Taxi Driver Online

Did The Council Quickly Erect A No-stopping Sign After Giving Cabbie A Ticket?

Friday 2nd October 2009

Town hall officials have been accused of replacing a “no parking” sign in a lay-by AFTER they fined a taxi driver for stopping there.

Cabbie John Walker, 37, pulled into the bus stop on Tuckton Road, Bournemouth, to drop off an elderly customer after checking there weren’t any warning notices up.

He was captured by Bournemouth Borough Council’s camera car that drives around detecting illegally parked motorists.

When Mr Walker was sent a £70 fine he went back to the scene to double check there weren’t any signs and took a photo to prove it.

But the council then sent him a photo of a “no parking” sign at the scene. It acknowledges the sign may have been stolen and replaced but says there is no evidence it was missing when Mr Walker was ticketed on July 21.

Mr Walker said: “I just feel what they have done is very underhand and sneaky.

“Why can’t they just do the right thing and admit they got it wrong and give me my money back?”

According to the Department for Transport, cabbies are allowed to pick up and drop off at bus stops unless there are “no parking” signs.

Mr Walker said he is now taking the matter to a tribunal.

He added: “That is more wasted time and money at the taxpayers’ expense but I am prepared to go through with it because they are in the wrong.”

Gerry Bolland, parking and enforcement manager at Bournemouth Borough Council, said: “It is not disputed that the signage was missing on August 13 when his photograph was taken.

“Signs are stolen and vandalised from time to time and on each and every occasion this happens our maintenance team replace the signage as soon as detected.

“There is no evidence to show that there was not a sign in place on the date the penalty charge notice was issued to the driver for parking in the bus stop.”

Source; BournemouthEcho.co.uk

_________________
Kind regards,

Brummie Cabbie.

Type a message, post your news,
Disagree with other members' views;
But please, do have some decorum,
When debating on the TDO Forum.

Not quite the way the law works.

The tribunal will want to see evidence that the sign was there on the day the lad got a ticket. The onus isn't on the driver to prove anything.

_________________
IDFIMH

He was actually PH and not Hackney which someone has pointed out have
different parking rules anyone know if this is true?

I'm not aware of any unless the vehicle was parked on a cab rank or there is something in the drivers conditions, the offence is reported as a parking offence and not one from breaking conditions

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

It doesn't matter.

It would be the same whatever the vehicle parked up was.

_________________
IDFIMH

Sounds like they're definitely playing funny buggers to me.

Parking enforcement is a civil and not a criminal matter. If it even gets as far as Court I think the driver with his photo of a pole with no signs will outweigh the council saying "well there's no evidence it wasn't there". Yes there is; the photo the driver took. It's also not unreasonable to assume that if the sign was missing on one day then it may have been missing until the council were informed.

The problem is that the maintenance schedules often miss out parking signs as the inspectors doing the maintenance are only concerned with road markings and signs seen as 'more important' like directional or diversionary signs. The parking enforcement people tend to look after the parking related signs and often those same signs only get replaced when things like this happen.