and ... People Moan about the Royal Mail

A Bit Extreme?

Given that Westbourne Gardens has had its share of 2 week holiday parking...

This caught my attention.

 People living near Luton airport have been getting a bit extreme with pirate parking...

Criminal Damage?

somebody's made a complaint about cars getting scratched?  A police officer was knocking on doors along Westbourne Gardens last week (ending 21st Dec) asking for information...

Does a 3 metre long paint scrape count as criminal damage? or a shredded wing mirror?

Given the chaos of Trowbridge traffic ( which I venture should maybe be renamed "dynamic parking"?)  it's hardly surprising that a number of  frustrated drivers try to jump an imagined 20 or so places by a quick charge through Westboune Gardens? - it's OK because you're getting access to the other end of the road to get out of your car eventually (© Trowbridge Town Council 2013)

Off topic a bit - from their recent agenda(PDF) - It looks like Trowbridge Town Council can sniff some money.....

What do Those Signs Mean?

Entering Westbourne Gardens with a motor vehicle for any purpose other than to visit properties between the 619/620 signs at both ends of the street is a moving traffic offence under Road Traffic Act 1988 Section 36  - "failure to comply with a traffic sign" - in essence the same as jumping a red traffic light.  The sign must convey a statutory prohibition and be established by relevant legislation (Which they do). There is a statutory presumption that a sign is sufficiently authorised unless proved to the contrary. Westbourne Gardens has been"Access Only" for over 40 years - in fact 42 years since a Traffic Regulation Order in 1971.

Contravention of the signs would normally attract a fine and an obligatory 3 penalty points if tried summarily at a Magistrate's Court and and optionally a disqualification - one has to assume in worst cases. The Police apparently have the discretion to issue Fixed Penalty Notices to avoid judicial process..

The CPS guidance is here , specialist traffic solicitors advice here  

Contraventions under Section 36 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 can be proved by the evidence of only one witness as the need for corroboration does not apply.

As a public service we can recommend www.keepmedriving.com if you are caught. 

"The Council" ..... "at it" yet again

I'm given to understand that somebody at the Bradford Road Medical Centre has contacted "The Council" over the matter of their staff parking in Westbourne Gardens.

They were apparently "told by The Council" that it was "OK to park in Westbourne Gardens" we'd like to know who told them this? - and we've asked the question.

EDIT: 16th Dec 2013
Got a qualified answer - Practice official advice to employees is not to park in Westbourne Gardens. The hunt for the idiot on the council continues....

Cooling Off

Westbourne Gardens had a visit (Friday 6th Dec 2013) from the Chief Executive of Trowbridge Town Council which I have to assume was provoked by an email I sent (from my personal account) on the 26th November to the town and county councillors representing Westbourne Gardens and included  Mr. Allan , NARA and the Wiltshire Police Commissioner in the list of recipients.

I volunteer that the tone of the email was a little harsh - that said - I'm sure the recipients have seen far worse...   Up to the time of this post - only Sharon Draper chairperson of NARA has had the courtesy to actually acknowledge receipt of the email and Sharon also forwarded Lance Allan's response/"report" which he chose apparently to circulate solely to councillors and Sharon.

I have deliberately waited a few days (as per the title of this post...) before formulating a public response. 

In summary, it's appreciated that Mr. Allan took the time to do a (possibly illegal? - since it would seem that he didn't actually contact any residents) - drive-by on Westbourne Gardens. However, congratulations end there.

Council officials are not expected to guess the law and make stuff up. Whilst I can see this is a "quick take" - I do not care for the wholesale errors, dismissive tone, opinion substituted for facts obtained by due diligence, shallow analysis and the implied threat of universal parking charges  - unprofessional some might call it .... I frankly expect rather more for £75K a year - this is woeful. The lack of even an acknowledgement response to the original email is rather telling IMHO.

So, in keeping with the title of this post, a cooling off period was required I thought - for a number of reasons.

• Allow time for a structured and properly researched response from the recipients.
• Allow adrenaline to ebb away and sweet reasonableness to prevail. 

a clear fail on both counts there then...

How many times do we have to point out that 

"non resident associated" parking in Westbourne Gardens is a traffic offence?   

I have in-lined my comments on Mr. Allan's missive below:

From the top

Having paid a visit to Westbourne Gardens today I can report as follows:

Having read Mr.  Allan's communication - a few observations:

There is no evidence of illegal parking in Westbourne Gardens, 

Simply wrong  - A pretty sweeping statement -  how would you know? - a sixth sense? a crystal ball? something that the 23 householders had entirely missed ? this idiotic assertion has irritated every resident who's seen it!  

now vehicles were parked on yellow lines, there were lots parked in those parts of the street which are unrestricted 

unrestricted ? What on earth do you think the signs mean? What bit of "Access Only" do you have a problem with? The entire street is restricted.  (facepalm)

. The area in front of #7 and #9 was coned off, presumably by the residents so that they are able to park in front of their properties when they come home from work this evening.

If you'd got out of your car and read the notes on the tape between the cones you'd have seen that a resident had a removal van arriving and needed the space for that. They delivered notes about the matter to all affected residents.

The ‘restriction’ in Westbourne Gardens is a “no motor vehicles except for access” one, which I believe allows anyone to drive down there to enable them to park in that road.

A belief! - and an totally ill informed wonky one to boot - kindly read the relevant parts of the various Road Traffic Acts - the 619/620 sign combination is "Access Only" - that means vehicular access to only the properties on the road with these signs   Multiple precedents are out there for enforcing this - not mere supposition or opinion - or even "belief". Non resident parking in Westbourne Gardens is a traffic offence which is endorsable by three penalty points. Wheeling out an unsupported legal assertion in this fashion is unacceptable from a public employee. 

There were only three cars parked in Stallards car park, where the charges are £1 for 1 hour £1.50 for 2 hours and £3.20 for 3 hours maximum.

£3.20 a day to park at the railway station - and more fines than parking fees at Stallards car park plus probably a lot less than 5% daytime utilisation (high proportion of Disabled Badges )  - hardly a shining example of a community amenity. Stallards Car park out of charging hours utilisation has dropped by at least 50% probably further since extension of the  control period 1 hour both ends of the day when pay and display imposed

I am not sure of season passes and residents pass arrangements.

FYI these seem to be quite variable according to anecdotal evidence from Bradford Road residents. 

I am not aware of any opportunity which Wiltshire Council would have to change the arrangements without going through legal publication and consultation channels. 

Just woeful - a TRO is not required - enforcement is what's required and not actually very much of that - historically a couple of times a year Wiltshire Police enforced the rat run that triggered the original TRO emplacing the 619/620 restriction signage. A singular lack of understanding of how traffic signage works is on display here. This not a parking issue per se - it's a traffic violation attracting a FPN in other places   TSGRD 2002 - contravention code 52 applies - nominally a FPN at the higher rate as it qualifies as a moving traffic offence.

I am not aware of any other issues being reported regarding lack of lighting in the car park.

Try knocking on a few doors on Bradford Road and asking the question. I take it that West Wiltshire District Council records regarding these issues are not available - is Mr. Allan unacquainted with Google?? see here: http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/wiltshire-council-put-up-cameras-in-stallards-car-park-in-trowbridge-and-stop-vandalism   

I would suggest that we bear this in mind in respect of the possibility of Westbourne Gardens being on the list for Residents Parking schemes and future local control of car parks.

Complete and utter self serving nonsense - Westbourne Gardens already has "resident only" parking.  

Copy of original Lance Allan site visit document.

Thank you - to everybody who's responded.

Some things are now much clearer about the situation.

The level of ignorance of traffic law in the public organisations  responsible for enforcing the existing restrictions in Westbourne Gardens is just astounding - officials and some police officers even think they can "busk it" and just make things up as they go.

Wrong, inconsistent and muddled messages have been sent to folk infringing the 619/620 Access Only signage - this is not excusing those rat runners or illegal parkers most of whom are only too well aware that their activity is dodgy - but it is exasperating that those employed to enforce laws don't even know the principles and rudiments of the relevant legislation. To be fair - some police officers have done a decent job - but they've moved on or been "re-tasked" - the councils have been persistently clueless / hopeless (and worse).

Anyway  - there's been a number of "repeat suggestions" and an email will be winging out later this week with a reconciled list of those and some other stuff.

Thank you all again.