Beware ! Traffic Police and civil parking matters

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I was driving around Regents park area when i was pulled over by traffic police. Normal B/S ie is this car registered to you etc etc.? I am then informed that there is an outstanding parking ticket on the car and that the baliff standing with them will take the car unless i pay the sum of £670 ! Apparantly i got a parking ticket for parking in a loading bay in earls court at 2pm one morning and was captured on a CCTV camera. The penalty and subsequent correspondence were sent to my old address. Unfortunately i had to pay or be left stranded by the side of the road. I was pulled as the ticket was issued by transport for London and it showed up on the police records. I questioned the police asking why were they stopping me for a civil matter. Normal arrogant traiffic police officer replies that we can stop whoever we want for any reason. Obviously there is so little crime the police have got nothing better to do !

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jimbop1 said:

"Normal arrogant traffic police officer" Normal is it? Do you get stopped often?

"obviously there is so little crime the police have got nothing better to do" It makes me laugh when people say this. You know they have.. You need to grow up.

Reading your post makes me wonder if you even own a car ? Have you ever seen the numerous police programmes on tv and not wondered why they go over the top when arreesting people ? Or did you not read the recent article about the woman cautioned for taking a drink whilst in stationary traffic ? Obviously not.

I have never been arrested and i am a law abiding citizen and i have no issues with the regular police. However, i have had a lot of differences of opinion with the traffic police, the last occassion when i was stopped at midday on a bright sunny day in south london for having a blown stop light bulb. Instead of a polite conversation advising me of the blown bulb i get a lecture telling me how i must check my lights everyday and for me to explain why i think he should not give me three points and a thirty pound fine !
Its an attitude problem that traffic police have.

Your second point is very strange if it makes you laugh. I find it very sad that traffic police are allowed to behave in the way they do. They seem to pick and choose what they want to do and seem to go for the easy option each time.

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Breadvan72 said:

4/10 for the final sentence, but otherwise not enough swearing, "haven't you got burglars to catch", and why oh whying. Overall: poor rant, 2/10.

PS: "2 PM one morning", eh? Must have been a hell of a night.

More of a warning to other members than a rant. Obviously 2am in the morning,i was actually visiting the 24 hour pharmacy.

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Zeeky said:

OP, were you shown a warrant authorising the bailiff to seize the vehicle? Without that authority your car cannot be lawfully taken from you.

No. However it was made very clear that i would not be leaving with the vehicle unless full payment was made.
If the baliff had been alone i would have just driven off as i know they cannot obstruct you. I wonder if the police would have arrested me if i had and what would the offense be ?

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Rovinghawk said:

By whom? Police or bailiff?

The bailiff with a nodding policeman in the background

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Snowboy said:

Interesting question.
As mentioned elsewhere I would guess it was more than just debt.
It was possibly a problem with the dvla address too.

Even if it was just an unpaid ticket, that would have been enough probable cause to pull over the car for a chat to clarify things about the car and driver.

When the balif was involved I'd assume there were some basic things checked such as the drivers name and address, whether they were the owner at the time.
That sort of stuff.

Exactly the same that could have happened had the balif just followed the driver to his destination and spoke to him there.

There were no other issues with the vehicle or driver. I was not asked for any vehicle details just confirmation that i was the registered keeper/owner. The vehicle itself was not checked in anyway. The police had no other conversation with me. My dealings from then on were with the bailiff.

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Snowboy said:

I have read the link.
It was sensationalised fear mongering.

There is no way a genuine new owner would have their car confiscated.
Those laws are being changed to catch the gangs that swap cars and deliberately confuse ownership to dodge debt and dodge balifs.

In the specific case of the OP, I think the overall justice system worked pretty much as it should.
And the op could have avoided the problem by either not parking like a dick or by a bit if basic admin when he moved house.

Alas, If only life was so simple ! The car was half parked on a loading bay on a red route which had single red lines either side. Single red lines are ok to park outside of certain hours so i assumed it applied to the loading bay as well. Unfortunately this is not the case as the loading bay has restrictions which are displayed on a plate which is hardly visable at 2am in the morning. The jobsworth operating the CCTV obviously spotted me. So it was not parking like a dick but parking by assuming commonsense rules applied !

Meanwhile i never mentioned that i was a new owner. However regardless of how long you have had the car if the warrant has your name and car reg. on it you have no powers to start negotiating. They will take the car if you do not pay up whatever your excuses. In my instance i lived at an address for a short period of time then moved on. It seems a lot of correspondence was never forwarded on from this address. I also lived outside the UK for 3 months but kept the same address on the registration document as i was unsure where i would be living when i returned.

As for the laws being changed to catch criminals, the police are ten steps behind these people and they dont catch them thats why they concerntrate on people like us which are easy pickings ! Criminals will change the owners regularly to flush the history and will use trade policies. I know of a romanian national who did not have a license or insurance. His car was seized but within 5 days he had a false romanian license and insurance arranged by a dodgy uk broker and was back on the road ! The police are too stupid to understand what is going on or cant be bothered.

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Snowboy said:

Were you pulled over by a patrolling cop, or was it a checkpoint sort of thing?

There were a couple of police cars and a motorbie parked on the side of the road. Obviously the APNR was in the first car.

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I thought i would post the notice i was given by the baliff when i paid the charge. If you look below the address it says 'Rd Op NW8'. Presumably short for roadside operation NW8 which is where i was stopped.

Whilst i was waiting for the baliff to get his chip and pin machine two other vehicles were pulled over and were spoken to by the baliff. I also recall a car transporter on the other side of the road with two cars.

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The table of charges on the back of the notice does not match up with what i have been charged. I phoned the baliff only to be told that he is self employed working under contract for Jbw who in turn are working on behalf of Tfl and that he cannot explain the charges. Somehow i know i am going to be flogging a dead horse !

Ok so Tfl which is basically central government have got the £202 charge out of me so some of you like them think they have won the day. However they need to bear in mind that i am self employed and the business i am in involves a lot of cash transactions. Obviously when i complete my tax return this incident could well distract my attension. Somehow i think central government will lose more than £202 !

Secondly this instance has shown that as far as the police are concerned, the normal man in the street is now game which i find a bit below the belt. Again, in my business which involves trading foreign currency i come across a lot of people trying to launder money. From time to time i have passed on valuable infomation to the police which they would never have known about otherwise. Now i know where i stand i will be declining in anymore goodwill gestures.

I honestly believe that this is down to Mr.Bernard Hogan-Howe- the met commissioner and his policy of zero tolerance. Unfortunately like most long term serving police officers he has become institutionalised and lost track of the real world. The police are constanly moaning about lack of police resources and cutbacks but still have time to divert their time from real crime to civil matters it seems.

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Table of charges on the reverse side of the notice

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Type R Tom said:

Sorry if it's been asked before but what does Other - £175 mean?

I am still waiting for an official reply but the baliff said it was for his charges on the day, i.e. for writing out a receipt and processing my debit card which took about 15 mins. Not a bad earner eh ?