Wednesday 17 August 2016

It wasn't even good while it lasted


Here in Central Bath, we have invisible 'Bus Gates' which add another 1.5 miles onto my journey if I want to park outside my house for any reason, and if I go through them during working hours, I get heavilly fined.

Only heavy and destructive busses are allowed to pass over Pulteney Bridge these days, so avoiding the penalty cameras adds to the mileage. It is quite possible to clock up £140 in fines (if they are not paid in 14 days) in the space of 200 yards where I live. In fact, tourists and strangers to the city add to the civic coffers by doing this every few minutes, every day of the week.

Not that I am allowed to park outside, and when I am picking up or dropping off, I have to keep a keen eye out for wardens in order not to have to pay another £70 to the council.

I have  'Central Zone' parking permit (£100 per year) which allows me to park almost anywhere except outside my own house. I can park in the Royal Crescent 24 hours a day for 365 days a year if I wanted to, but short of wanting to piss off Bath's most expensive hotel, I have no reason to do so.

I looked out of the window late last week and saw that they were creating a massive Central Zone Resident's parking bay right outside, by burning off the yellow line and putting a white box in its place. I started to make plans about this new opportunity to legally park outside, trying to figure out a way of getting in and out of the zone without clocking-up the aforementioned penalties.

At the very least, I thought, I could take my time when off-loading heavy stuff which I could not comfortably carry down the street, and this would be handy in December for when I load up the car for H.I.'s exhibition.

On Monday morning, at about 7.30 am, I looked out of the window again to see that the entire new bay had been filled up with builder's vans and other commercial vehicles which obviously had planned to stay there all day. The ordinary wardens were walking past them without issuing fixed penalty tickets, so this bay seemed to have been created as a sneaky way to allow non-authorised vehicles to park on something other than a yeallow line without incurring penalties.

Now what, I thought? Maybe I should just give in and just forget the whole business on the grounds that a rarely-used parking spot outside my house would be a valuable waste of resources for people who needed it more than I did.

Well I can now truly forget the whole thing, because - at about 6.00am this morning - they took down the sign, burned off the white box lines and repainted the single yellow line.

It took a few thousand pounds of council money, but reason was very quickly resumed. I wonder how much thought the planners gave to this short-lived scheme?!

19 comments:

  1. Well this was a boring post, wasn't it? I just HAD to tell someone.... (sob...)....

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  2. It sounds very similar to Cambridge.

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    1. And probably every other popular town...

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    2. Norwich is not yet this bad but the Green Party are working away at it. (It was not a boring post).

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  3. I have nightmares about parking in Bath. Even the multi storey carpark confuses me. But then I get confused very easily.

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  4. Our house in 'VERY' central Brighton has a garage; it saves me time, saves grey hairs, adds life expectancy, and acts as a huge sigh of relief. I once went to do some shopping only to return to find people living in it. After a discreet threat to their lives, they left.

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    1. Another potential source of revenue lost. Tsk tsk.

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  5. Did you say that this was organised by 'Planners'?
    Long since we left, but I think that York had to give back fines charged for going the 'wrong way' over one of the bridges.

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    1. Occasionally, our lot paint yellow lines where they have no right to, and have to pay back thousands in fines.

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  6. As an elected official of a minuscule political subdivision of the State of Ohio, USA, in a position of no authority, I know there may have been rationale behind all the parking shuffle. Perhaps the trucks and vans had a city job to do, and council sold them a permit to change the parking lines and do the job. So, I looked to find a Bath Council web site to see if Council updates its constituents on goings on. The web page is out there, http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/. But, I don't know the location of your area of concern, so I stopped looking. If you find out, let us know. Do you know who your councillor is?

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    1. I just phone them and talk to someone who is as pissed off as I am. Whoever my councillor is, I didn't vote for them. I used to know my councillor - and mayor - because he was a drinking buddy. As I say above, I think things have worked out sensibly in any case.

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  7. The whole thing is too ridiculous for words Tom. I have a disabled badge - if there is a single yellow line outside your flat then I think I could probably park there. Any chance you might try for one (carrying heavy weights injuring your back for example)?

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    1. Disabled badges are not recognised by the Busgates.

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  8. How ridiculous and frustrating for you Tom. Weaver has the right idea - other than that, what about a bike ?

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    1. Nowhere to store it without contravening other safety regulations.

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  9. What, exactly, is an invisible bus gate? Sounds like a wonderful money maker for the council if no one can even see where they are!

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    1. It is an invisible threshold over which you may not cross between 10.00am and 6.00pm. They can see you if you cannot see them. Number-plate recognition - anti-terrorist technology set against ordinary civilians, netting BANES millions - literally - of income.

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  10. Bonkers. I love to visit but I am pleased I live in a city far too young to have to worry about this bollocks,

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