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Motorist’s fury
at double standards
St Clements Road, Whiltey
TRAFFIC wardens parked their car in a residents-only parking space while they handed out tickets - to motorists parking in a similar residents-only parking space.
The double standards have infuriated parents who were ticketed in St Clements Road, Whitley, as they picked up their children from nearby Woodfield Primary School. The picture of the wardens’ car was taken by angry reader John Fitzpatrick who says he has been left fuming by the traffic wardens, ‘do as I say, not as I do’ actions.
However, a spokesman for the council said today it was important to maintain effective enforcement around school sites which are potentially hazardous.
Mr Fitzpatrick said: “The wardens regularly turn up at school pick-up time to book parents.
Residents are mostly at work and there’s plenty of space and it causes no problems for the few minutes that this usually takes. I saw the wardens arrive about 3.15pm in an unmarked Fiat car.
“When I realised that they had parked in a resident’s bay without a permit I decided to take a picture with my phone to use as evidence.
“They waited for the parents to leave their cars and go to the primary school gates at Woodfield and then started issuing tickets for parking in the residents’ zone. Then I saw them drive away before they all returned. It seems one rule for one and one for another.
“I’m not sure if this is a private car or one officially issued for use by the wardens but I am sure that if this had been a marked car people would have driven away rather than risk a ticket.
Mr Fitzpatrick said that there were few legal parking facilities near Woodfield and added: “The council have now criminalised collecting kids from school, ignoring the voice of the taxpayer.
“Surely they could negotiate a 10 minute easement to allow parents to collect kids safely and take some pressure away from busy parents.
“I really don’t condone the behaviour of the few parents who park dangerously on junctions, bus stops and yellow lines but I have never once seen one of them get a ticket and they deserve them.”
Wigan Council’s Transport Manager Kevin Hargreaves said that the council frequently receives calls from members of the public saying that they do not do enough to enforce parking regulations outside schools.
He said they also receive a number of complaints from residents who live in such areas close to schools complaining that parents dropping their children off at school are using their parking bays without a permit.
He said: “The areas around our schools do have the potential to be hazardous, particularly when we have large numbers of people parking to drop children off and pick them up.
“It is therefore important that we maintain effective enforcement around our schools and we do not believe this should be relaxed purely for the convenience of parents.”
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Friday 25 May 2012
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Comments
There are 19 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
sauvignonstu
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 12:28 PM#9 - Your second point of there should be no resident only spaces are rubbish. All roads in the area had them due to the masses af complaints that the Hospital staff was parking their cars there, hence the residence not being able to park in front of their houses, or able to have visiters park there. That's why it's got them. true though about the warden...........targetting prime times for parking offences and probably using his her own car to produce a high ticket issue rating is not acceptable. Its the same at the top of Gidlow lane on a Friday tea-time. I have witnessed a traffic warden arrive on a scooter, park up on double yellows and issue out tickets and take photos of reg plates of all the food take-away folk waiting for their orders. I approached the said person and just calmly said that if she doesn't move her scooter that's illegally parked, I shall take a photo of it, take the persons officer number and report her to her superior, the council, police and local paper. Safe to say she moved there and then.
phillykenny
Sunday, February 19, 2012 at 09:54 AMlazy women want to try walking to school,and then they wouldnt end up with an ar#e the size of an elephant.
SynKat
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 07:22 PMIt's the same near my son's school, lazy bone-idle excuses for parents teaching their kids to be equally lazy by driving them to school when they live a stone's throw away as they say. They should leave what few spaces there are for parents who do need to drive there and stop being so self-centred. The world does not revolve around you. That said, I don't think the wardens should be above the laws and rules either. Unless they knocked on the resident's door to ask permission to park there then they are illegally parked also. They should park somewhere else nearby and patrol the area on foot. They need to lead by example instead of behaving like morons.
elven
Saturday, February 18, 2012 at 06:52 PM@gareth fairhurst, using that principle, all cops, firemen, ambulancemen who break the speed limit as part of their job should also be charged.... or all speeders should be let off!
gareth fairhurst
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 10:07 PMPlian and simple you can't have rules for one and rules for another. The wardens were illegally parked so any tickets issued voided.
Wandering Wiganer
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 09:10 PMfinchman - Thank you for taking the time to post your reasoned and constructive suggestion. For you to take the time to register a username, then post such a helpful comment shows me what 'having a life' must be like. Much appreciated.
Mistress Ploppy
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 08:27 PMPost 10. If you want to use that line of justification, I ought to point out that the houses were there before anyone had cars. I'm not defending the local houses, just negating your argument.
finchman
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 08:21 PMThis board is full of moaning b****rds,I suggest you all get a life.
drwatson
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 07:58 PM#5 & #6 I agree with you both, I walk past two schools in the mornings and the cars are parked on the footpath on double yellow lines even on the hazzard lines, I even see at least one person bring her elderly mother with her so she can use her blue badge, and if you tell them they look at you with the "what's it got to do with you" look, totally bone idle and ignorant.
blueyes26
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 07:54 PMAs a working mum myself who pays car insurance,road tax....why shouldnt i drive to school to drop my child off then carry on to work if it is convenient for me,yes idiots that park dangerously annoy me too. Im sure the school was there before the houses??i wouldnt buy a house near a school and how many hours of the day are these parents actually parked there?? 5mins in the morning 5mins in the afternoon. Get a life moaners
Mistress Ploppy
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 06:46 PMThere are a few issues here: 1) Due to the relatively small size of the school, there should be few children attending there who are not within walking distance, therefore there is no need for parents to be parking close by. 2) St Clements Road should never have had residents-only spaces on it in the first place. Even at weekends, there are barely half a dozen cars parked on the road because all the houses have drives. It would have been far better to ban parking on one side of Whitley Crescent and move more cars onto this street and Sittingbourne Road where they would be out of the way. 3) Whether is is morally right or wrong, cars owned by traffic wardens must obey the same rules as everyone else. If it is inappropriate for one car to be parked, then it is inappropriate for a wardens car. 4) Wardens certainly should not be going for an easy catch. I see illegally parked cars all the time walking into town causing a genuine hazard, and have rarely seen a warden near them. 5) If the parents were so busy (as suggested in the article) how can they so easily be available twice a day during working hours. If they are housewives, they should organise their time better. In conclusion......all parties carry some blame.
working for EU and IMF Greece needs all our cash
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 06:34 PMwhat bugs me about some parents,most live within half a mile off a primary school !! but use the excuse it's safer to take their cherubs in the car ? not much safer for the pedestrians as they park all over the kerbs and pavements, my boy loves walking to school and is not impressed by going in the car as he can't run off, talking to his class mates, plus you can have a chat with the other parents. a more social way of getting them off.
thekop89
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 06:03 PMpure lazy.....enough.....
Tax Payer
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 05:12 PM#5 Fixer. You took the words right away from me, we never had the luxury of being driven to school, it was always a walk no matter what the weather was, until we went to the big school & then we had to catch a bus. Kids & the majority of parents today appear to be bone idle, good on the traffic wardens in this instance
fixer
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 04:49 PMWould the best solution to this problem be for the parents to walk to school !!!! How many do you see climb out of the car in PJ's ? They have obviously not got a busy day ahead, This would be a win win situation, Fitter kids and parents and less trafic polution.
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