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Dave London |
Boxing promoter caught up in parking clampdown
Sting operation part of six-month campaign to recover £10m unpaid fines
A BOXING promoter was caught up in a council sting aimed at targeting drivers with long-running parking bills in the early hours of yesterday (Wednesday).
Geraldine London, whose Chrysler Voyager – known as the ‘Brawl-Mobile’ – adorned by images of boxers, paid out £997 in penalties on the spot.
She parked the van outside University College Hospital while visiting her son’s wife, who had just given birth.
When she returned, parking enforcers had clamped the vehicle.
To avoid seeing the Brawl-Mobile being taken away, she borrowed the cash from a friend.
Her husband who is the joint owner of the van, Dave London, said last night (Wednesday): “My son has just had a baby and four burly ruddy geezers surrounded my wife. The unpaid fines they were talking about had nothing to do with me. It was my ex-partner. The ticket was for the old registration number. I have no idea how they tracked us down.”
The parking evader crackdown was part of a six month trial which aims to recover some of the £10 million in parking fines issued last year that remain unpaid.
Yesterday’s (Wednesday) operation – witnessed by the New Journal – saw parking enforcers and bailiffs, patrolling the streets of Camden by car, equipped with scanning devices to detect eight vehicles with outstanding warrants.
Seven of the eight fine evaders, owing a total of £13,000, were clamped and taken to a pound in Regis Road, Kentish Town.
But the driver of a scaffolding truck, displaying a Blue Badge issued to a double amputee whose parking charge notices have been cancelled a number of times, gave parking chiefs the slip.
When he noticed the parking enforcers closing in on Grafton Road, the driver packed up and took off.
In the same clampdown, a BMW was seized after the driver was caught using a Blue Badge without the card holder present.
The scanner device recorded that the vehicle has incurred nine penalty fines amounting to £1,235.
Camden’s head of parking Rudy Bright said that lost or stolen blue badges, which are used by disabled drivers, are fraudulently obtained and used to flout parking rules.
Most of the outstanding fines were incurred for not displaying a permit or pay and display ticket.
He added: “People who are parking evaders are often involved in other kinds of things.
“Blue Badge misuse is indicative of how these people operate on the margins of society.”
Mr Bright said: “We are trying to make parking enforcement fairer but for those that don’t play ball we are sending out a really strong message.”
The first stealth operation was carried out earlier this month, recovering £8000 in one day. |
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A recent decision by a PATAS(Parking and Traffic Appeals Service)adjudicator ruled Camden's PCNs(Penalty charge notices)non-compliant.
All these outstanding PCNs (as they were only altered a couple of months ago) will be of the non-compliant type.
Therefore, the council are pursuing PCNs that they are aware do not comply.Find out more at www.parkingappeals.co.uk
Neil Herron |
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