Last Sunday, I parked in the outskirts of Bath (to join the Manaton clan at the Christmas Market) in a controlled parking zone, and returned to my car to find an apoplectic note (anonymous, all in capital letters) from – presumably – the occupant of the nearest property, saying that he/she paid £100 a year to be able to park outside his/her property and why could I not be bothered to use the city car parks and had photographed my car and was emailing it to the parking authorities WHO ALWAYS LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT PEOPLE COMMITTING CIVIL OFFENCES. It concluded with MERRY XMAS!. I could envisage the accompanying smirk as that exclamation mark hit the paper (THATLL SHOW HIM!!!fnar, fnar). It was the writing of someone with a distended blood vessel standing out on each temple. It appears, though, that most appropriate action for the authorities to take in this case would be to send someone around to that street to check if all of the residents are aware of which day of the week it is. The CPZ has a sign about 10 metres from the place that I parked, which presumably the residents must pass every time they return home, with the words Permit Holders Only Mon-Sat. I contacted the local parking authorities just to see if they got a lot of emails (in capitals, of course!) from that road, and got this reply :- Many thanks for your email. XXXX Way falls within Residents Parking Zone XX where the parking restrictions are in force between 8am and 7pm Monday to Saturday only, outside of these times it is not necessary to hold a permit. Unfortunately some people do believe that by purchasing a residents permit they are buying the right to park outside their property in THEIR space, this is not true and is clearly detailed in the terms and conditions. A resident of a qualifying property that falls within one of our controlled parking zones (CPZ), is able to purchase a permit which enables them to park within that CPZ during restricted hours. A residents parking permit does not guarantee a space nor does it entitle the holder of the permit to hold a specific space. I am sorry that you have had to deal with this experience but I can assure you that your vehicle was parked legally at the time. What baffles me more, though, is why, in a road where EVERY house has a garage and driveway, most capable of taking more than one car, anyone should feel the need to buy road space. The driveway of the house I parked nearest to was empty, by the way. And, no, I was not blocking their entrance. I shall, I think, be sending the occupier a Christmas card with a record of the entire incident, a festive photograph of my lovely car as a souvenir, and some helpful information about calendars, handwriting courses and anger management counselling.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 10:33:22 +0000
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