Taxi Driver Online

"I would rather go to prison than pay parking ticket" - Hinckley taxi driver


A TAXI driver is willing to go to prison rather than pay a £30 parking ticket which he claims was unjust.

Dave Neal has already appealed against the fine which was slapped on one of his vehicles while the driver was helping his elderly passenger out of the vehicle and into the bank.

However Leicestershire County Council has rebuffed the claims and are demanding payment.

The ticket was given when driver Mitch Tansey had parked in a disabled space in The Borough, Hinckley, on December 1 last year and was assisting the old lady, who had a Zimmer frame, into Lloyds TSB.

When he returned to the car he tried to reason with the civic enforcement officer but to no avail.

Dave said: “We are being penalised for this and that is just wrong. I have appealed once and they said no but now we have appealed for the second time.

“There is no way I’m paying the fine even if it goes up and up, and I’m even prepared to go to prison and make a right case of this. It would cost them more to keep me in prison for a week than it would to just drop it.

“A problem that we often get is when we are picking people up and I think we should be issued with blue badges so that we can pick people up from wherever they need us to.

“We are tying to earn a living and help people but we seem to get penalised for everything.”

Mitch, who has been driving taxis for the last three years, said: “I helped the elderly lady, who had a Zimmer frame, out of the taxi and into the bank. Our recent NVQ training has told us to get passengers, especially if they are elderly or vulnerable, as close as possible to where they want to go.

“So I was in the disabled space without a badge and the parking attendant was standing there when I came back out. I explained that I had been helping the old lady into the queue in the bank but he didn’t want to know. It was unbelievable.”

A spokesman for Leicestershire County Council said: “The circumstances surrounding the issuing of the parking ticket have been investigated and the county council concluded that there were no grounds for the ticket to be cancelled.

“As with all parking tickets the recipient has the right to appeal to the independent parking adjudicator if they are unhappy with the decision of the council. Details on how to make an appeal to the parking adjudicator are included in correspondence sent to the recipient of the parking ticket.”

source: http://www.hinckleytimes.net/news-in-hi ... -30645163/

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

Well, Dave (or Mitch) you cannot be issued with a blue badge unless you have a disablity, so off you go to jail.

Bit like the PH parked on the bus stop opposite the taxi rank in St.Mary Street in Lincoln only this afternoon.

One, it's a Bus stop, Two it's got a Broad Yellow line meaning Bus stop, three there's a traffic order sign stating "NO STOPPING, EXCEPT BUSES 7am to 7pm. The PH driver, when I pointed this out said, "yeah, mate got a booking, so I can stop here"

Wuckfit.

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Former taxi driver

I wonder if it would go to court the council might back down with the adverse publicity

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

check your council licensing drivers handbook and I bet there is a section stating YOU MUST assist certain passengers with bags etc. Then contact Licensing and ask how can you do it if you get ticketed.
A few weeks ago I managed to get a friend of a parking ticket doing this.
Write to the council ticketing dept including a photo copy of there booklet stating what there council expects you to do . The press will love a story like this.

Think we have passed that already.

Anyway he can't go to jail, and even if he could, the fines officer would simply take his car and sell it.

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IDFIMH

thats assuming the car is owned by him, and im not sure tools of the trade can be seized, he could go bankrupt, wipe the fine and keep his car....lol

extreme but sometimes extreme isnt bad

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Of all the things ive lost, i miss my mind the most

Any fine that could lead to a custodial sentence, if not paid, can and will be enforced by taking anything of value, including your car or your house or anything for that matter.

You are confusing civil debts which can't be enforced by taken the car unless the debt came from a car loan.

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IDFIMH

I think the clue is in the fact that these are civil enforcement officers and not policemen or traffic wardens.

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Grandad,

In that case he wont go to jail, just be bankrupted.

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IDFIMH

And in bankruptcy they can´t take your car if it is needed for work.

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Grandad,

But he might never be able to get credit anywhere.

Clearly the chap thinks its a price worth paying.

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IDFIMH

Quite a few drivers round here have gone the bankruptcy route to get out of finance deals and other cashflow problems it doesn't seem to make much difference

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Some times bankruptcy can be a sensible move, and I wouldn't dream of having a pop at someone who has taken that route, but it's a bugger to get your credit rating back to anywhere near good.

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IDFIMH

Wonder what the "old woman" thinks of all this?
Surely no Local Authority would wish to stand accused of discriminating against the elderly or infirm ???

Hinckley's Bil Maynard backs taxi driver in fight against parking ticket

Apr 19 2012 by Ben Eccleston, Hinckley Times





FORMER Heartbeat star Bill Maynard is backing a taxi driver who would rather go to prison than pay a parking fine.

Dave Neal has appealed twice against the fine which was slapped onto one of his vehicles while the driver was helping his elderly passenger out of the vehicle and into the bank, as reported in The Hinckley Times last month.

He is now awaiting a hearing in early May with Leicestershire County Council.

Former TV actor and radio broadcaster Bill, who himself is in a wheelchair, is one of Dave’s regular customers and has vowed to back him whatever the consequences.




Bill, 83, said: “Common sense should have told the traffic warden what he (Mitch) was doing. I will go to court with Dave, I will go to tell them what he’s done for me as a taxi driver and I’m quite prepared to go to anywhere else to defend him.

“I’ve known Dave for many years. Since I’ve been disabled, if I’ve wanted a taxi, Dave has always done it. He’s always helped me with my electric scooter.

“There seems to be no sympathy, compassion or understanding. Something happens to people when they put a uniform on and they seem to lose all form of common sense. I know how this affects people - whenever I played a policeman I started looking around for people to arrest.”

The parking ticket was given on December 1 last year when driver Mitch Tansey had parked in a disabled space in The Borough, Hinckley, and was assisting an old lady who had a Zimmer frame into Lloyds TSB.

Dave’s case has been taken on by the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association.

A spokesman for Leicestershire County Council said: “The circumstances surrounding the issuing of the parking ticket have been investigated and the county council concluded that there were no grounds for the ticket to be cancelled.

“As with all parking tickets the recipient has the right to appeal to the independent parking adjudicator of they are unhappy with the decision if the council. Details on how to make an appeal to the parking adjudicator are included in correspondence sent to the recipient of the parking ticket.”

http://www.hinckleytimes.net/news-in-hi ... -30788591/

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