Bl**dy kids for a quid!

Essex_Al

Last game of the season and kids for a quid, ideal opportunity for me to intoduce to my 4 year old Grandson the delights of supporting Charlton, especially as his Dad supports Spurs. Slight problem that I was DJ'ing that night so didn't have time to take him all the way home after the game. Arranged to meet his Mum and Dad at Barking so that I could zoom off to work in Chingford. As I'm driving in to Barking town centre, my son is behind me, so we quickly pull over in a bus lane (wrong I know!) and take about 30 seconds to transfer my Grandson from one car to the other. Lovely jubbly and off I go. In the post this Friday, I recieve a letter from Barking and Dagenham Council with a photo of my car attached to a £65 fine - shit! Half hour later a phone call from my son saying he's got one as well - not happy!

So all in all, kids for a quid cost £1 for the ticket, £1 booking fee about £30 more on lunch, sweets, drinks etc. than I would normally spend and £130 in fines. So his £1 ticket cost £162, all to watch a boring end of season practice match!

ShootersHillGuru

Ouch. !

SheffieldRed

Al 

There is a moral to this story................

don't let your daughter marry a Spurs fan

Essex_Al

Red, I have a bigger worry than that, the Spurs fan is my step-son, my actual daughter is pregnant and carrying a Millwall fan's baby. I need councilling!

CAFCsayer

Red, I have a bigger worry than that, the Spurs fan is my step-son, my actual daughter is pregnant and carrying a Millwall fan's baby. I need councilling!

This stuff is made for the Jeremy Kyle show

jimmymelrose

Can they really fine you for stopping for just 30 seconds in a bus lane? Can't you appeal? What a joke!

jimmymelrose

Al 

There is a moral to this story................

don't let your daughter marry a Spurs fan

He didn't say that he had a daughter.

Off_it

Can they really fine you for stopping for just 30 seconds in a bus lane? Can't you appeal? What a joke!

Appeal on what grounds? Why is it "a joke"?

Stig

Can they really fine you for stopping for just 30 seconds in a bus lane? Can't you appeal? What a joke!

Appeal on what grounds? Why is it "a joke"?

I know it seems extraordinarily tough, especially getting done twice, but at what point isn't it a joke anymore, 30 seconds, 31 seconds, and hour, three days?  The harsh fact is that you can't stop in a bus lane and the cut off points is precisely 0 seconds; no arguments, no excuses.

smiffyboy

Mate of mine stopped in a bus lane to help someone that was flat out in front of him having just been run over. Got a fine through the post and in photo you can see person laying on road in front of his van with my pal tending to him, appealed it and was told pay it so wrote back and said fine I will see what the press make of it to which they replied due to exceptional circumstances we will cancel it.

golfaddick

Have to agree with Stig...............a bus lane is a bus lane, no matter how long you go into it.  You knew that but decided to ignore it.

 

your fault - pay the fine.

Essex_Al

Yep, took a chance and paid for it, didn't know there was CCTV, no one to blame but myself.

 

I actually blame Airman Brown, if he hadn't introduced kids for a quid that day, I wouldn't have been there anyway. Any chance of a refund Airman?

Off_it

That's the annoying thing about parking tickets. By and large people know "the rules" but often take a chance in the knowledge that you have to be fairly unlucky to get caught out. When you do it's a bummer, but then if everyone got a ticket every time they did it then people wouldn't do it any more, so "the man" would actually make less dough..

tangoflash

I drive in them everyday and have yet to get a single fine...............................Oh the joys of being a bus driver

Deadred

Look on the bright side Essex Al think of all the times you've driven at more than 70mph on the motorway or 30mph and in a built up area and got away with it. Divide those indiscrestions into the £65 fines and I guess it'll be fractions of a penny. Don't suppose it makes you feel any better though.

LenGlover

If only our supposed rulers and betters were as zealous when it comes to apprehending violent criminals and burglars as they are at raising fines to support their parasitic lifestyle.

If stopping in a bus lane obstructs a bus then ok levy fine but if no obstruction is caused does it really matter in a supposedly free society? All such inflexible, draconian attitudes do is create resentment against the authorities. One day the masses will rebel against such pettiness.

Off_it

Oh leave it out Len. What do you want, people standing every 100 yards in a bus lane making an instantaneous decision as to whether an obstruction has been caused? Would solve any unemployment problem, but then you'd moan it was a waste of money in trying to persecute the poor defenceless motorist - again - and that particular record does get rather boring after a while.

Saga Lout

This is the problem with those xxxxing cameras - they don't discriminate. I agree 100% with Len on this.

BlackForestReds

That's the point of the cameras they don't discriminate, the law shouldn't discriminate.

Off_it

Unless you're bribing the Saudi's with ho's and other such stuff - allegedly.

BlackForestReds

Poor old Len. The rapture didn't happen that just leaves metropolitan borough councils and stopping in bus lanes to worry about.

Saga Lout

That's the point of the cameras they don't discriminate, the law shouldn't discriminate.

Then the law is an ass - if no obstruction occurred, what harm was done?! If, instead of a camera, there was a copper there, he would've told them to move along or just ignored it until such time as it became an issue (i.e. when a bus turned up).

BlackForestReds

I was pointing out that the law doesn't discriminate, not whether it makes sense or not.

Off_it

That's the point of the cameras they don't discriminate, the law shouldn't discriminate.

Then the law is an ass - if no obstruction occurred, what harm was done?! If, instead of a camera, there was a copper there, he would've told them to move along or just ignored it until such time as it became an issue (i.e. when a bus turned up).

And you want coppers standing in bus lanes all day do you? Shouldn't they be out catching Len's violent criminals and burglars?

Saga Lout

That's the point of the cameras they don't discriminate, the law shouldn't discriminate.

Then the law is an ass - if no obstruction occurred, what harm was done?! If, instead of a camera, there was a copper there, he would've told them to move along or just ignored it until such time as it became an issue (i.e. when a bus turned up).

And you want coppers standing in bus lanes all day do you? Shouldn't they be out catching Len's violent criminals and burglars?

I'm not suggesting we have thousands of coppers, each assigned a bus lane, but if one happened to be there he could make a judgement call. Just so that you understand my standpoint, I am generally against the use of cameras for this sort of law enforcement.

Off_it

Out of interest, why are you against the use of cameras for this sort of law enforcement Saga Lout? Surely the law is the law.

What about shoplifting, or football violence. Are they fair game for cameras?

Saga Lout

That's easy Off-it. If a camera catches a shoplifter, great - a crime has been committed and the culprit caught. Who has been harmed by someone stopping for a short while in a bus lane when there are no buses in sight.

Off_it

But if you don't fine people then everyone will do it Saga Lout - and think they have a right to do it. And then if everyone's doing it then what's the point in having the bus lane, etc?

See my post above - it's a bummer but we all know the rules. We now all know they use cameras. If you want to take the risk that's an individual choice, it's a calculated risk. But if you get caught it's a fair cop. Not the crime of the century, clearly, but that's the law of the land.

Saga Lout

Why fine everyone when it only matters if you park there for hours and/or prevent the buses from using the bus lane? Unless, of course, you need a cash injection into your budget.

Off_it

Why fine everyone when it only matters if you park there for hours and/or prevent the buses from using the bus lane? Unless, of course, you need a cash injection into your budget.

But, with respect mate, that's pony. Say you park there for two minutes. Then I park there for 2 minutes. Then somebody else does, etc, etc. All for two minutes each. What happens then? There's always someone parking there that's what, so what's the point of the bus lane? There isn't one - it's just one long car park. Or are you suggesting that it's only the people "unlucky" enough to be there when a bus comes along that gets the ticket?

It has to be all or nothing. And we all know the rules, don't we? It's a bummer if you get done, but there isn't really much of an excuse (except perhaps in a minority of cases)

Saga Lout

No, the unlucky ones are the ones who are parked there when the copper comes down the road.

We're adults, not idiots. We park in the bus lane when it is not causing an obstruction. If we do cause an obstruction we deserve to be fined. If we are unlucky, we'll get caught by a copper. I don't like the indiscriminate nature of camera traps (I may have mentioned that before).