tonyishuk Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Just a word of warning to those that venture down to the seaside @ Worthing and park west of Heene Road in the non pay and display bays. The navigator and I, returned to our m/home after a 20 minute walk to get some sea air and a met a nice man who had just placed a parking ticket on the windscreen. 5 mins earlier and he would have moved us on (so he said !) "Cars only" the picture on the post said. Our new found friend seemed to ignore the chap asleep in the trade van a couple of bays down. We saw another motor home with a ticket on it (any one here ?) It seems that the bays are for cars only, on the sea side of road and anything can park on the opposite side of the road. Any links to fighting a parking ticket would be appreciated *-) Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 That's a difficult one Tony, as you live only 28 miles away you're not a stranger to the area, you could suggest you were considering other road users regarding road safety and as there was no one parking opposite you decided it eased the flow of traffic if everyone was on the same side. That's about it ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted April 8, 2009 Share Posted April 8, 2009 Unfortunately it would appear that you have no grounds for avoiding the charge. It's up to all of us to check for rules like "Cars only" in advance, not in retrospect. As regards "the chap asleep in the trade van" there might be grounds for complaining that he was not ticketed but that is not the same as grounds for fighting your ticket. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lennyhb Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 I live only 4 miles from Worthing, the council were very tolerant on Motorhomes parking on the seafront but as usual it was spoilt for the majority by the selfish few. Until recently I used to drive along that stretch of road daily & come spring there were a 2/3 Motorhomes that would park there for 2-3 months at a time. Remember seeing a Lunar Low Profile that would park near the loos just past Heen Road for 2/3 weeks go away for a week then be back for another month probably spent about 3 months a year there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 lennyhb - 2009-04-10 12:31 PM I live only 4 miles from Worthing, the council were very tolerant on Motorhomes parking on the seafront but as usual it was spoilt for the majority by the selfish few. Until recently I used to drive along that stretch of road daily & come spring there were a 2/3 Motorhomes that would park there for 2-3 months at a time. Remember seeing a Lunar Low Profile that would park near the loos just past Heen Road for 2/3 weeks go away for a week then be back for another month probably spent about 3 months a year there. Is it any wonder we often finding ourselves coming up against prejudice when this is the sort of activity which achieves the highest profile in the minds of the non-motorhome community? Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasmineAnders Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 A few weeks ago a letter appeared in the local Worthing paper entitled "A parking trap for vans and campers" A local Worthing man had parked his VW camper on the sea front and had returned to find a penalty notice. He showed a photograph of it parked well inside the bay marklngs. His protests to the Council brought the following response. "The reason the civil enforcement officers issue penalty notices for the wrong type of vehicle is that only cars are permitted to park in these spaces, vans and motorhomes are not permitted to park there" "As per the Highway Code a sign with a white "P" on a blue background and a sign with a vehicle type i.e a car indicate that parking is only for that type of vehicle" "The photo you attached is for a campervan which is not considered a car and as such would receive a PCN if parked in those spaces" Complaints to the local paper about the traffic wardens are now a weekly event. Welcome to Worthing folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Presumably the council's response "As per the Highway Code a sign with a white "P" on a blue background and a sign with a vehicle type" refers to the sign made up of two plates (a "P" and a picture of a motorcycle) which signifies "Parking place for solo motorcycles". I would expect that the same applies to cars per para 241 of the Highway Code. Any such restriction would have to be included in the relevant TRO for it to have legal effect (and presumably is so included). It seems rather strange, though, that councillors should neglect to ensure that local residents have not been fully informed of the rules. After all, it is they who will vote at the next local elections. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libby Posted April 10, 2009 Share Posted April 10, 2009 Now I might just go and test this parking space and the wardens for accuracy, I have a VW that looks like a camping vehicle but is classified as a high car for all purposes, tax and ferry travel. Tell me the road please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 I actually don't have a problem with the restriction! A car takes up less space, generally, that a camper/motorhome, not just in length but in height and as such, if the road in question has houses running along it, then why should their view of the sea be spoilt by a line of high motorhomes, vans, campers etc. So long as there is somewhere where motorhomes are allowed to park then what is the problem? :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob b Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 It's a very wide road Mel...mainly blocks of flats & small hotels facing the sea. Motorcaravans wouldn't interfere with the view parking there. I put it down to envy. Officials /residents have spotted motorhomers having fun & put the block on it.Thats my opinion..... (which I respect). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasmineAnders Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 The photograph of the vehicle shown with the letter that I referred to was of a raising roof VW camper- so no wider, or longer than many other vehicles. It was parked well inside the bay. Presumably the warden had to look inside to see that it had cupboards, cooker or something else to define it from a normal VW MPV. According to another report this week the wardens are not allowed to "lean" on a vehicle to read the details on the parking ticket in the windscreen. It must all be clearly visible. Have you ever had that fun on a windy day when with the, non stick, tickets that you have to leave on the dashboard move as you go to shut the door? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 Last week I was driving throu Dolgelau and wanted to pop in shops, there appeared to be 30min(? ) spaces in town but I decided the LWB might be a bit big to use these so went to edge of town parking, it was pay& display which I thought odd considering the free parking in town, then the warnings of 'must be inside box', then the 'cars only' made me decide to move on and take my trade elsewhere. If it says cars only then a 6m van hardly comes close! By the way, anyone any ideas about 'must be inside box', as these boxs where three sided (open front) would having couple of metres of van sticking out be illegal if not causing an obstruction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 colin - 2009-04-12 11:26 PM (snip) By the way, anyone any ideas about 'must be inside box', as these boxs where three sided (open front) would having couple of metres of van sticking out be illegal if not causing an obstruction? It's another of those inconsistencies which make parking so interesting. All depends on the wording of the TRO in question. In some places the whole of the vehicle must be within the lines (including the imaginary 4th side in the example you quote) and in others it is only necessary for the wheels to be within the box. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 A case of how lucky you feel then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 Thanks for the replies, I have been away licking my wounds ;-) and only returned recently. One question that has arisen is what is a definition of a car, in relation to Parking regulations ? Or even is there one ? Most estate / hatchback cars, are classified as Private light goods Vehicles, My Seven seater Touran is a "Desel Car", The Lad's Vauxhall Agilla (all 10 foot of it !) is a PLG. Parking a Bilbo tVW type Motorhome seems to be acceptable, but a "caravan body" is not. How to differentiate could be a bit dificult when it comes to translating legal description. Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 tonyishuk - 2009-04-15 9:04 PM Thanks for the replies, I have been away licking my wounds ;-) and only returned recently. One question that has arisen is what is a definition of a car, in relation to Parking regulations ? Or even is there one ? Most estate / hatchback cars, are classified as Private light goods Vehicles, My Seven seater Touran is a "Desel Car", The Lad's Vauxhall Agilla (all 10 foot of it !) is a PLG. Parking a Bilbo tVW type Motorhome seems to be acceptable, but a "caravan body" is not. How to differentiate could be a bit dificult when it comes to translating legal description. Rgds There are different definitions of vehicles in different pieces of legislation. In regard to any parking place the relevant legislation is the Traffic Regulation Order which covers it. Many TROs use vehicle weight, rather than descriptions like Diesel Car or PLG, to differentiate between what is allowed and what is not - but then some councils (because that was their intention when drafting the TRO) only enforce such limits on commercial vehicles rather than private ones like motorhomes. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbanracer Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 On Tuesday driving past lytham green we saw one small motorhome parked in one of the parking bays,we then saw a warden place a ticket on its window. I think I may have seen an item on here about fylde council and I did read an item in one of the mags,part of the reply from Fyde is one of the reasons why motorhomes are not allowed was because they have side opening doors and that imposed on ajacent cars. Many small cars and such like Ford Galaxy's have side sliding doors which must be more imposing as seating is generally next to these doors unlike motorhome when generally the side door would be used for access and there are no seats to sit on looking at your neigbours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 I have been given two reasons why Fylde Council banned motorhomes from certain car parks and neither had anything to do with side opening doors. One was that the size of motorhomes made use of short stay car parks (designed for shoppers) impractical. The more wide ranging ban regarding long stay car parks was abuse, by some people, of the "no camping" regulation and complaints which resulted from that behaviour. Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbanracer Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 There had been a few letters in MMM and then in the Jan 2008 issue there is a reply from a Mandy White Parking and appeals officer ,one of her points is 'many motorhomes were parking up and opening their side doors,which then encroach onto the adjacent space and render that space useless' As I said there are many small cars now with side doors Peugeot 1007 and many MPV's which I feel because of there design and seating would encroach on cars eirther side rather than a motorhome. The motorhome I saw on Tueday was only about 18' and was in its bay. She went onto say that a transit van that might be bigger than a motorhome is OK to park as they do not have side opening doors, BUT a lot have! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Thanks. I haven't seen the letters & article in MMM. It's been a while since I contacted Fylde BC so I have just sent off a FoI request to them to find out what the current position is. I must admit I can't understand why the council should make an issue about side opening doors. More or less every vehicle I can think of has doors on its sides :-) Our motorhome has the conventional cab driver & passenger doors plus a side opening habitation door. Our Citroen Berlingo has outwards opening front driver and passenger doors, sliding rear passenger doors (both sides) and a rear hatchback door. Any of those doors, with the exception of the sliding doors on the Berlingo, could encroach into an adjacent space if they were opened wide and left open :-) Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbanracer Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Thanks I look forward to their reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 So that means we'll all have to get one of these then! :-> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GJH Posted April 16, 2009 Share Posted April 16, 2009 Mel B - 2009-04-16 6:32 PM So that means we'll all have to get one of these then! :-> You feel free to upgrade your van if you want Mel - don't let anyone else's prejudice stop you (lol) Graham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbanracer Posted April 17, 2009 Share Posted April 17, 2009 I think that they do not like the sliding doors and the fold back doors that can be left open not hinged doors. But this excuse/reason does not make any sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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