Police priorities: Motorists > Blind man

wordy said:
True, however it wasn't careless parking it was illegal parking, surely the police should have stopped this illegal parking( thats their job afterall) before it got to this point?
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Parking enforcement was decriminalised a few years ago now and is now the responsibility of the local council, not the police. The only parking offences that the police still deal with are endorsable parking offences such as parking on the zig-zag lines that accompany a zebra crossing.

Parking on a double yellow is not an endorsable offence, it's a fine only and thus the local council traffic wardens (which they often subcontract to the likes of NCP) have to deal with it.
 
dirtydog said:
I would go further and like to see the police enforce the rule of making people park only in the direction of the traffic, rather than against the traffic, which I believe occurs in Australia.
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Correct. I was utterly gobsmacked when I came to this country and discovered that you're allowed to park your car in any direction you like, even if it's against traffic flow. And there seems to be no concept of courtesy; people just seem to throw their cars around randomly, shoving them into any space they can find.

I've lost count of the number of times my car has been rendered completely inaccessible by people who boxed it in by parking in such a way that I couldn't get out. Had to take my wife's car to work a few times last year because of this.
 
Evangelion said:
Except that he didn't commit any criminal damage.

Anyway, the cops aren't supposed to be enforcing the law arbitrarily. We pay them do enforce all the laws, not just the ones they can be bothered to get on with.
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This

But I must say that brierley hill police was very good
When my daughter was very young and in her push chair I could not go down my street
because of silly parking. A fast call to them and the car was towed away.

And watching the faces of the drivers that came back to find there car gone was great ;)
 
A spokesperson added: "It is unfortunate Mr Duckfield decided to take matters into his own hands on this occasion."
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Hold on Mr Spokesperson, let me correct that for you:

A spokesperson added: "It is unfortunate Mr Duckfield was forced to take matters into his own hands on this occasion because we couldn't be bothered to take his legitimate complaints seriously."
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The reason people park the wrong way in busy areas is because spaces are so scarce in many towns that you're forced to drive up and down the same few streets until someone finally moves. Once they do you have about 5 seconds before some other bugger fills it, so if it's on the other side you just zip across.

When I lived in Aylesbury and we needed to go into town on lunch break the procedure was that I'd drop my GF off and then drive up and down this one bloody road which had about 20 spaces available, usually it'd take about 15-20 minutes (of a 45 minute lunch break) to get a space, meanwhile she'd go and get the food in. If I got a space then I'd join her and we'd eat in, otherwise she'd just come back and get in the car.

Yes there were pay and display car parks but they'd clamp you before you could get a tenner out of the cash machine and get it changed for coins so they were basically unusable.

I never blocked anyone in or double parked, however, and that sounds like your real problem here. The only thing I can suggest there is to not live in the West Midlands (or London) :P


Edit: As for the blind person, if someone is parked in front of one of those dropped curbs that are textured with special markings to indicate to the blind that this is a crossing point, it can't be helped if a blind person then accidentally walks into the car and damages it with the end of his cane. Purely accidental as he couldn't see it and the markings said it was a crossing point.
 
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If if wants my help i'll gladly do his dirty work. Really makes me mad. Why we have some laws that can be ignored when convienent? I got told off for dropping stuff off at a charity shop by police when i had to pull on the kerb (not path).

The Police should apologise, remove the cation and do the job they are paid to do. Who ever arrested and contributed should get a telling off publically.
When did it become an offence to threaten to do criminal damage?
One rule for one. Lazy police attitudes.
 
stockhausen said:
A blind man complains repeatedly to the Police about cars parked illegally on pavements near his home and they can't be bothered to do anything about it.
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Illegally parked cars are largely the remit of the local authority who have ever increasing battalions of enforcement officers with that specific remit.

In exceptional circumstances the police can have a vehicle removed if it is causing an obstruction but the issuing of parking tickets for illegally parked cars is rarely a matter for the police.

out of frustration, he threatens to let down the car tyres and write "No parking" on the windscreens and the Police are there like lightning to arrest him.
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Out of frustration or not, if he has said that then he has technically threatened to cause criminal damage which is a criminal offence in England and Wales.

He may have been frustrated and in truth I take no pleasure from his ordeal at all but you cannot realistically threaten to damage other peoples property to the police and expect it to be free of consequence.

One of the key objectives of the police is to protect property and a threat to damage such does seem to have been spoken by the man.


What a wonderful sense of priority :rolleyes:
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A priority that should not really have fallen on the police in the first place.

If parking issues are resolved differently in Wales than they are in England then I will be stood corrected if someone knows.
 
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Von Smallhausen said:
Illegally parked cars are largely the remit of the local authority who have ever increasing battalions of enforcement officers with that specific remit.
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I know, I know; "Nothing to do with me sir" from all quarters.

I will happily bow to your greater knowledge of the limits of the Constabulary actually to enforce the law ;)


Von Smallhausen said:
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One of the key objectives of the police is to protect property and a threat to damage such does seem to have been spoken by the man.
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A blind man of course is not "property" and as such is not entitled to protection by the Police from "damage".


Von Smallhausen said:
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While I won't be so naive to ask you to remove the roll eyes given your often blinkered disdain for UK police prehaps you could also direct it at the local authority also whose remit it is to tackle illegal parking ?
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Fair enough - Narberth Local Authority, Pembrokeshire, this one's for you :rolleyes:, you are an absolute disgrace; how could you miss out on a golden opportunity to supplement funds by towing away all of these illegally parked vehicles?
 
stockhausen said:
I know, I know; "Nothing to do with me sir" from all quarters.p
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Well largely yes as dismissive as that may sound.

I will happily bow to your greater knowledge of the limits of the Constabulary actually to enforce the law ;)
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Oh there is no need to bow. I am one of the few not on a power trip. ;)


A blind man of course is not "property" and as such is not entitled to protection by the Police from "damage".
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Perhaps is the nightshifts but that doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The man in question is not property as you say but he can rightfully make a complaint against parking and also his treatment by police but not all legal complaints and investigations are the remit of the police and fall into that of other agencies.

Fair enough - Narberth Local Authority, Pembrokeshire, this one's for you :rolleyes:, you are an absolute disgrace; how could you miss out on a golden opportunity to supplement funds by towing away all of these illegally parked vehicles?
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That's better. ;)

Actually I have edited the last part of my post because when I mentioned disdain for the police I thought it was Evangelion posting ( really ) and as such I withdraw that comment and offer my apologies for any offence caused.

Nightshifts. Don't go there.
 
Von Smallhausen said:
A priority that should not really have fallen on the police in the first place.

If parking issues are resolved differently in Wales then they are in England then I will be stood corrected if someone knows.
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I live in Wales and recently asked a local copper about this while they were ticketing someone for parking on a zebra crossing. I asked if they also enforce the double yellow lines and loading bays (In this particular town everybody parks in the loading bays as there's virtually no spaces otherwise). The copper was quite clear that they do not have anything to do with those and that's the council traffic warden's job.

(and the traffic warden doesn't enforce the loading bays either because the local shopkeepers who the loading bays are for would prefer that their customers be able to park)
 
Reading the article it struck me as with most (it seems) stories regarding the police that we're not hearing the full story again, and it's slanted towards a biased viewpoint.

It's either the police or Muslims it seems. The media loves whipping the public into a frenzy about both unfortunately. :(
 
Von Smallhausen said:
In exceptional circumstances the police can have a vehicle removed if it is causing an obstruction but the issuing of parking tickets for illegally parked cars is rarely a matter for the police.

Out of frustration or not, if he has said that then he has technically threatened to cause criminal damage which is a criminal offence in England and Wales.

He may have been frustrated and in truth I take no pleasure from his ordeal at all but you cannot realistically threaten to damage other peoples property to the police and expect it to be free of consequence.

One of the key objectives of the police is to protect property and a threat to damage such does seem to have been spoken by the man.
A priority that should not really have fallen on the police in the first place.

If parking issues are resolved differently in Wales than they are in England then I will be stood corrected if someone knows.
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Serious question, but in this case the cars parked illegaly could been seen as a danger to the public, so could the police try and do something to help. Or if not get directly involved assist this person in making sure his complaint was dealt with? Would've made a great bit of community policing if they'd done so.
 
Where I live the pavements are quite narrow in places (A single person wide) and ****'s parking up on the pavement forcing ALL pedestrians out on to a very busy Main road is a personal pet hate of mine and I'm able-bodied, for anyone with impaired sight, wheelchair-bound, even pushing prams it must be quite a dangerous and completely needless obstruction.
 
wordy said:
Serious question, but in this case the cars parked illegaly could been seen as a danger to the public, so could the police try and do something to help. Or if not get directly involved assist this person in making sure his complaint was dealt with? Would've made a great bit of community policing if they'd done so.
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If a car was parked near to a junction and causing problems for motorists and was in a dangerous position then it could be recovered by by the police and at cost to the owner and that goes for a vehicle that is in a dangerous condition, say the windows smashed and glass everywhere.

Cars that are simply parked on double yellows cannot be removed by police.

If the fellow has made numerous complaints of cars parking illegally and nothing has been done then questions should rightly be asked but all of those complaints should have been handed on to the local authority for their enforcement officers to deal with it as that is what they are specifically tasked to do.

Thinking about it, I am not sure if PCSOs can assist with parking issues and issue FPNs as such. I will dig into that and post back.
 
i would have thought the police would go running to put parking tickets on cars and rake in the money. this has surprised me.
 
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