Police cars... illegally parked???
Discussion
I went to Waitrose in Sevenoaks earlier (2:30-3:00pm) and passed two police cars parked on a single yellow line in an 8:30am-6:30pm zone. These cars were not attending an incident but parked, as the police station (with no parking) is just around the corner.
Were they illegally parked... or just setting an incredibly bad example?
Were they illegally parked... or just setting an incredibly bad example?
foster3jd said:
I went to Waitrose in Sevenoaks earlier (2:30-3:00pm) and passed two police cars parked on a single yellow line in an 8:30am-6:30pm zone. These cars were not attending an incident but parked, as the police station (with no parking) is just around the corner.
Were they illegally parked... or just setting an incredibly bad example?
Perhaps they should park a mile away and then you can have a good old whinge when they take 2 minutes longer than you would like to arrive at your call? I think they're setting a GOOD example by being near the vehicles. You said yourself theres no parking at the nick, so where the hell are they supposed to park?
Lets have posts about things just a bit more interesting than this. These 'have a pop at BiB over trivial things' posts are getting SO boring.
**** Cue all the usual suspects to add their 2p's worth about our disgraceful Police and how they didn't care about you when you called them about the burglary etc.........
**** >> Edited by Themoss on Sunday 29th August 20:11
Themoss mate, it was a genuine enquiry... not a pop!
As for "growing up", your rant seemed pretty immature!
Personally I'd prefer them to be on patrol providing a deterent to potential criminals and encouraging people to improve their driving standards!!!!!
As concerns their restricted parking at the police station, well then maybe they shouldn't have closed down the perfectly good police station which had ample parking and moved into a small office in the town centre.
As for "growing up", your rant seemed pretty immature!
Personally I'd prefer them to be on patrol providing a deterent to potential criminals and encouraging people to improve their driving standards!!!!!
As concerns their restricted parking at the police station, well then maybe they shouldn't have closed down the perfectly good police station which had ample parking and moved into a small office in the town centre.
foster3jd said:
As concerns their restricted parking at the police station, well then maybe they shouldn't have closed down the perfectly good police station which had ample parking and moved into a small office in the town centre.
Exactly, so why don't you post something about the muppets that control and run the Police, and why they closed down a perfectly good Station with ample parking? I couldn't agree with you more on that one.
David, your post smacks of the trivial 'have a pop at normal BiB' stuff that is always on here. People quite rightly get p
ed off with the way our Police are run, and the laughable things the normal Police on the street are forced to do because someone's after their next promotion. Yes they SHOULD be doing much more important things, again, i couldn't agree with you more. So why go on about 'setting a bad example?' How are they doing that exactly? They were probably in doing some mountain of paperwork, when they would much rather be out there risking their lives protecting us. We have the best Police forces in the world. We also have the biggest idiots running them. Lets focus on them, and avoid the easy target of the BiB's on the street....
I'm sorry you feel i am so 'immature'. Yes i could be more diplomatic, but did not intend any insult. I always enjoy the sometimes heated debate on PH and am happy to just read most topics, but i have to make my views known when i feel an injustice is being done. In the 'big picture', two Police cars parked on single yellow lines is just NOT that important.....
>> Edited by Themoss on Friday 27th August 22:33
A little something the local rag ran earlier this year... Should you be parking there officer ?
[devils advocate]
I don't mind I'll have a 'pop' at the police. Why should they be above the law. After all it was the police that reported an ambulance for speeding, after all it is policing policy which decides which crimes are worth persuing this week.
Would you expect a doctor to park on yellow line just in case he got a call out (it could still be life and death).
Surely the police like any other profession should be setting an example. If you found a GP advocating the use of illegal substances he would rightly be struck off, but a bobby decides which laws to break then we pat him on the back.
[devils advocate]
I don't mind I'll have a 'pop' at the police. Why should they be above the law. After all it was the police that reported an ambulance for speeding, after all it is policing policy which decides which crimes are worth persuing this week.
Would you expect a doctor to park on yellow line just in case he got a call out (it could still be life and death).
Surely the police like any other profession should be setting an example. If you found a GP advocating the use of illegal substances he would rightly be struck off, but a bobby decides which laws to break then we pat him on the back.
[devils advocate]
Themoss, if police cars are parking illegally and setting a bad example, it is quite likely that the public perseption is further damaged... especially when the area is surrounded by council pay and display car parks, the residential road on which they were parked doubles up as the entrance to a supermarket and about a dozen cars were queued up getting out of Waitrose whilst a truck was trying to gain access to a loading bay without hitting the afore mentioned cars.
Sorry, but I bet I wasn't the only one looking at the police cars and feeling a little bit miffed... hence my question, is it illegal for police cars to park in this manner?
Sorry, but I bet I wasn't the only one looking at the police cars and feeling a little bit miffed... hence my question, is it illegal for police cars to park in this manner?
voyds9 said:
[devils advocate]
Would you expect a doctor to park on yellow line just in case he got a call out (it could still be life and death).
Surely the police like any other profession should be setting an example. If you found a GP advocating the use of illegal substances he would rightly be struck off, but a bobby decides which laws to break then we pat him on the back.
[devils advocate]
It wouldn't bother me at all if a Doctor did that, honestly it wouldn't!
A doc taking drugs is hardly the same as someone parking on single yellows is it?
David, if you had mentioned the disruption the Police cars had caused in your first post, i may have replied differently.....
foster3jd said:
The fact that in this case some minor disruption was caused is neither here nor there, it all about the principle and the public perception.
Hmmm, would have to disagree on that one. I AM a member of the public, and i have NO problem with Police parking wherever they can get quickest access to their vehicles. If they park in 'pay and display' bays, someone is just gonna moan that the bay has a Police veicle in it and they couldn't get a space there!
Causing genuine disruption, that's another matter, common sense should prevail with the Police driver. I'm quite clearly in the minority here (because no-one's agreed with me yet!), but i honestly have NO problem with Police parking on single yellows provided they're not causing any major obstruction. They are providing US THE PUBLIC with an essential service, and i think they should be cut some slack......
Themoss 
thank you for your support of Her Majesty's finest....
As for parking illegally (ie: double or single yellows by the police)..if it means the police officer can reach his/her vehicle quickly to respond to an emergency, then what's the problem? Like what has been said, if the response from the police is a matter of minutes late, there is all and sundry complaining.
What you've got to remember is the police have exemptions to park on single/double yellows (just like we have exemptions from the seat belt legislation)..it's just that they choose to park properly 99% of the time as it both sets an example and is for 'the best'.
You have to remember that double/single yellow lines can be parked upon by persons holding a 'disabled badge' and we all know that there is a small amount of people that own such items who really don't need to. I've seen some right abuses of that privelage and have had many such badges revoked, so the lame/lazy individuals have had to park correctly like everyone else in the future. (So called disabled people in massive 4x4s running from their cars to the sales and then returning with several straining carrier bags..'Disabled'..I think not..
Street
thank you for your support of Her Majesty's finest.... As for parking illegally (ie: double or single yellows by the police)..if it means the police officer can reach his/her vehicle quickly to respond to an emergency, then what's the problem? Like what has been said, if the response from the police is a matter of minutes late, there is all and sundry complaining.
What you've got to remember is the police have exemptions to park on single/double yellows (just like we have exemptions from the seat belt legislation)..it's just that they choose to park properly 99% of the time as it both sets an example and is for 'the best'.
You have to remember that double/single yellow lines can be parked upon by persons holding a 'disabled badge' and we all know that there is a small amount of people that own such items who really don't need to. I've seen some right abuses of that privelage and have had many such badges revoked, so the lame/lazy individuals have had to park correctly like everyone else in the future. (So called disabled people in massive 4x4s running from their cars to the sales and then returning with several straining carrier bags..'Disabled'..I think not..
Street
Foster.
If you take the time I am almost certain that there will be an exemption clause within the Traffic Order that brought in the yellow lines, which permits Plod cars park on the lines. Further, if this is conditional on being used for police purposes, how do you know what the drivers were doing?
ESP?
DVD
If you take the time I am almost certain that there will be an exemption clause within the Traffic Order that brought in the yellow lines, which permits Plod cars park on the lines. Further, if this is conditional on being used for police purposes, how do you know what the drivers were doing?
ESP?
DVD
Dwight VanDriver said:
Foster.
If you take the time I am almost certain that there will be an exemption clause within the Traffic Order that brought in the yellow lines, which permits Plod cars park on the lines. Further, if this is conditional on being used for police purposes, how do you know what the drivers were doing?
ESP?
DVD
A very good point, and one overlooked often. Nice and easy to have a go, with half a story.
Streetcop said:
What you've got to remember is the police have exemptions to park on single/double yellows (just like we have exemptions from the seat belt legislation)..it's just that they choose to park properly 99% of the time as it both sets an example and is for 'the best'.
At last, the answer that I was looking for... knew I could rely on you Street
Dwight VanDriver said:
If you take the time I am almost certain that there will be an exemption clause within the Traffic Order that brought in the yellow lines, which permits Plod cars park on the lines.
Thanks, thought I'd save time by posting here, as I knew that the BiB (e.g. Street) would provide me with an answer soon enough.
Dwight VanDriver said:
Further, if this is conditional on being used for police purposes, how do you know what the drivers were doing?
I'd suggest that they were inside the cop shop, as it is roughly 30 yards away round the corner in a really stupid place... but that's another story.
Street, my concern about the public perception still remains... did you see the pictures of the parking in Huddersfield as posted earlier by stepej?... Should you be parking there officer ?
I'd imagine that in both the Huddersfield and Sevenoaks examples, officers do not park properly 99% of times and so it does start to raise eyebrows.
>> Edited by foster3jd on Saturday 28th August 10:54
foster3jd said:
Were they illegally parked... or just setting an incredibly bad example?
Your original post asked the above two questions. I didn't see a third option of "or were they legally parked because they needed to get to their vehicles in a hurry to assist us the public". If you had included that third option i wouldn't have even posted.
Or was it because you were never actually interested in the answer?
Themoss said:
foster3jd said:
The fact that in this case some minor disruption was caused is neither here nor there, it all about the principle and the public perception.
Hmmm, would have to disagree on that one. I AM a member of the public, and i have NO problem with Police parking wherever they can get quickest access to their vehicles. If they park in 'pay and display' bays, someone is just gonna moan that the bay has a Police veicle in it and they couldn't get a space there!
Causing genuine disruption, that's another matter, common sense should prevail with the Police driver. I'm quite clearly in the minority here (because no-one's agreed with me yet!), but i honestly have NO problem with Police parking on single yellows provided they're not causing any major obstruction. They are providing US THE PUBLIC with an essential service, and i think they should be cut some slack......
There is a BiB who has incurred my extreme wrath. In fact - i am now in process of lodging an official complaint about it.
There is a BiB who parks - sloppily across two disabled bays in a supermarket carpark. He is not on any emergency at all. In fact - he is doing his shopping whilst on duty
Wildy has spoken to him politely a couple of times now as has the manager of the store - because the genuinely disabled are unable to park in these spaces whilst he is there. However, on the third occasion - he shoved his trolley with great force in her heavily pregnant direction. If our SIX YEAR OLD had not been present - the trolley would have collided violently into her nicely rounded region, which could have resulted in injury to our unborn child as well as its mother - who is delicate given the past. Not the behaviour I associate with a so-called professionally trained person.
I have also complained about the WPC who has moved into house next door to my elderly widowed aunt. This old lady has put up with this person parking her car across her driveway - preventing her and any visitors (including myself on one occasion) from access to and from Aunty's house. Again - highly abusive reaction from this so-called professional - this woman told me that "I did not know who I was talking to" (a very junior and juvenile WPC) and that she would have me arrested" when I politely asked her to move the car so that I could go home. I called the cops myself at that point - and I hear she got suspended on full pay
pending "investigation" Now I admit these are not the normal calibre of "Cop I have met " nor likely to be behaviour of BiBs posting on this site. But you are "amabssadors" of the profession and any dodgy parking and driving sticks out like proverbial sore thumb. IG once told bloke on Paul's forum who kept complaining about poor police driving standards that perhaps he was looking for this in particular because of previous bad personal experience whereby a pal was left permanently injured by police driver.
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