Registered: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 13002

[rant mode on]

So I live on a street right. Its a relatively small street (see map below) not very wide. Most of the houses don't have driveways as the street consists of Victorian buildings (the few that do have driveways do so because they were post-war houses built to replce the ones bombed in the 1940s). Because oif the lack of driveways we have park on the street in front of our houses as Mugtoe knows well. The only problem with this though is that it creates a very tight single lane down the entire street (it's one-way thankfully). The solution to making this 'less tight' has been the introduction of what is called 'kerbside parking' I believe. What you do is draw little boxes that just lift onto the kerb so that cars etc can park on them.

Here's the problem though, the bay areas are not consistant along the entire street, but are instead sporadically drawn. This means there is a limited number of spaces available at the beszt of times (although theoretically there is enough to facilitate the residents of the street). Only problem with this is, to put it simply, the street has a number of pikeys living on it. Pikeys have a tendancy to collect things particularly old cars or VW combi's, which they then proceed to park in these bays and never fucking move. Not only this, they don't tax the fuckers. Quick explanation for the yanks here on how our road taxing works. All cars have aregistration plate that usally remains with the car for its lifetime. What you have to do is get a badge for your window that shows that you have paid your road tax and displays the expiry date of said tax (I believe in America this is done on the licence plate of the car and the licence plate can be carried over to any car?) Anyway, I digress. If you don't have a valid tax disc your car is not allowed on the road, and this law is one of a criminal not civil nature. Pretty simple really.

So my street is littered with untaxed vehicles (covered by criminal law) taking up legitimate parking spaces (covered by civil law) on the public highway.

Now normally I wouldn't mind, but when you can't park in a bay you have to park elsewhere on the street where there isn't a bay. In other words, you have to park illegally under the local civil law because of because of civilly legal parked cars that are breaking criminal law. Overnight you can blag this successfully, but during the day you get a ticket which costs you a fine of £30 ($45-$50) if you pay within 14 days and then £60 ($85ish) within 28 days. If you don't pay you get a civil action against you then you get baliffs round trying to take possession of goods to the value of the fine. In the past few months I have had 6 such tickets, and as you can imagine I am not best pleased with this. Why in the fuck should I pay a fine for parking on my own street when I am forced into this position by pikeys blatently breaking the law and getting away with it?

So I have now got a bee in my bonnet to be sure on this issue. Of course war is important and all that shit, but really politics is that which really effects your lives in your face locally. I'm on amission as it were. A mission to rid this street of the pikey vehicles and save me and my neighbours some money and hassle in the process. Sounds easy don't you think? But oh no, this is Britain and we don't make anything easy! What do I mean by this?

Here is how the day has thus far gone.

First I ring the people who issue the ticket. This is a private company called Sureway Parking. They do it on behalf of Bexleyheath Council and thus enforce the Road Traffic Act 1991. As far as they are concerned they are just enforcing the law as it stands. 'You park illegally you get a ticket. Not our problem mate. Speak to the Council they deal with that sort of thing'

So I ring the local council and speak to the team dealing with Road Traffic Act Enforcement. But the don't deal with untaxed cars. Its true that untaxed cars are covered by the very same Roadt Traffic Act but thats the one bit of the Act they don;t deal with. 'You'll have to speak to the Highways Enforcement Team mate, they deal with the untaxed cars part of the Act'

So I ring the Highways Enforcement Team, 'oh we only deal with abandoned cars on the highways. If the car looks like its in running condition (ie it's not on bricks and hasn't been stripped) then we don't have the power to remove it. Only the DVLA (the people you pay your Road Tax too) have that power. We do go out with them on runs sometime to help them remove vehicles, but the ultimate decision to do something is theirs. Speak to them"

So then I ring the DVLA. "Sorry mate, although we do have the power to enforce the removal of untaxed vehicles, we live it to the local Police force to enforce the law on that matter. You will need to ring your local Police Station"

"Hello, Bexleyheath Police Station, how can I help you?" "Hi, I was wondering if you could do something about the untaxed vehicles in my street, they are causing me to park illegally and get tickets. I know you don;t deal with tickets because that's civil law but the DVLA have told me you deal with untaxed vehicles because its Criminal law" "I'm sorry Sir, but we don't actually have the power of removal anymore since the introduction of the 1991 Road Traffic Act. It is the Council and the DVLA that you need speak to, they work in conjuction together on this issue."

See a pattern emerging here anyone? Its nobody's responsibility apparently. If I ever find this person called Nobody I am gonna give him a damn good kicking.

So anyway, I digress. Back on the phone to the DVLA to tell them that the Police say I have to speak to them again. This time I get told to ring my local DVLA Office, so I ring them. What do I get told? 'We can only cite the untaxed vehicle and offer the registered keeper (not necessarily the owner) of the car an out of court fine, we have no power to remove the vehicle off the road, that is the job of the Police, the Local Council and the DVLC' (DVLA is merely a quango agency of a much large body called the DVLC it would seem). Only problem is that I can't actually speak to the DVLC about this, they are not a call-out service on this matter. I am told that the Police saying that they don't have the power is a lie. The truth is, in actuality, that they do have the power to do this, but, and this is the big but, they tend to feel that they have better things to do in terms of fighting crime (something I do understand of course). They do however have Metropolitan Police Traffic Wardens that have the power to cite and remove untaxed vehicles, only problem is that in Bexleyheath all issues of enforcing the Road Traffic Act have been contracted out to a private company who do not have this power. Are you all following this? Confusing isn't it? The long and short of the conversation with the local DVLA is this. It makes sense not to tax your car because its easy to get away with it. All you have to do is regsiter the keeper of the car in a false name and then if you ever get caught without tax (ie stopped by Police for some other reason) you can claim to not have responsibility for the taxing of the car under the DVLC's own guidleines. Fucked up huh?

So I ring my MP's local constituency office. They understand my frustration, they really do. There going to send me a letter they were sent by DVLC on this precise issue of where power lies and what they are doing about it. Apparently they are going to set a new computer system that will deal with it, but given the track record of the Child Support Agency set up of the new computer system which is now 9 months overdue I have little to no hope.

I have come to one conclusion out of all of this. Its a very simple one and consists of only three words. They're all cunts. I now have only thing left to do and that's ring the local rag and see if they want to run a story on it, they like to get on the campaigning of local issues.

Oh yes, and I also have to call Sureway Parking again to complain about the incompetence of their parking attendant at the Bexleyheath Cinema Car Park. The car park is a 'Pay and Display' place where you get a ticket and put it on your dashboard. The missus parks there all the time and yesterday she did so, bought her ticket for the extorniate price that it is, and displayed it on the dashboard. What do you think happened? Yes she got a ticket, and seeing as I am the registered keeper of the car its me that is responsible for it. You know why she got a ticket?Let me quote from it as I look down on the desk:

'Parked in a pay and display car park without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket'

These people are not just cunts, they're incompetent blind cunts as well.

[rant mode off]

Overhead view of my street.

Attachment: map.jpg
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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35656

The local council here aren't too bad about it, actually; it has to have been there for a week or two, I think, then they will put a notice on it saying that it is going to be destroyed.

It only works with genuinely abandoned cars, though.

I would prefer a 'resident's only parking' system here; I'd have to pay for the right to park then, of course, but people aren't going to pay for heaps of junk that they never drive anywhere. You obviously have to have a stretch of road that is pay parking, too, then, for people who aren't residents.

Parking in London is shit; I only use my car to get out of London as a rule (and even then, half the time you can't park in your own street, as you have found, when you get back home). I shan't be sorry to leave London in many regards.

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Registered: Jun 2001
Location: finding the new flesh after killing the old one
Posts: 1981

TWICE Ive been caught for having no taxation on my car .. and thats in the last 2 years. My reason for this was laziness and not cost orientated. If I leave my car in the street I live in untaxed for more than a week .. I can guarantee it will get noticed by the police and Ill get that beautiful pretty red and white ticket slapped on my windscreen. Mmmm .. thanks for the advice phil

/goes off to falsely reregister my car under Mickey Mouse

hmn ... and as for what to do ... the parking is tight around myarea too .. although not the same situation as yours. I do live close to the town centre though, and there are loads of shoppers that take up resident parking spots (only some, and not all areas have resident parking schemes) ... when the locals here werent getting anywhere with the council and resident parking schemes werent in place, they would wait till the person parked their car (like regular workers who would park there daily to avoid car parking costs) and about 10 of them would group together and physically move the car to a different place in the street .. hmn .. it seemed to solve the problem! It happened to one of my deputies once, and as they left his car on double yellows ... he got a ticket ... he complained to the police and council and they wouldnt do anything about it ..

not sure how viable it would be moving a campavan though ... hmn .. good luck .. I think you'll need it

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35656

Do you not get points on your license for no tax?

Moving a pikey's vehicle like that is liable to lead to a kicking.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 13002

quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
It only works with genuinely abandoned cars, though.

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: UK
Posts: 13002

quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
Do you not get points on your license for no tax?

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Registered: Jun 2001
Location: finding the new flesh after killing the old one
Posts: 1981

nope .. never had points.. there are a million different ways of bullshitting .. and stalling .. (not that Im a professional you understand!) ... the procedures associated with going to show your documents and then later in court if necessary are so fucking beaurocratic, the amount of money wasted on just a single court appearance for a missing ticket is somewhat astounding ..

you have a two week window to get your tax disc from when it runs out anyways .. they can be pretty lenient with it ...

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35656

The more serious point would relate to MOTs and insurance, I guess. If you don't have an MOT and insurance, you can't buy a tax disc, can you? In which case a car with no tax may well be uninsured and not safe on the road anyway, so the police fucking well ought to be taking an interest in it.

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Registered: Jun 2001
Location: finding the new flesh after killing the old one
Posts: 1981

quote:

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Originally posted by Phil
Sonja, I don't know where you live etc, but I know that in some parts of the country this doesn't happen as much ie the Police don't have anything better to do than nick untaxed cars. And they have gone unnoticed for the past two years btw.

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wow ... more than a bit frustrating .. i think the whole problem hinges on the false registration of vehicles really .. because of the time involved with following that through ..

if you think about it .. its in the polices best interest NOT to investigate if all theyre gonna come across is a pile of dead ends and dodgy addresses, just for the sake of some untaxed cars .. short of staking out addresses and watching which vehicle belongs to which person and doing some sort of operation (which like you said, the police have got better things to do, so that aint gonna happen) its a pretty no-win situation ... hmn ... where's all this eastend justice I hear about in the movies? ...

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Registered: Jun 2001
Location: finding the new flesh after killing the old one
Posts: 1981

quote:

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Originally posted by Smug Git
The more serious point would relate to MOTs and insurance, I guess. If you don't have an MOT and insurance, you can't buy a tax disc, can you? In which case a car with no tax may well be uninsured and not safe on the road anyway, so the police fucking well ought to be taking an interest in it.

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Registered: Jan 2001
Location: anywhere but here
Posts: 4420

quote:

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Originally posted by Phil


Oh yes, and I also have to call Sureway Parking again to complain about the incompetence of their parking attendant at the Bexleyheath Cinema Car Park. The car park is a 'Pay and Display' place where you get a ticket and put it on your dashboard. The missus parks there all the time and yesterday she did so, bought her ticket for the extorniate price that it is, and displayed it on the dashboard. What do you think happened? Yes she got a ticket, and seeing as I am the registered keeper of the car its me that is responsible for it. You know why she got a ticket?Let me quote from it as I look down on the desk:

'Parked in a pay and display car park without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket'

These people are not just cunts, they're incompetent blind cunts as well.

[rant mode off]

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location: zanzibar
Posts: 10477

Here you just need to phone up the police and complain that a car is abandoned. At my old apartment I walked outside one day to find that my car had a big orange sticker on the side window saying that it had been abandoned and would be towed in 24 hours. I called the police and said that I hadn't driven my car in two days and that it was not abandoned. They said someone had called an complained, I think it was the dentist's office I was parked in front of. The fact that it was a 1967 Dodge probably didn't help.

So anyway, I had to scrape off the label and got lectured by the police for overnight parking illegally.

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: China
Posts: 11795

Buy a bicycle and take the train.

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Registered: Oct 2001
Location:
Posts: 18145

what's a pikey?

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Registered: Jul 2001
Location: China
Posts: 11795

A gypsy.

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Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Hilbert Space
Posts: 35656

Allegedly a Kent word, based around the fact that they wandered the turnpikes. Or something.

Nowadays more often used as an insult for the scummiest of the scum (the white ones, that is).

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Registered: Nov 2001
Location: Rio de los Brazos de Dios
Posts: 3876

It is like DM describes with the red tag here in Texas. If you leave your car beside the road and walk to a gasoline station when you come back you probaby find a red tag on it with the notice that it will be towed to the city auto pound in 24 hours It usually costs from $40 to $50 to get it out. If it is on private property it will not be tagged unless it fails to have a current license sticker or is obviously disabled. Reports of disabled or unlicensed cars are usually made by the "neighborhood integrity"
monitor who can in certain circumstances be a crabby old woman who thinks you did not rake your leaves properly. Luckily here on the Brazos we recognize that the integrity of our neighborhood is always in question and don't mind. The beat up old "63 Chevy, rusty Ford Tractor and two boat trailers and 14 foot flatbed trailer in my front yard have not attracted any attention so far from anyone. Given another month of sunshine the jimson weeds will be high enough to hide them anyway. If anyone complains abvout the Jimson weeds I will claim that I am doing pharmaceutical research on Jimson weed seed and its benefits to mankind.

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oxsan


Don't kick until yer spurred.

Last edited by oxsan on 03-22-2003 at 04:13 PM

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