Clamped for others parking fines??

[Flat in Fifth]

Here we go again, seems that Labour really have given up on the motoring vote:-

Front page Times artice

Thousands of drivers face clamping for old offences
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

AT LEAST 100,000 drivers who have failed to pay parking fines face having their cars clamped or removed under plans for a national database which will trace them wherever they are in the country.

Their vehicles will be targeted as soon as they are spotted, even if parked legally outside their homes. The database would include all drivers with three or more outstanding penalties for parking offences, driving in bus lanes, minor traffic infringements or failing to pay the congestion charge.
FiF comment: seems likely a change in the law coming to make RK responsible for fines regardless of driver.

Across London alone, there are more than 50,000 drivers with three or more unpaid penalties. The figure nationally could easily be double that.

Local authorities plan to pool information on unpaid tickets so that vehicles can be clamped anywhere in the country for offences that may have been committed many miles away.

Motoring groups gave warning last night that the database would result in thousands of innocent drivers having vehicles clamped because of flaws in records or after buying a vehicle with a history of offences.
FiF comment: opportunity for extra service by HPI??

Wardens will be able to check a car’s record on their handheld computers and summon a clamping van. Drivers will have to pay all the outstanding fines as well as release and storage fees in order to recover their vehicles. This could mean a bill of at least £500.
FiF comment: Possibly much much more if vehicle prev owned by a serial offender, bailiffs regularly confronting people who owe over thousand pounds just for three tickets once all fees, costs, charges added up. Could be faced with having to pay more than what your car is worth in extreme cases.

The national parking offenders database is being considered by a Department for Transport working group, which is preparing new guidelines for parking enforcement. Studies have found that serial parking offenders are more likely also to be committing other motoring offences, such as driving without insurance, a licence or a valid MoT certificate.

Keith Banbury, the chief executive of the British Parking Association and a member of the working group, said: “Drivers often throw their tickets away because they have failed to register or insure their cars and believe they cannot be traced.

“By creating a national offenders database, parking attendants all over the UK would be able to act quickly, to the benefit of the public.”
FiF comment: no act quickly to the benefit of Town Councils, parking companies , Gordon Brawn.

At present, local authorities must tackle each offence separately and cannot force a persistent offender to pay all outstanding penalties. Drivers can recover their cars by paying the fine for a single offence even if they have accumulated dozens of unpaid tickets.

The London Motorists’ Action Group is campaigning against overzealous parking enforcement. Tom Conti, the actor and LMAG co-founder, had to pay £1,600 after disputing four penalties, He said that authorities could not be trusted to use the database fairly.
FiF comment: see how a few penalties really add up as commented earlier. Comment about lack of trust = nail on head.

Lord Lucas of Crudwell and Dingwall, the LMAG chairman, said: “It is incredibly disproportionate to seize a person’s vehicle when they may be legitimately disputing unfair penalties.”
FiF comment: correctamundo. If you are going to target motorist then also get all the scrotes who miss court, promise to pay 50p a week out of the giro and end up paying sod all.

[lock stock]
I hate traffic wardens.
[/lock stock]

FiF

edited mainly for typos


>> Edited by Flat in Fifth on Thursday 17th November 12:38

[Cotty]

Sales of petrol powered angle grinders and bolt cutter go through the roof

I got a parking fine a couple of months ago. Fair enough my fault I didnt read the sign properly. paid the following day, no problems but if I had been clamped I would have cut the clamp off out of principal

>> Edited by Cotty on Thursday 17th November 14:19

[streaky]

Reported elsewhere with the "proviso" that the database would be checked when a car was being ticketed.

I doubt I am alone in thinking that wardens will be targeted with finding vehicles thta are on the database and so will be querying vehicles that are legally parked in addition to others. And, BTW, this will be another government database showing the location of your vehicle! Initially, maybe only if there are outstanding tickets aggainst the vehicle, but what's the betting that every query is logged with the location of the warden making the query.

Add this to the "cameras every 400 yards", the National ID Register and photo-recognition software running on streetside CCTV and you won't be able to put a foot out of the door without some busybody knowing about it.

And, of course, the council will have photographs of the inside of your house (what's the betting that's not abused?) too.

Be afraid, be very afriad!

Streaky

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Flat in Fifth said:

The national parking offenders database is being considered by a Department for Transport working group, which is preparing new guidelines for parking enforcement. Studies have found that serial parking offenders are more likely also to be committing other motoring offences, such as driving without insurance, a licence or a valid MoT certificate.

So are likely to say stuff the fine and go and buy another car anyway! Only the generally law abding drivers get hammered again.

[Cooperman]

It looks like it'll soon be time to register a limited company in Dublin, buy a car there, insure it there (using the NCB transferred from the UK - yes, you can do this) and bring it back for use in the UK.
You could get an Irish licence too, all you need is an address in S. Ireland.