Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Parking Permits - Can Haringey make life more difficult?
What a lovely council we live in. Run so well, and with such incisive decision making.
Again, Haringey have either failed to send out a parking permit renewal form entirely, or just too late to get it back to them with only ten days left on my existing one, despite me chasing them for this three times over the past three weeks.
Year upon year this happens.
Several years back, two tickets and a clamp were my only “reminder” so I’m rather cautious about letting my permit lapse – every year following this I’ve been down to the “parking shop” or whatever it’s called, right by the Civic Centre in Wood Green.
So today I drove down, V5, Council Tax bill and cash in hand, only to find that the swine are now not open on a Saturday. Since when?!
With less than 10 days to go on the permit now that I have received the “reminder” form this means I really don’t have much option but to take a day off work, or to phone Haringey and give them such a balling that they agree to help. I will opt for the latter option first thing on Monday, but who the hell do these people think they are?
If I didn’t have a job, I probably wouldn’t have a car. If I could renew online, I would, and there wouldn’t be a problem. Indeed this would give a cost saving, because they could then close the parking shop almost entirely even in the week – who actually wants to go there anyway? It’s not like the staff there have ever been very helpful or even courteous even when you are only there to buy parking permits.
If I could renew in person on a Saturday like I could last year, then I’d be OK too, but I cannot do that either, so I’m pretty cross.
Who makes these stupid decisions; why close the parking shop for business on a Saturday without making any alternate provision for the apparent few that have jobs? Come on Haringey, are you complete idiots, or is this a plan to extract yet more money; force our permits to expire so that you can ticket, clamp and tow our vehicles?
I note that the vehicle pound IS open for business today, and that the wardens ARE on patrol. So, Haringey can facilitate the enforcement of lapsed permits, but cannot facilitate the renewal of permits on a weekend. Of course, it’s all stacked in favour of them making another quick buck from us.
If it's too expensive to adminster the scheme without causing this much inconvenience, I wish they'd just scrap it entirely - I can't see that parking permits help do much more than make money for Haringey anyway - certainly I see no advantage to them as a resident.
Not happy, and am going to start phoning people to moan loudly on Monday morning. They’d better come up with a better solution than me taking a day off work – it’s quite easy to calculate the cost of this and I’ll be only too happy to send a bill in for my lost earnings!
Again, Haringey have either failed to send out a parking permit renewal form entirely, or just too late to get it back to them with only ten days left on my existing one, despite me chasing them for this three times over the past three weeks.
Year upon year this happens.
Several years back, two tickets and a clamp were my only “reminder” so I’m rather cautious about letting my permit lapse – every year following this I’ve been down to the “parking shop” or whatever it’s called, right by the Civic Centre in Wood Green.
So today I drove down, V5, Council Tax bill and cash in hand, only to find that the swine are now not open on a Saturday. Since when?!
With less than 10 days to go on the permit now that I have received the “reminder” form this means I really don’t have much option but to take a day off work, or to phone Haringey and give them such a balling that they agree to help. I will opt for the latter option first thing on Monday, but who the hell do these people think they are?
If I didn’t have a job, I probably wouldn’t have a car. If I could renew online, I would, and there wouldn’t be a problem. Indeed this would give a cost saving, because they could then close the parking shop almost entirely even in the week – who actually wants to go there anyway? It’s not like the staff there have ever been very helpful or even courteous even when you are only there to buy parking permits.
If I could renew in person on a Saturday like I could last year, then I’d be OK too, but I cannot do that either, so I’m pretty cross.
Who makes these stupid decisions; why close the parking shop for business on a Saturday without making any alternate provision for the apparent few that have jobs? Come on Haringey, are you complete idiots, or is this a plan to extract yet more money; force our permits to expire so that you can ticket, clamp and tow our vehicles?
I note that the vehicle pound IS open for business today, and that the wardens ARE on patrol. So, Haringey can facilitate the enforcement of lapsed permits, but cannot facilitate the renewal of permits on a weekend. Of course, it’s all stacked in favour of them making another quick buck from us.
If it's too expensive to adminster the scheme without causing this much inconvenience, I wish they'd just scrap it entirely - I can't see that parking permits help do much more than make money for Haringey anyway - certainly I see no advantage to them as a resident.
Not happy, and am going to start phoning people to moan loudly on Monday morning. They’d better come up with a better solution than me taking a day off work – it’s quite easy to calculate the cost of this and I’ll be only too happy to send a bill in for my lost earnings!
Tags for Forum Posts: parking permits
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by matt on
-
Change of opening hours
From this HC webpage;
'Due to the pressures caused by the demand of Central government for in-year budget cuts and as part of the resultant programme of Council efficiency savings, regrettably Haringey Payments Service offices at 247 High Road will no longer open late night on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings.
From Monday 16 August, revised opening hours for the offices at 247 High Road will be:
Monday – Friday 8.45am to 5pm.'
One can however send a fine in by post, pop it into a 'drop in box' at a Customer Service Centres, or visit that Haringey Payments Service office at 247 High Road (when did it change its name?).
-
Permalink Reply by Joe Bailey on
-
Oh brilliant :-)
I can still pay my fines easily, and I can now get fined more easily too... Now that it's near on impossible to renew my permit before it expires that is!
Just fantastic!
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
Oh come on, the only CPZs are in Tottenham and everyone there's unemployed. Stop your whinging all you middle class people.
Disgraceful behaviour by our elected representatives.
-
-
If I get myself fired, I can claim benefits to help cover my council tax and so on. Aside from having more time on my hands, I will then be able to get myself to the parking shop so that I can park without getting fined.
I now have a solution.... There must be some form of economy here! Well thought out Haringey.
Maybe I could just take my car to the town hall and torch it both in protest and as an alternative to a fireworks show at ally pally - that would save me from being fined at least and would at provide some entertainment too - oh and it would tick the green box by me getting rid of my car on top of all that - three birds, one stone. Ignore the fact that I'd simply replace it by dipping into my savings and spending until I'm below whatever threshold that would stop me getting the doll money I'll need, after being fired that is ;-)
-
-
Joe, in the interests of peaceful protest and of the environment, it would be better to become a Buddhist monk, torch yourself in front of the Civic Centre but leave the car intact. Fewer harmful particulates will be released and we'll all remember you as a true martyr to something or other.......
-
Permalink Reply by Yvonne on
-
This is not true. There are CPZs in Crouch End, Highgate and Stroud Green.
-
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
Joe, only your first sentence contained a small piece of praise for our hard-pressed Borough parking staff. The rest of it, well, there are some who might describe it as council bashing. You know the Parking Officers are only there to help you and the rest of the community. You know they are courteous and intelligent. The rules are there for everyone's benefit.
The council is not in this business to make money (a widely-held misconception). Not a bit of it. Well, only a little bit. Last year, their Parking Report says that the overall surplus from Parking was only £2.6m. Permits raised just over £2m and penalty charge notices, nearly £7.5m. Do please remember there's lots of conscientious staff to pay and they could easily find equally useful work elsewhere. That surplus is more than enough to pay for the really interesting Haringey People magazine that I look forward to each month (don't take ring-fencing too seriously!).
The parking business could become a growth area in Haringey – both in revenue and employment – and in these recessionary times, any growth is surely good.
Parking is an important function of the council and the Head of Parking is one of Haringey's most highly remunerated officers. I'm sure he works really hard on behalf of residents, many of whom are not always as grateful as they might be. Have you considered making some demonstration of how appreciative you are of the service they perform?
Perhaps you should consider buying a nice bunch of flowers for the parking staff (instead of the bunch-of-fives you're contemplating). You know you want to do the right thing.
.
-
Permalink Reply by sparkle on
-
I'll always remember the fine personal attention the parking staff gave me. When 8 months pregnant and in the middle of massive building work at home my builder was repeatedly fined, and then clamped. It being rainy and the parking warden not being able to read the permit properly through the wet windscreen. (!)
Not unreasonably he was irate and I had to intervene to stop him taking an angle grinder to the clamp. A few days later the 2 week permit I got him expired and I went to try and get another. They refused as i'd exceeded my allowance for that period, and like a stressed heavily pregnant person not surprisingly (I thought) I burst into tears. I explained through my sobbing that I had a huge hole in the back of my house and a furious builder threatening all sorts if he was clamped again and no visitors permits left. With a lot of going away to look at me whisper and point from the back of the office and a lot of tutting they gave me some sort of exemption letter on parking services letterhead for him to put in his station wagon. (wouldn't let me pay for a permit, which would break the rules- but gave me something which wasn't even listed on the permits list??)
Fast forward 6 months or so, back in the parking office to renew my residents permit and - go to the counter to be told- 'Oh I know you, you're the crazy lady who bursts into tears every time she comes in- hope you're not going to cry on me today!'
nice!...customer service in action.
-
Permalink Reply by EMC2 on
-
A couple of years ago they didn't send me a reminder, parking permit lapsed by two days. Got ticket, got clamped. The clamping guys are based a couple of streets away. (I'll come back to this) Neighbour rang me, thank God, before I got towed. Paid the fine over the phone. Took half day from work, came home, put a two week visitor permit in my car window, then went away for the weekend by train. Home to find a second ticket. Usual appeal crap, then all the way through to the Parking Ombudsman. Parking drop the ticket before the hearing. I knash my teeth, wipe my mouth, move on. But I do have a little whinge to a lady who then worked for me. She used to be a solicitor. She insists I write to Parking and demand compensation for waste of my time etc etc. I do, they ignore. She advises me to put in an on-line small claims court claim against them. I get on the computer pay my £50 odd and do just that. Claimed for c£350. They had one month to file a defence. But they're the council. Month on, no defence. I ask for Judgement. Granted. I write to lady in charge of Parking asking for my c£350. No reaction. I write again to advise that Court bailiffs are a-coming. I get cheque from council by return post. I still have the paperwork and happy to share with anyone who wants to do similar.
Last week they've ticketed my neighbour, a couple of days after his permit went out of date, but sent the reminder three days after the ticket. What a shower.
The clamping guys. Well I'm fairly sure there's a scam between these guys and (some) wardens. Clampers are a private company and there must be a service level agreement with Parking. I assume they have to clamp X per day but I don't know. Anyway, we had some roadworks with parking bays suspended. One, just the one, notice of suspension swung round and fell to the ground. Car after car parked there. Hovering nearby our brave wardens. Ticket on, clampers roar up, car away to the pound. I only know this because heard a very distressed (Turkish, little English) lady arguing with a warden and noticed the fallen sign. I had wondered why the clampers were roaring up and down my road so frequently that day. Maybe they achieved their targets and went home early that day, maybe not. But maybe I'm just cynical.
Today I notice two wardens on push bikes. Riding on the pavement. Where's the old bill when you want them.
-
-
I'm astonished to learn of this lapse in one of the council's finest* services; it must be rare indeed.
But it's no accident that Parking has the reputation it does: it begins at the recruitment stage. The level of quality is unparalleled. Set rigid standards for education, intelligence and judgement and couple those standards with training and targets. Add formidable management skills and top it all with, as has been observed, incisive decision-making.
And what else could I possibly say about world-class parking policy. We all know how good it is and the CPZ-ification of the whole Borough was carefully planned years ago.
And that's how you get exemplary parking enforcement. (The council's probably happy that HoL exists for the less grunted to let off steam about one or two little quibbles).
*the uniforms would do credit to a South American army
.
-
-
If the whole borough was CPZ-ified then at least the wealthy part would be contributing along with the poorer part to Haringey's transport costs. As it stands they are avoiding tax by community action.
I do remember that before all this Duckett's Common was "abandoned car" land. But the beast we hired to eat the abandoned cars is now eating ours.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
