Take A Measuring Tape

Today I hoped I might escape a jinx, which seems to attach itself to me when I go to a certain part of town. This morning I was delighted to espy a parking space next to the supermarket, where I decided to pop in for soya milk, oil and tinned tomatoes.

I parked, double and triple checking that my car was parked properly, not subject to restrictions and displaying my parking badge. Returning to the car, I thought that the flapping envelope was a joke. Not properly parked? How? I was annoyed, not only because the jinx had struck again, but also because, for the life of me, I could see no evidence of any parking violation, and I still can���t.

So I came home, drafted, printed and signed a letter of appeal, enveloped it, addressed the envelope and then went out to the post office for a stamp. I could have bought one in a shop, but I took something else to post, so the journey was worthwhile, albeit time-consuming.

It will be very interesting to see what the parking people advise in their reply. They may suggest that my front driver-side wheel was about half a centimetre over the line ��� the indistinct line��� Does that mean I will be found liable to pay a fine, when 99.995% of my car was properly parked?

Increasingly I am driven to the view ��� pardon the pun ��� that the intention is to make parking regulations so complicated that we all take the bus; to make paying a penalty ticket so easy that we do it without thinking; and so complicated to appeal, that no-one bothers. You can pay a fine by telephoning an automated payment line, but you have to appeal in writing���.. I also suspect that some ticketing officers will give you a ticket for the smallest of infractions (when the ticket itself says, that s/he ���has reasonable cause to believe��� that a parking contravention has occurred). If a traffic warden can give me a parking ticket for my tyre being fractionally over the line, then in future I will have to take a measuring tape with me, just to be absolutely sure.

I hesitate to suggest that some wardens are playing games with us in these circumstances, issuing tickets for the minutest error, aware that we have neither the patience nor the inclination to adhere to appeals requirements. But sometimes, it does look like that. Which begs the question: What is the point of qualifying for parking concessions, if the regulations are so complicated, and the enforcers are so strict, that no-one feels able to go out? It will be a long, long time before I risk parking anywhere near there again.

 

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