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Anybody else fallen into the Grafton Road trap?
• HOW many other innocent victims have fallen into the highly original trap for drivers Camden have placed in Grafton Road?
Normally restricted-hours roads are controlled by a simple gate closed and opened by council staff. This has been the case in every example I’ve known, but in their wisdom Camden appear to have dispensed with the obvious indication and left a clear road to be used on the same principal as an honesty box.
But drivers from out of the area like myself are not familiar with this trick. I see a road with a little notice about time restrictions, but with the gate open and assume it’s no longer in force and simply drive through. Surely a gated road is only supposed not to be used when the gate is shut?
Well, no. Not in Grafton Road at least. Following the trend of being the first known council to block roads altogether in the 1970s Camden have led the methods in penalising drivers. Charging to shop in Hampstead was another probable first outside central London, and other councils followed to make the roads now in a worse state than any German bombs left them. So back to the present, surely they know that leaving this little trap, with a sign few drivers can fully read when driving at a reasonable speed for the road, is bound to bring in continuous income. The camera set up clearly in a position not easily spotted by drivers catches every person driving through when not allowed and fines sent accordingly. Although this appears to be within the law the subtle way it has been set up could be seen as a deception in some areas. Surely if whatever arcane reason Camden have for stopping the use of this road in the afternoons was so vital they would gate the road every day at said times. But if their only intention was an easy source of income then leaving the gates open so unfortunate drivers assumed it was OK to use and then pay them £60 it would make a lot of sense.
I would like to know if I am the first person to complain about this and also how many other people have used this road for the first time and been caught the same way as me.
I do actually have a law degree and know how it is possible to make bylaws that just pass the minimum standards of legality for signage and construction, but barely.
Of course people only drive through this road once and never again, but there are many potential victims and quite sure they never run out as there’s always someone new who needs to go there,
DAVID HOWARD
Winston Avenue, NW9
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