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Letter 9
06/07/04
Re: BL 41144476 (Registration Number - K877 MGU)
Dear Sir or Madam,
In further to my phone call to Howard on the 05/07/04, I am writing to appeal against the above penalty notice and request that it be quashed. The vehicle in question was not causing any problems and apparently was only issued with a penalty notice because there is no marked bay in that particular place. However, the only reason there is no marked bay in that particular place is because it crosses my drive and the engineer did not paint a bay there because obviously people would otherwise park across my drive. If I did not need access to my drive in this location the bay would be continuous, down that side of the road, just as it is on the other side of the road. I would also add that in the back of my mind is a conversation I had with Linda Jackson, on one of many occasions, about the problems we residents incur in Plantation Road. I discussed with her the fact that people sometimes park across my drive, even though there is no marked bay there and she said that this was not illegal and that the only reason they would not be allowed to park there would be if I had a drop kerb, which I do not currently have. As it happens, this vehicle was only parked there temporarily because I am in the process of swapping it over for a van and as far as I was concerned, it was parked in the most sensible way, outside my own drive, so as not to take a parking space from other residents. Obviously I can move my own car as and when I need to so it does not cause me an access problem. Other visitors to my house, such as my girlfriend and ex-wife, also park over my drive as again, parking is often tight in our road and it does not deprive other residents of a space. Since the footway parking ban was implemented we have had continual problems in this road, vehicles have been damaged and many residents and friends have been penalised, as we see, unfairly and unnecessarily. Speaking on behalf of residents in this road, we are all completely fed up with people who don't even live here, making life difficult for us when we are trying to do the sensible thing. We still have an ongoing problem with the fact that innocent people get penalised for footway parking at the top of the road even though it is the safest and most sensible option. What is wrong with our society when people cannot do the safe and sensible thing in their own road without others poking their noses in from afar?
The shortage and cost of housing nowadays means that more people are forced to share houses. As a result, there are obviously more cars per household. We therefore need every inch of parking space, more, not less. As I have previously discussed with Linda Jackson, we also have the spill-over from the Howbury Centre, and on occasion, the community centre and the church to contend with. This means that at times, residents are very short of parking as it is. It is therefore an issue we are all very conscious about. Even though there is no marked bay across my drive, it should not be a problem for me, or visitors to my house, to park across my drive, outside my house, in this fashion. However, if we are going to be penalised for this it will again unnecessarily complicate the problems we face in this road and make life difficult for us. In my previous letters regarding this issue I have requested blanket exemption for Plantation Road and in fact, this simple move would solve all of our problems. However, as yet, commonsense and fair play have not yet won the day, so I will again pick up the campaign from where we last left off with John Payne. I look forward to hearing from you with regard to this issue. Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
D.J. Tarrant