Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Parking ticket advice
I got a ticket today for parking in a former disabled space on our road. There are two side by side, one of which still has the bay painted on the road, but the sign on the pavement beside it which used to be there was removed. The person whose space it was no longer lives here, and we residents have been using the space for months.
I have viewed the 'evidence' online, and in addition to photographs of my car there is a photograph of the sign which is clearly for the bay next to the one I parked in, i.e. not outside the house number which the PCN refers to. This feels like a stitch-up to me.
I'm assuming I have a right to appeal as either it is no longer a disabled space or the signage is incorrect. Could anyone advise me on this and how to word the appeal?
Tags for Forum Posts: parking, parking fine, parking ticket
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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Hi Maddy. email me jmswlsh@hotmail.com i'll help you appeal
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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These days, for any parking fine issues I recommend looking at the free guide from Mr Mustard (Derek Dishman). Website here. On the top-left of the home page there's a blue link to "council PCN appeal guide".
Derek mainly takes up cases in the Borough of Barnet. But he'll occasionally advise on Haringey and elsewhere. He doesn't charge for advice but suggests people may make a donation to the North London Hospice Charity.
Mr Mustard is one of the four famous Barnet bloggers who Haringey's Chief Executionerive Nick Walkley once told me he was glad to leave behind when the Dear Leader brought him to Haringey.
They include one of my favourite bloggers, Mrs Angry. Here's her latest on Barnet's "nonsultation" on libraries.
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The Barnet bloggers are precisely the ones who are putting the FOI regime under the greatest threat. Mr Mustard (while I was working there circa 2001) was putting in 400 requests a year, single-handedly costing £1,000s a year. And all because he didn't get his application for a dropped kerb approved. Mrs Angry was at least a little more targeted in her approach.
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Interesting. I'll ask Derek Dishman to comment.
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My attention has been drawn to this comment, which refers to me, under my blogging name Mrs Angry.
Your assertion that the activities of Barnet bloggers are 'putting the FOI regime under the greatest threat' is inaccurate, and frankly idiotic.
"Mr Mustard" can speak for himself, but his motivation has always been, as it is for all our local bloggers, to hold to account the inefficiency and incompetence of the local authority.
Rather extraordinary that "Antoinette" claims to have been working at Barnet and dealing with Mr Mustard in 2001: I believe he only started blogging about 5/6 years ago.
As for myself: "A little more targeted"? I rarely make FOI requests, perhaps a few each year: but when I do so they are specific questions on matters of significant public interest, and have uncovered some highly important stories which would otherwise go unreported.
This is why, in fact, Conservative government, both local and national, are now seeking to repress this vital form of scrutiny: not because of perceived misuse of this process, or cases of vexatious requests, but because there is so much to hide from the eye of the electorate.
I should also point out that, rather surprisingly, the former Secretary of State Eric Pickles gave a speech to a business conference in which he went out of his way to praise the work of the Barnet bloggers - for holding to account a Conservative administration ...
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It's just my opinion...and I'm entitled to it. I genuinely believe bombarding a local authority with 100s of requests serves only to excerbate their inefficiency and incompetence. The date was a typo... I was there in 2011... I'm surprised you don't remember me. We exchanged many emails. I fought very hard while I was there to get FOI requests answered, even if only in part, instead of just dismissed on grounds of cost.
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I meant exacerbate btw...
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I've never made a Freedom of Information Request to Barnet, Antoinette. I'm pleased to hear that you "fought very hard" to get Theresa Musgrove's FoI requests answered. I'm sure there are hardworking and conscientious members of the F.o.I team in Haringey who take the same approach.
I began making them to Haringey when I was still a Haringey councillor and in response to what I saw as the secrecy of the Kober regime. Also, because as I'm sure you realise, while councillors have a Common Law right to information on a "Need to Know" basis this is sometimes interpreted restrictively. And information can also be given on a restricted basis - in effect "gagging" a councillor and preventing them from sharing it with residents.
Hundreds of FoI requests? My total is 44 since 2011. They're set out on the website WhatDoTheyKnow. And I think perhaps 5 or 6 of those are not to Haringey. The reason I use that website is because information released is in the public domain and available to anyone. I regard that as healthy for democracy. And also for "nudging" bureaucrats towards making openness "normal". Using the internet to make it a new "default position".
Because bureaucratic secrecy is not new. Max Weber observed over 100 years ago that: "Every bureaucracy strives to increase the superiority of its position by keeping its knowledge and intentions secret. Bureaucratic administration always seeks to evade the light of the public as best it can, because in so doing it shields its knowledge and conduct from criticism…"
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So you average 10/11 requests a year and I believe that's not unreasonable, especially in your role. But 400 requests a year is in another league. I've only submitted one to Harringay myself about the postcodes of the Year 2 pupils at S Harringay and got a very satisfactory response. Being able to show that half the pupils in one year no longer lived in the catchment area certainly gave my arguments with the Head of School Admissions.
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I responded to this earlier from my phone, but it appears not to have been sent properly: what I said was this:
I have never 'bombarded" any authority or body with FOI requests, and I ask that you clarify this point here, as otherwise I shall ask the forum moderator to remove an allegation in breach of the terms of the rules regarding commentary.
At a time when there is such a serious and important debate about the FOI Act, such generalised and inaccurate misrepresentation os unfair, and potentially damaging to the argument for defence of a much needed method of scrutiny.
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You have not bombarded anyone.... how is my saying that you were more targeted in your requests than Mr Mystard saying that? Perhaps you also owe me an apology for implying I never worked for Barnet when I did. Perhaps you should read mine and Mr Mustards exchange before you respond.
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You referred to the Barnet bloggers - plural - as being instrumental in the FOI act being reviewed and only qualified the remark in regard to me as being 'more targeted', which might imply that in some way my requests were exceptional, which they are not. You then referred to 'bombarding', without qualification, which might easily be interpreted as including me or other Barnet bloggers.
I did not say anything at all about you not working for Barnet, but merely pointed out quite correctly that your reference to 2001 was inaccurate.
The FOIA is central to a transparent and accountable system of government. Unfortunately many authorities both fear and evade the obligations that the act demands.
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