Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Is this Haringey's most confusing parking sign?
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
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Isabelle on
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Yep, got a fine from one of these!
Went to Finsbury Park on a Sunday to visit one shop, parked in a quiet empty road, had not seen the sign when driving into the road – hey why was I looking in front of me instead?!... It did not occur to me that a match happening at the Emirates would cause this little street to be forbidden zone, I calculated it would take about 20 minutes to walk to the stadium from that street... and who would do that?!
I have now deciphered the sign, after pulling my hair in disbelief for a long time. But I haven't been back shopping to Finsbury Park since then, too pissed off.
All over London, parking restrictions are outrageously complicated and often senseless, plus once they're implemented no one looks back at alleviating them if they become a useless pain. As a result, whole roads remain empty all day long for nothing... I find the worse are the ones which refer to other signs in the 'zone' (what zone? where?!?) or add 'unless otherwise stated elsewhere'. Argh!
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Permalink Reply by Julia on
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Isabelle - lots of people would, and do, park and make the 20 min walk to the Emirates - I used to live in FP and have to say that we rejoiced when match day parking restrictions were imposed in our street otherwise we could never go out to do a weekly shop on a Champions league night or weekend and expect to be able to park when we got home. Where things go wrong perhaps is in not providing enough meter parking round the shopping streets, though on Mountgrove Road they did but it was the classic honeytrap of Islington meters on one side of the road and Hackney ones on the other and woe betide you if you parked on one side and paid on the other.
Perhaps being used to this system I find this sign easy enough to understand, but then I would never try and fathom it whilst driving.
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You do have some points Julia – yes perhaps people do park there to walk to the Emirates and yes the sign is clear if you read it thoroughly. But it's not all that black and white... I've lived near Finsbury Park for a long time and regularly visit a few friends who actually live there – although I'd visit FP more often if there were no CPZs. Had never been caught by a 'match day' before and, perhaps because I'm foreign, the concept didn't feel obvious to me, especially as the road where I parked was mostly empty (and so were the other roads around). I would never have guessed a big event was on or that I was breaking the law by stopping by for a short while. Also when I entered the road I probably had less than a second to see the sign. Now that I'm familiar with it, it's a piece of cake.
No matter what some people say – and no matter that some find this sign crystal clear – on the whole London's parking signs are extremely confusing and often offer ridiculous (unnecessary) restrictions. We misunderstand, we get fined, we feel angry and robbed and 'against the system'. Not a good way to work with the law. Can't everybody recognise that fact?
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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I'm going to quote this to my council colleagues. They seem - apart from Cllr Nilgun Canver - utterly complacent on parking issues. Of course, I understand why local councils - and Transport for London - are keen to see more and more money coming in: the surplus helps reduce the impact of Government-imposed cuts.
But a parking charges/fines system where many people feel robbed is eventually unsustainable. It corrodes trust necessary between elected councils and voters. It's like cheating by some banks. The system as a whole is damaged.
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It'd be nice if the whole city could come together with simpler, clearer rules and guidelines, not just individual boroughs working out add-ons for their own boundaries only.
It'd be nice if CPZ hours were reviewed now and then (to balance the need for parking spaces between residents and passers by).
It'd be nice if free or pay and display spaces were visible from a distance (so that cars don't have to stop by each sign or drive around unnecessarily).
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As far as I know, Isabelle, the problem is that the various roadsigns and wording are prescribed nationally. So one borough or even the whole of London can't agree to do something different.
Which may seem excessive. Except that it means whether you're in Haringey, or Harrogate or Harwich, you should be able to rely on the local council following the same rules.
My solution is simple. The Government should hire the Plain English Campaign and ask them to sit down with representatives from the Department for Transport, local councils, and the Parking Adjudicators to thrash out clearer rules and simplified wording.
Click the link to read what the Plain English Campaign says about Parking fine whines.
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Permalink Reply by Antoinette on
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To be fair (and believe me it pains to fair to them) the Council does occasionally review the CPZ hours. When I first moved in to Umfreville Road we had parking restrictions from 8am to 10pm, 7 days a week. Now, it is 8am to 6.30pm, Mon - Sat. For the record, it is definitely harder to park on Sundays as a result, but far from impossible so the change was spot on.
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It just needs a few more explanatory paragraphs added-on. Some additional flaps below could easily cover likely FAQs.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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Yes some explanatory paragraphs would not go amiss. And could they also be translated into a few other languages too? Like English? (if this were used as an immigration test, I'd flunk it).
Oh and watch out for that cyclist and the cat crossing the road while you're steering, changing gear, reading and wracking your brain.
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So negative, Clive.
You're missing a fantastic business opportunity.
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My previous comment now makes no sense as the link has changed. It refers to the complex instructions for the zero gravity toilet in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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