a quick chat to a mate. I don't really have a problem with this though in an ideal world it wouldn't happen. The ones that haven't moved away include a Devon and Somerset Fire Brigade vehicle, the driver crossed the road in front of the bus, got in the van and started eating his chips, then there was the police car, unattended, next came the ambulance crew. When I told them they couldn't park on the bus stop they ignored me and walked away. I sent photos to their boss with a strong email of complain. Today it was the turn of Tor2, who are rubbish collectors here in the Bay. The truck was unattended which left me out in the roadway causing chaos and it's me the passing motorist blame not the rubbish collectors who weren't even collecting rubbish. They were collecting coffee and coke (the drink, not the other kind of coke. See Photo below). When they came back 5 minutes later they claimed they had been collecting bins from down a side road. Some one must have dumped a few cups of coffee and bottles of coke and sandwiches in the bin for them. I've been working from that bus stop for 6 months and have never seen them collecting bins in the bus stop, they always stop in the roadway and drive away as soon as possible.

I have been on Tor2’s web site to see where to email my photos but the site is devoid of any way of emailing complains. Just a phone number. Last time I tried phoning Tor2 I listened a recorded voice telling me my call was important please hang on and we will get to you. I eventually hung up before my phone bill began to resemble the National Debt.

Tallyho Coach parked on a bus stop.

At the top end of Torbay Rd, Paignton there is a lay-by which is about 40 metres long. The first 20 metres is marked out as a loading bay. That means that only vehicles actually loading or unloading goods can wait in that part of the lay-by. More importantly it means that delivery vans can stop near to the shops they are delivering at and drop the goods you might one day wish to walk in the shop and expect to find on the shelves, not still in a van being driven round and round the block by a driver desperately trying to find some where to park. The second half of the lay-by is marked out in bright yellow paint as a bus stop. That is so buses can pull in off the road so all those people with cars can drive past while all those people without cars, or chose not to use them, can get on the buses at the stops. Most parking places in Torbay Rd are consistently in use, being a busy part of town but the loading bay and the bus stop spend about 90% of the time sitting there empty. It can be tempting just to pull in and hope a bus or a van doesn't want to use the bay while you are there. Now I don't actually have too much of a problem with that; provided the driver remains with the vehicle moves away the moment someone who has a legitimate reason to occupy the space turns up. Parking attendants might have a different point of view to me in this area so don't quote me. The problem comes when the driver wanders off or refuses to move. It means the delivery van driver or the bus driver has to stop in the roadway causing congestion and inconvenience to all passing motorists.

This is where parking attendants come in. They might not be able to magic the offender away but they can charge the driver of the illegally parked vehicle a substantial sum of money for the pleasure of making life a misery for the van driver who has to drive round the block a few times or be forced to carry heavy goods much further than expected, the bus driver, the bus passengers, the passing motorists, the shoppers who's goods aren't in the shop when they should be, the shop keeper who looses a sale, the shop worker who gets laid off because the shop keepers profits have gone down just so some selfish bastard can park where he/she shouldn't.

While we are on about parking attendants or civil enforcement officer as they are called these days. I have heard people say, "Why don't you get a proper job?" to them when that stick a ticket on a car. It is a proper job, those who say the above haven't got the brains they were conceived with. I started driving 50 years ago, driving round Manchester in 1960. It was a nightmare, far worse than it is now, even though there were far fewer cars on the road. So why? Because people used to park anywhere and no one did much about it. People still risk parking illegally to day even though there is a strong chance they could end up paying an £80 fine. Imagine what it would be like in a world without parking attendants. You would have to get up early to get anywhere and I mean really, really early.

Anyway someone parked a coach from the Tallyho Coach company in the loading bay this morning, he didn't get a ticket but the coach behind did. It was also from the Tallyho Coach Company and was parked in the bus stop with no driver to move it should I or a civil enforcement office turn up. A civil enforcement officer turned at the same time I did. Brightened up my day enormously.

A Dream or Nightmare

Ever got a parking ticket and found the excuse, "I was only a minute", didn't work. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could drive into town and park anywhere you liked without having to worry about getting a parking ticket. No more driving round looking in increasing desperation for a legal place to park, thinking I should have taken the bus. Finally after hours of looking the now frantic motorist thinks, "No traffic wardens about, I'll be alright to park that loading bay." Like this car.

If traffic wardens didn't exist then this car and others could park here all day and we would have to park out in the road to pick up our passengers blocking the road to passing traffic. Then a truck would come along and stop, also in the roadway and start to unload. How long before the centre of Paignton became gridlocked?

Now imagine a town with no traffic wardens. Well you don't need to go far, just to Aberystwyth where all the parking wardens have either retired or been done away with under the spending cuts rule and it will be a year before they will be replaced. Now it's a waste of time driving into town as it is almost imposible to actually drive round the town due to parked cars on yellow lines blocking some of the streets and making most of the others really hard work to drive down. Full story here. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2001603/Aberystwyth-town-traffic-wardens.html


And a follow up to yesterday's post on the level crossing. The ITV Western report can be viewed here, I don't actually appear but if you look carefully you can see my bus. And no it isn't parked on the level crossing.

Parking and Pleasure

Poor 34 Driver, can he get through, will he take the mirror of the truck, will he just sit there and block the road, will the car drivers move away, what to do? When he went for a job as a bus driver was he tempted by a picture of a bus driver welcoming happy smiling passengers on to his bus? Or did the advert show this picture and ask, "If this how you see the next twenty years?"

Actually he drove through no problem and then ten seconds later the car drivers buggered off just before the Parking Attendant arrived.

Real odd duty yesterday, one of the new duties that have just come out. Started at the depot in the Newton Road at 12:32 and drove a 12 to Paignton. Arrived 13:07. Had meal break. Now that is what I call a short first half. Second half made up for it though, 14:14 to 19:05.

One passenger at the top of Abbey Road wanted to go to Brixham. Now while the diversion was on we did go to Brixham from Abbey Road but the diversion ended a week ago when the road was re opened. Passenger moaned that no one had told him. Just the biggest event in Torquay's history and he missed it poor sod.

Pavement Parking

Two more photos from Regent Close, no tickets but the Parking Attendants don't get down here every day.
The above car is in the position as the one seen a few days ago but is over the building line except for half of the back wheel. Not being a PA I don't know if this one would get a ticket or not. The building line is that white strip you can see under the back wheel which means 99% of the vehicle is on private land.

The car below is a candidate for a ticket, In this case the building line is the grass verge, which belongs to Stagecoach.

The driver obviously does not read this blog or he wouldn't park here. Or maybe he was only going to be a minute or two.

Parking a Car is Easy, You Just Back Up and Hope.

This is Regent Close where Torquay Depot is situated. The car on the pavement in the two photos does not belong to a driver. At least I hope it doesn't. The two photos were taken 16 days apart and at first glance it would appear that the car has not moved. But look closely and you will see it has. It's pretty consistent parking, even if it is crap parking.

Parking a Car At Work Isn't Easy.

On any week day there are 101 drivers at work at our Torquay depot. There are 33 parking places. So if you get there after about 5:30 in the morning the chance of getting a parking place is about as slim as Tony admitting Iraq was a big mistake.

But if you have the right kind of vehicle you can slip it in to the most unlikely of places.

Quiet day today despite the weather showing a vast improvement over the rain of the last 4 days. The Devon County Show opened in Exeter, which is just down the road, which is where everyone must have been because they weren't in the Bay.