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Parking rules are in a ridiculous state
• PARENTS should not be penalised for dropping their children off safely to school. The 15 minute Parking Dispensation Permit enables parents to park safely and avoid ‘circling’ and double-parking to avoid tickets!
Many of us have no option but to drive to Hampstead for our children’s education so I hope that as part of the review of the school run policy, Camden Council will recognise that taking away parking permits without improving the alternatives available to parents, is going to make matters worse not better.
My husband and I live in Crouch End with our two children aged three and five. In November 2005, we sent in our son’s primary school application to our local authority (Haringey Council) listing our choice of local primary schools in order of preference.
In May 2006, we were told that none of our schools of choice were available and we were given a list of schools with places available for our son to start in the new term. Two of those schools were failing schools in Tottenham and the third option was another failing school on the Wood Green/Tottenham border.
As we had not considered taking the private education route, we did not have our son’s name down for any of the private schools in our area. Consequently, we were told that there were no spaces available and waiting lists had been closed.
Needless to say, we were devastated and desperate...
Thanks to the advice and information of other parents whose children attended my son’s nursery, we came to find a place for our son in Hampstead. We remain on our local primary school’s waiting list (seventh on the waiting list even though we live 0.3 miles away) but accept that a place may not become available in the next couple of years.
Camden Council’s decision to eradicate the School and Nursery Parking Dispensation Permits has greatly affected us due to our situation.
We have seen our son’s school’s Travel Plan and support it’s suggestions. We would love to use public transport but the prospect of catching two buses to drop my daughter off at nursery before catching a third bus to Hampstead to drop my son off is unrealistic and ridiculously time-consuming.
We have also looked into car-sharing, but apart from being quite isolated from other families attending the school, we have a younger child who attends a nursery in a different location, thus making it difficult to arrange.
We welcome ideas to help the environment and appreciate the problem with congestion but we feel frustrated at Camden Council’s decision to eradicate the Parking Dispensation Permits, as without any alternatives (such as school buses or drastically improved public transport) there will be no improvement in the environment or congestion. Parents should not be penalised for trying to get their children safely to school, particularly when some are forced to send their children to schools out of borough!
NICK AND MARIE CHARALAMBOUS
Crouch End, N8
• YOUR correspondent Dermot Greene expresses the hope that Camden Council will not pursue any parking fines issued against those who were unaware that their parking permits had expired (Parking Extortion, Mar 15).
Too late. I paid £250 this morning to retrieve my car from the Kentish Town car pound after it was towed away for not having a valid permit on display. As Mr Greene says, Camden Council failed to send out reminders to renew the electronic parking permits, which do not display an expiry date. As I expected a renewal form to be sent, my permit was unwittingly out of date, a warden issued a ticket and within 40 minutes, it was towed to the pound while I was at work.
After collecting the car, I drove to the council offices to renew the permit. I live in the CA-N zone and was told by the council official that more than 100 people have been affected, the council computer saying it had dispatched renewal letters although it hadn’t.
I now start the tedious process of appealing against the ticket, towing and storage charge. But I am pleased to see that this morning’s renewal letter now has a bright green peel-off sticker which clearly displays the renewal date, a new feature presumably as a result of the council’s error.
STEVEN KEENAN
Camden terrace, NW1
• MY husband and I both have electronic parking permits issued by Camden Council. This week we have received each a penalty charge notice informing us that our permits had expired and therefore we were illegally parked. We had received no notice either in a written format or via email so we had no idea that the permit had expired.
When I called the parking permit office I was told that this had had happened to hundreds of residents and that the only course of action was to contest this with the PCN department. I asked how residents were suppose to know that the permit had expired the answer was look online. Why is it that we have been sold a dud system and now have to pay a penalty fine when it could so easily be avoided with a single email to tell us that our permits were about to expire?
This is so frustrating why should we pay £100 in fines as well as £160 for parking permits. Is this another Camden scam? A system which wasn’t thought out properly? I was also told by the parking permit department that they is now an expiry date on the permit and this had been resolved – but only for those renewing what about the residents who have yet to renew their permits will they have to pay £50 each and then £80 for a parking
permit?
Name and address supplied
• THE overzealous parking attendants working on behalf of Camden Council have struck again!
Last month, the manager of Hampstead Heath train station was given a Penalty Charge notice in the time between leaving his car and buying a permit.
Around the same time, I became a victim to these trigger-happy attendants while using the South End Green loading bay to unload a large and bulky window frame. While I was helping the driver with the goods, the van was given a Penalty Charge Notice.
In South End Green at least, it is now far more common to see a parking attendant patrolling than a police officer. This despite a recent rise in theft from local business.
Small business in the area requires support from the council, not a hindrance at every turn. The council have already removed one of our loading bays and a parking space making things harder for us. Important deliveries of oxygen and drugs to my shop are being jeopardised on a weekly basis.
With this in mind I understand the need to enforce the restrictions on what’s left. However this should be done in a fair and sympathetic manner.
In the past six months, we’ve lost the delicatessen and the art shop from this block alone. These independent businesses have both been trading for over 20 years and had become an important part of the fabric of South End Green.
DR CD MISTRY
The House of Mistry Ltd
South End Road, NW3
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