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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Here's my entry in Haringey's most confusing parking sign competition.

This unlovely piece of street furniture is on Oakfield Road. I find it hard to interpret its meaning while sitting down at leisure trying to decipher it.

Remember this is aimed at motorists, driving vehicles and who have just a few seconds to work it out.

This is the most complex sign in Haringey because all motorists wishing to park are expected to have at least some knowledge about football games (presumably "Match" doesn't refer to Bryant and May. Perhaps "Event" has some relationship to soccer as well).

In order to make the entrapment complete, the council have provided a flip-down board which randomly changes the meaning of the sign.

Can anyone come up with a better/worse example than this?

Tags for Forum Posts: English, PCN, Plain, confusion, entrapment, motorist, parking, penalty, signs

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John you don't know what the flip-down panel says.

It says: John overlooks that the big message is a ban on the colour blue".

= " No Rangers supporters in this area " ?

Maybe this just serves to illustrate the original point, but I read it that the Sunday and holiday restrictions only apply when the match day and event restrictions are in force, not on all Sundays and holidays.  I'm not saying either of us is right or wrong, but it does mean it's confusing.

I think you're right Bethany ( blushes )

If the rules are ambiguous and potentially confusing, someone trying to understand and follow the rules may get a parking ticket. Or the uncertainty may deter them and they'll take their custom somewhere else. Or they park and worry for no reason.

Like any tax or charge people are entitled to know with clarity and certainty what they must pay, when and why. So instead of licking their lips at the juicy income figures, local councils should demand that the Government amends the regulations to make this happen.

(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)

"uncertainty may deter them and they'll take their custom somewhere else" - we live in hope Alan. There should be a massive tax on car parking spaces. On an actual open market, and not one imposed by the council, they go for £50 a month around here. Far more closer to town of course.

You and Nilgun are on your own here. Anyway, wasn't she telling us to think of the children over the recycling debacle? If we thought twice about using our cars because of the worry about getting a ticket would the world not be a better place for our children? Such a contradiction...

I agree with Alan about the need for clarity. If some people expect and are knowingly prepared to pay the £50 you mention, or whatever, then that may well be alright. But imagine you thought you were okay to park or slightly uncertain and then received an unexpected big fine. That's not okay. People need to know where they stand. I do think that these signs are deliberately intended to be abstruse and obscure.

Bethany as you probably know, there's an identical sign a bit further up Oakfield Road. What you may not know is the rumour that on one, the flip-down panel reveals: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? and the other one states: GOTCHA! guessed wrong again!

Yeah - they only flip the panel down on match days and they have Noel Edmonds hiding round the corner with some dodgy looking award, right?

I'll probably be accused of not knowing the Highway Code, but IMO the most basic problem with these signs is that it is not stated whether the periods mentioned are permissible or excluded.

Colour coding would help, or "no parking between [times] x and y". The signs are IMO a model of poor presentation of information.

Each of these big ugly signs is one of a pair on either side of the road, adding to clutter and distracting motorists, most of whom are not looking for a parking space.

I'd rather deal with algebra.

Quite often though, there are different rules/times on opposite sides of the road. That's one of the things that catches drivers out when parking in the P&D bay in Perth Rd. They look across the street, see the sign that says 6.30 finish, go to the machine (say around 5pm) buy a two hour ticket thinking they'll be OK and then get caught out by the 5.30 finish of the bay itself.

Designed for entrapment

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