As suggested in the comments to my previous rant, I contacted the police about the cars parked on the single white line in front of my drive (the traffic warden having told me he only had the authority to ticket cars that are parked in a marked bay without a permit, but not those parked outside a marked bay, whether with or without a permit). They slapped a £30 fine on the first car that did it, and the local bobb-ette popped round a couple of days later and was very sympathetic.
The next time it happened, the police told me, disappointingly, that they can only ticket cars that are parked on yellows and that white lines are local council jurisdiction (who are the ones in charge of the traffic wardens, who turn a blind eye to parking-on-white-lines, natch) . As a tax adviser, I appreciate a loophole as much as the next man, but the whole thing strikes me as a bit counter-productive to say the least.
So, until I have a better idea*, I have to wiggle out of this (bearing in mind it's a narrow one-way street and there are usually two builders' vans parked on the other side). Note the complete absence of a car in the marked bay to the left of my drive:
* I'm old fashioned so I prefer reversing into my drive rather than having to reverse out again.
A grim document
10 hours ago
17 comments:
Reversing out is not fit for a nation of hedge-growers - it makes sense for the unhedged front lawn people of the US. I use it as a pragmatic IQ test. You passed.
You could buy yourself a set of go-jacks.
http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=9136&frostProductName=Go%20Jaks%20(pair)&gclid=CI-P4pnhjpoCFROU7Qod31z0FQ
You could use these to move the miscreant or manoeuvre your car!
This is normal practice for dysfunctional public sector.
I too am a "victim" of parking. I have to deal with 40 tonners parking outside on double yellows to go and sit in the cafe down the road, sometimes 3 in a row full of the brown stuff. I have tried confronting them but you can guess the reaction. This happens daily, all day.
You would think that justified a response from our law and local authority. Nope. They just keep passing the blame back and forth and never do anything.
The problem with parking is a local authority parking boundary is not always the same for the police as it is the local authority. So to be fair(much as I hate to) to both culprits, they are always confused about who's jurisdiction it belongs to.
In time honoured tradition when this confusion arises the first response is to blame the other party and never thee twain shall meet.
Call your local manager, sorry I mean politician and explain it to hem. Ask him to tel you who controls parking. Them or the police
Apols for the typos back there
Reversing-in means you have to stop dead in the road and then reverse straight at any car behind you before swinging into a narrow space backwards (with no signals that apply).Reversing out you reverse into openness. I'd always assumed backers-in were in the grip of some conformist obsession to make things as complicated as possible .(In supermarket bays backing-in means you can't load your shopping in the boot.)
I also suspected that backers-in believed in ever-rising house values as well as the full conformist belief system.(I suspect this may be prejudice on my part.)
Anyway it is not old-fashioned.All this backing is relatively newfangled.
DBC, I always put pedestrians first. If I back in, I still have a good view of the pavement and so can stop if necessary. If I back out, I am driving more-or-less blind.
The other tactic I have successfully employed, seeing as how my daily transport is an LR Defender 110 is to explain that the next time they park in the way / in my slot / stupidly I will tow their car somewhere, handbrake on or not, else. This works wonders as they know I can, and will, do it. Believe me an LR Defender in low range will tow pretty well anything, and I have, up to a car transporter. Yes, really.
You could also try hand-painting the white line yellow and extending it a foot in both directions.(They can't prove it was you)
Much as I admire your respect for pedestrians , the bonnet of your car would be well sticking out before you could see anything to your right, were you nosing forward.And,though the shadows in your photograph indicate midday (in summer?), the pavements are n't exactly swarming with people on foot.
Backing out would absolve you from blame if you hit a badly parked interloper,which you would strike more amidships than bumper to bumper.Seeing you prow forward probably makes the no-goodniks think you will edge out with such care that they can park any old how.
I admit I am a bit of a bigot about reverse parking which I was hoping silly ,intrusive European legislation would make illegal.
Getting into your drive backwards looks a nightmare.
Buy the cheapest beat up wreck you can find and park it on your drive. Print a couple of notices that say something like "I got these dents and scrapes driving out of my drive. You are welcome to stay there but I'm not insured" and post them on your wall.
I generally reverse park, out of habit from being in the military and the need to "crash out" when on exercise/at war. However DBC is right about supermarkets.
Now this happended to me years ago. i had a word but it continued to happen from various drivers.
I bought an old banger for £50, no tax, no insurance and in the dead of night drove it up the arse of the parked car and then stuck it in a ditch and phoned the police to notify it stolen.
Worked a treat. and was dammed good fun too. A BMW was the fall guy if I remember correctly.
White Line fever eh?
I thought this was a post about decriminalising drugs!
Thats spooky. I just went to the garage to buy a choc ice and on the way down the lay by back home I nearly bumped into someone reversing backwards out of the drive.
I've lived here 10 years and thats the first time ever!
Being old fashioned and able to drive reasonably competently after 50 odd years of practice, I too invariably back into my drive way. My reason is simply that when I go out frontwards there is less of my car protruding into the road than if I was reversing and I am thus able to see oncoming traffic and pedestrians earlier, plus it is infinitely easier to manouevre around closely parked objects in a narrow road.
You could trade your car in for the one that Jack Lemmon drove in 'The Great Race'. That had the ability to lift itself up above its wheels. In that way you could easily see pedestrians, other motorists etc. (I also believe Dick Dastardly's vehicle had the same useful feature).
@ BSM guy
It is not easier to manoeuvre coming out of the drive forwards in this street.Since the one-way traffic flow seems to be left to right, you cannot head off down the road without making a turn at right angles in not enough space given the parked car.
If you went in the drive forwards, you could come out backwards and and make a wide sweep round any parked cars ending up facing the right way.If you had n't straightened up in the drive, you might still be in the lock which would retrace your path in.
(You're right: I have got too much time on my hands.I can't go out because its pissing down)
DBC, in this case, yes, but only because the bastard blue Mercedes is parked where it is.
If it were parked a few yards further back so that his front bumper is in line with my left hand gatepost (rather than with his rear bumper being in line with my right hand gate post), i.e. even if he were outside the marked bay, then getting out forwards would be an absolute doddle.
Careful Mark, people might be able to work out your address by trawling through Google street view.
You can't be too careful these days. Just ask Old Holborn - he's had the Mossad after him, and everything.
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