Driver says temporary signs are smaller than laptop screen
TEMPORARY RANK: Parking bays by Foregate Street Bridge where Mrs Baldwin was fined. 0813250801TEMPORARY RANK: Parking bays by Foregate Street Bridge where Mrs Baldwin was fined. 0813250801
A MOTORIST feels better signage near long-running repair work would have helped her avoid receiving a parking ticket.
Rachael Baldwin, of Fernhill Heath, parked in an area normally used as public parking bays by Foregate Street Bridge for about three minutes on January 23 while she collected tickets from the station.
However, it is currently a temporary taxi rank while Network Rail carry out a refurbishment scheme and Mrs Baldwin, aged 44, feels the signage is inadequate and placed differently to the usual 45-minute waiting signs.
She said: “The actual signage is very, very small – smaller than a laptop screen – and it’s on a long pole above eyesight height. I honestly could not see it.
“If it had been clearly signposted I would not have parked there.”
Mrs Baldwin paid a £35 fine when her appeal was turned down.
As previously reported work to the bridge was due to finish on August 31 last year but workmen found more corrosion than expected and a new timetable for the work had to be drawn up with everything due to return to normal by Friday, March 15.
A Worcester City Council spokesman said: “Temporary road markings have been put in place, but they have faded because the bridge work has lasted longer than expected.
“We have asked the county council, as the highways authority, to repaint the road markings. Signs are also in place, which clearly indicate the parking bays are currently in use as a taxi rank, and therefore it is illegal for vehicles other than taxis to park there.
“Our civil enforcement officers will not issue penalty charge notices if the road markings and signs that define a parking area are not clearly visible.
“In the case of Foregate Street the lines have faded, but they and the signs are visible.”
Jon Fraser, the county council’s highways manager, said: "The signs and road markings on Foregate Street are visible and these clearly indicate that the parking bays are currently in use as a taxi rank.”
Following a request under the Freedom of Information Act, Mrs Baldwin discovered the city council has collected £9,583 from 237 penalty charges and received two complaints from members of the public.
http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/loc ... unfair___/
