BUREAUCRACY BOWL 2012
Praise be, here cometh the Jobsworths! Once again we present you with our annual collection of erstwhile misguided do-gooders who do no good, just stir up anger and angst amongst our guys and gals. We start with the usual assortment of licence holders who were told they couldn’t display charity stickers (as in Chesterfield, January issue; also Harrogate in March). As if Help the Heroes would be found offensive by any passengers...! Mat- ter of opinion, I suppose. And of course we always have to have at least one area – this time it was Scarborough – where a driver was told to remove his England flags during the Euros in case they “caused offence”. Yeah sure. Then of course we have to include the usual dollop of Access Acrimony: this time from Bridport in Dorset, where a driver col- lected a parking ticket on his taxi which had broken down in a flood. Considering the inclement weather suffered by so many areas of the country last year, especially down Dorset way, methinks the parking warden will have gone through pads of tick- ets! You can’t look at this category without including the collection of kind-hearted drivers who were penalised for helping their pas- sengers: the Swansea driver in January’s issue who was fined for helping his elderly passenger, and the Hinckley driver who was similarly penalised for helping his disabled passenger - the story was in the May edition, and our June issue reported that his fine had been overturned. Yes! But here’s an interesting twist: how about the driver in Romney Marsh who came to the aid of one of his regulars who’d had a fall. He offered to remove her household rubbish whilst she was in hospital, and was duly informed he’d have to apply for a permit because he was in a “commercial” vehi- cle. Oh please... We really enjoyed the letter sent in for our December issue by the chairman of the West Berkshire Hackney and Private Hire Associ- ation, asking readers to Name That Council Form so that drivers may go down the proper channels to ask permission to use the loo. Any other suggestions...? Now then, as for the runner-up: We thought the deserving recipi- ent was the Newcastle under Lyme driver who was requested by the police to park in a certain spot at his local police headquarters while he reported a crime – and then was ticketed for it. At least the ticket was rescinded by the December issue. Actually it was a close call for the over- all winner in this group, but just by a nose we chose the funeral vehicle in Edinburgh, which was reported in our April edition to have collected a park- ing ticket while it waited for mourners in the church service – just as the cof- fin was about to be brought out. The council later said the ticket had been issued in error and was subsequently cancelled. Apparently the parking war- den was about to issue a second ticket – for the occupant of the coffin, maybe? Yes, we know funeral vehicles are not licensed as private hire, but hey – this one had to be included in the group so we could give it the Bowl. Result fix- ing? You bet!
PAGE 56
PARKING TICKET ON EDINBURGH HEARSE
A parking warden gave a ticket to a funeral
limousine
while it waited for peo- ple to leave a church. Mourners were just about
to leave St
Andrew’s and St George’s church in George Street, Edin- burgh, on a recent Friday morning when the ticket was issued. The Daily Star reports that the warden called his supervisor after one of
the funeral
directors insisted they were allowed to park there. Edinburgh City Coun- cil has now cancelled the ticket. Tim Purves, a director at William Purves Funeral Directors, said the firm had never had a parking ticket during a service and would be contacting the council. He said: “All our vehi- cles are the same make, colour and have the sequenced num- ber plates and were with the hearse so I would have thought a little bit of common sense would have pre-
vailed. “We have to park near the church so we can bring the coffin out but we always park in a manner that is safe and respectful.” The funeral directors were alerted when a disgusted member of the public spotted what was happening and started shouting at the warden. Mr Purves added: “We were just about
to
bring the coffin out when we noticed the warden so one of my colleagues spoke to him to let him know. The warden was going to issue a second tick- et but crossed to the other side of the road to call his supervisor. “We couldn’t hold up proceedings any more so we had to bring the coffin out and drive away.” Edinburgh City Coun- cil said: “This parking ticket was issued in error and has now been cancelled. We apologise for any dis- tress or concern this has caused.”
PHTM JANUARY 2013
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
