West End Extra - Letters to the Editor: CCTV is now a menace for law-abiding citizens

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West End Extra - FORUM: Opinion in the WEE
Published: 2 November 2007

CCTV is now a menace for law-abiding citizens

• WHEN CCTV first came in I was not too bothered because I thought: I am not a criminal and I have nothing to hide.
I did not realise then that the cameras would be used as a mindless alternative to traffic wardens, adding to the administrative burden of life by requiring, in my case, two appeals following incorrect ticketing on photo evidence.
The first photo showed my car and said I was going the wrong way down Great Russell Street – further investigation of the photos showed that I was driving legally on the Euston Road, supporting my contention that I had not been in Great Russell Street that day.
I am now contesting another photo taken when I was unloading my car outside my house, parked on a single yellow line for three minutes. I am having to take it to appeal because the authorities state, incorrectly, that I was on a double yellow line and that I have provided no evidence that I was unloading – what am I supposed to do – video it?
Many people will think they cannot be bothered to appeal or will not remember whether or not they were illegally parked. Faced with photographic evidence, they will just pay up to avoid the hassle. I resent this hassle enormously, but I refuse to add to the council coffers on what is verging on obtaining money by deception.
The council should rethink their policy on this: it alienates law-abiding Londoners who are a great asset to Soho and might otherwise support them. I don’t suppose they will, because it is too lucrative.
Katherine William-Powlett
Meard Street, W1

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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