Beware...Fake Penalty Notice...Whitby.

[Loobylou]

An enjoyable 70th birthday treat, ended up a nightmare.

I'd taken a friend, who has mobility and health issues to Whitby for a meal and to buy a gift, using my motorhome for transport. We parked legally in an unrestricted area for a couple of hours. We set off for Teesside at 4.30, it was already dark. On the A171 Moor Road I suddenly became aware of something flapping under my windscreen wiper blade. It was impossible to safely stop the vehicle and retrieve, what looked like a yellow parking fine. It wasn't till we made a detour into Guisborough High Street, we discovered a Fake Penalty Charge Notice and intimidating note. The fear of it blowing off the vehicle, along with it distracting us and wondering what crime I'd committed, caused both of us a great deal of stress. I've previously suffered 2 heart attacks. My friend suffers from Atrial Fibrillation and has previously suffered a Stroke. As you can imagine, the afternoon birthday treat was ruined because of it. Neither of us could sleep that night, it could have caused us to have an accident, or take ill. I've reported the matter to North Yorkshire County Council. I hope no-one else is put through the stress and upset that we've endured.

[John52]

Thanks for the warning, and I do sympathise. Self appointed traffic wardens, people who make up their own parking rules, and people who think the public road (like outside their house) belongs to them are an unfortunate fact of life. I have parked overnight in Whitby and found a note on my windscreen to tell me it wasn't a campsite.

I often sit in my armchair looking out the side door at the sea. Most people just walk past, but some stop to chat. About 99% are positive. Young people have always been positive 'Cool' 'What a Great Idea' etc The few that have been negative ' not a capmpsite' etc have always been nosey old people. I tell them I live local but am self isolating in the van with Covid. 8-) Works every time :D

But I have to say that if your heart is so weak that could have caused you to have an accident then, from what you say, it sounds like perhaps you shouldn't be driving. Sorry.

[Loobylou]

John52, thanks for your response, it made me laugh. With regards my heart, I'm not going to stop enjoying life and sit vegetating in front of the television for the remainder of my days. If you saw what they put you through in cardio rehab...now that's stressful. I was more concerned about not crashing the vehicle or causing an accident to other road users. My friend's health was also of greater concern. He was worried I'd been issued a fine because of taking him out and I knew it had spoilt his day. I don't wish to say exactly where I parked but it wasn't in front of anyone's house. I love my motorhome and enjoy rallies, hopefully for a lot more years to come. Maybe one day our paths will cross and I'll say hello, while your enjoying the sea view. :-)

[Barryd999]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience there in Whitby. So was this just a fake ticket by anti motorhomers or some kind of scam?

[Loobylou]

Thanks Barryd999, Yes it was a fake Penalty charge notice and intimidating note, by someone who must be anti motorhomes.

I notified North Yorkshire Council, who confirmed I'd not parked illegally. They were not aware of this happening before and asked my permission to pass my complaint letter on to Scarborough Borough Council. Maybe I should have found out who is the local Councillors for Whitby and wrote to them. The local people have to accept that tourism is a necessary part of their economy and not alienate law abiding citizens, who use a motorhome for transport.

[colin]

Loobylou, sorry should have asked beforehand, I've copied your post onto 'Poor Whitby a ghost town' thread on WC.

[StuartO]

Loobylou - 2021-11-29 2:00 PM

 

Thanks Barryd999, Yes it was a fake Penalty charge notice and intimidating note, by someone who must be anti motorhomes.

I notified North Yorkshire Council, who confirmed I'd not parked illegally. They were not aware of this happening before and asked my permission to pass my complaint letter on to Scarborough Borough Council. Maybe I should have found out who is the local Councillors for Whitby and wrote to them. The local people have to accept that tourism is a necessary part of their economy and not alienate law abiding citizens, who use a motorhome for transport.

 

I once had an abusive note left on our windscreen in Cleveleys, where we had gone to refresh my childhood holidays there as aday trip, using our MH and taking our dog. We parked on a residential street just back from the sea front and walked the short distance to a nearby park - where I'm afraid the dog did take the opportunity of the grass to do her Number 2s, which of course we immediately picked up with a bag and dropped into a waste bin. We were away from the MH for less than 20 minutes, perhaps less than 10, and there was the note. Vulgar, hateful stuff, resenting us parking a MH on their street and bringing our dog "to s**t on the park". It was anonymous of course. I suppose I could have knocked at all the doors and shown those who came to their door the note - ideally I would have had the presence of mind to be polite and even to apologise for provoking such a hateful response; I'm sure I would have been able to tell if the person I was speaking to was the author of the note because they wouldn't have been able to resist showing their anger and anyway it might have been useful as well as revealing to show the note to all the author's neighbours. But I didn't. It was irritating to be confronted in that underhand way but there was nothing useful to be done about it. I haven't been back to Cleveleys since then; it was already a pale shaddow of its former life as a busttling tourist town. It's no crime to leave hateful notes of this sort (it wasn't racist etc) and there are clearly people who indulge themselves in that way, given the provocation as they see it. And this episode reminds me that MHs are big things anyway, which few people welcome being parked in their residential territory, especially perhaps if they also have a thing about strangers letting their dogs s**t in "their" park.

 

And if I was so thin-skinned as to be so badly upset by an incident that my driving was affected I think I would be thinking I was getting a bit too old, touchy and vulnerable to carry on driving, especially a big MH.

[John52]

Loobylou - 2021-11-29 2:00 PM

Maybe I should have found out who is the local Councillors for Whitby and wrote to them.

 

We are not supposed to talkabout politics on the Motorhome forum because it can be divisive.

But this is a Motorhome Matter that is inseparable from politics.

Local councillors represent Local people who elect them.

Wheras you don't have a vote there.

So Local councillors need them, they don't need you.

Politics invariably trumps economics. :-S

[Loobylou]

StuartO, thanks for your views but I think your missing the point. I wasn't upset for me but for my friend, whose 70th birthday treat had been ruined and they aren't in the best of health and don't get out often. They were stressed out that I'd been fined because I'd took them out. I was stressed in case the penalty notice blew off the vehicle and I got charged more for failing to pay. The stress of it being rush hour traffic and nowhere to stop to retrieve the penalty notice didn't help matters. "It's no crime to leave hateful notes" you say, I regarded it as intimidating but that wasn't the point. I think for someone to go to the expense of faking and printing out, what looks like a genuine penalty notice, should be a crime. Also claiming they are on the council and are passing my details on, is also unacceptable in my opinion. As for being thin-skinned, too old, touchy or vulnerable to carry on driving...that's a joke. You've definitely got the wrong impression of me. Just because I mentioned my heart attacks, don't imagine I'm some frail, doddery old woman. I'll stand up to anyone and give as good as I get. I'm not ready to be put out to pasture just yet! ;-)

[Derek Uzzell]

I notice that there is a buoyant online market for 'novelty' parking-penalty notices, ranging from ones that closely resemble the genuine article to those (often extremely rude!) that are clearly intended as a joke.

 

https://tinyurl.com/3zdjpf4f

 

At least in Loobylou's case the fake penalty notice was placed under the windscreen-wiper blade and was removable. The time-honoured really vindictive method is to use superglue to stick the notice to the windscreen in the driver's sight-line.

[John52]

Loobylou - 2021-12-10 9:22 PM

I think for someone to go to the expense of faking and printing out, what looks like a genuine penalty notice, should be a crime.

 

Proof?

All the notes I have had on my windscreen have been anonymous.

And when it comes to parking the police don't want to know

One copper in Scarborough told me flat out

'Parking Enforcement is the Council's job, and they aren't working tonight.' :-D

[John52]

Derek Uzzell - 2021-12-11 8:30 AM

The time-honoured really vindictive method is to use superglue to stick the notice to the windscreen in the driver's sight-line.

 

Thanks for the tip

Not experienced that yet.

I doubt if superglue would stick a plastic bag (fake parking notice) to glass because it needs moisture to cure.

So maybe its an absorbent notice like paper?

But I've got a good scraper with a Stanley knife blade in it that gets anything off glass.

So I've just been out and put it in the van

[laimeduck]

Back in the 80's when I was a manager, my boss came to visit. I told him beforehand not to park in the taxi firms car park next door to our office.

Being an arrogant whatsit he did. When he left he came storming back in - the Taxi owner had affixed a large no parking notice to his windscreen using a liberal 1/2" coating of axle grease!

Most effective ... it took him about an hour using all our fairy liquid and most of our toilet rolls to clean his windscreen.

I refused to help him ...I had told him after all.... he was not amused.

Needless to say I did not get much bonus that year!!!!

 

Jeremy

[Loobylou]

Thanks everyone whose commented on my post. If it hadn't spoilt my friends birthday, I probably would have let the incident go. He was offering to pay any fine and was worried if I'd get points on an unblemished driving license. The fear of the penalty notice blowing off the vehicle was a constant distraction, so I drove slower than normal. That could have caused impatience to the drivers behind me, which in turn could have made them take dangerous risks to overtake me. The person who placed the fake penalty notice probably thought it funny to frighten me, oblivious to the fact it could have resulted in a road traffic accident. I don't think I'm over-reacting or blowing it out of proportion. I know someone who was killed because of being distracted for a moment while driving. I wanted to warn others that we aren't welcome by everyone and are singled out because we own a campervan or motorhome. It's 'the principle of the thing' why let people target and victimize us, when we have done no wrong. Silence just lets the bullies continue If I can warn just one person and spare them the stress that we faced, I feel it's a job well done.

[Loobylou]

Hi Colin, just seen your thread on WC site, I was a bit slow realising what the initials stood for (lol) had visions of you going around Whitby, placing my complaint in the public toilets...only kidding ;-) I do normally check around my vehicle before pulling away, on this occasion I didn't. The fake penalty note was on the passenger side, low down near the bonnet. I hadn't committed any parking offence to my knowledge, so never thought to look!

[John52]

Couldn't we post a link to the thread on Wild Camping Forum ( https://wildcamping.co.uk/ ) to save going through it all?

 

 

 

Your wish is my command... Nov 29 posting by 'colinm' on Page 4 of WC thread -- Derek Uzzell

 

https://wildcamping.co.uk/threads/poor-whitby-a-ghost-town.89139/page-4

 

(Though the WC thread seems to have died on 1 December.)