Roadside Parking in Bournemouth

[Guest Peter James]

Hi,

Am in Bournemouth and I notice the signs on the streets near the seafront say 'Cars and Motorcycles Only' There is a picture of a car, but no other indication of any restriction. There are motorhomes parked, also a few light vans, I spoke to a couple of drivers who said they have had no problems so far.

So my question is - How do they define a car?

(I have a plain white van that is registered as a 3.5tonne Goods Vehicle)i

[Guest Peter James]

Well I called in at Bournemouth Town Hall Today - what a place. Reception packed out with irate people complaining about everything - security guards to throw the rowdy ones out.

Receptionist didn't know how they define a car, called her supervisor who said she thought a light van would be OK but would check. Then sent me on to another department who didn't know either. How they expect visitors to know what their parking signs mean when local people working in the Town Hall don't know....

Eventually the 'Parking Control Officer' came down. I told him I was parked on the street outside someones house because all the car parks had signs 'cars and motorcycles only' He said only vehicles with PLG on the tax disc are allowed to park there. I asked if it was sensible to force small vans to park on residential streets when the car parks are empty, he said we have to put that to stop heavy lorries and buses parking there. I said why not just restrict heavy lorries and buses then? (Although why Bournemouth Council want to restrict buses I don't know - other councils seem to positively encourage people to travel by bus - park and ride, bus lanes etc) He didn't know.

Still, am OK parked here. Would just have been better to be nearer to the sea.

[thebishbus]

We had a similar problem trying to park our M/H a few years ago. Eventually found a coach park and parked there, just a short walk to the sea front, near where the lift is.

Brian B.

[nowtelse2do]

Its the ban everything brigade again Peter. They want the goods but not the truck's. Trucker's not allowed to eat or have a break or sleep. Why they don't want bus loads of tourist's is a bit baffling.

 

Dave

[Guest Peter James]

thebishbus - 2012-09-03 8:23 PM

 

We had a similar problem trying to park our M/H a few years ago. Eventually found a coach park and parked there, just a short walk to the sea front, near where the lift is.

Brian B.

 

I saw one council car park near the lift. Pay and display £15 per day 8-)

I wondered why it was empty and everybody parked on the street *-)

[colin]

We had the same problem at (I think) Dawlish, in this case it was a weight restriction, although sometimes it's difficult to know if the quoted weight is gross weight or payload, i.e. I was in Devon 'scratching my head' lookin at a sign saying 30cwt limit thinking "who knows their cars weight in cwt" when I realised this was not gross weight limit :$

[Guest Peter James]

nowtelse2do - 2012-09-03 8:24 PM

 

Its the ban everything brigade again Peter. They want the goods but not the truck's. Trucker's not allowed to eat or have a break or sleep. Why they don't want bus loads of tourist's is a bit baffling.

 

Dave

 

I can only guess its local politics - local politicians only interested in local residents who have a local vote. His ears pricked up when I told him my van was parked outside a local residents house because it was the only place I could legally park (lol)

 

Skegness council seems anti bus parking too - even has special signs banning buses from the seafront streets. (But apparently nothing banning motorcaravans - apparently Skegness has more caravans than any other place in Europe)

 

[nowtelse2do]

Peter James - 2012-09-03 8:45 PM

 

nowtelse2do - 2012-09-03 8:24 PM

 

Its the ban everything brigade again Peter. They want the goods but not the truck's. Trucker's not allowed to eat or have a break or sleep. Why they don't want bus loads of tourist's is a bit baffling.

 

Dave

 

I can only guess its local politics - local politicians only interested in local residents who have a local vote. His ears pricked up when I told him my van was parked outside a local residents house because it was the only place I could legally park (lol)

 

 

You've done it now. New signs will be going up in the side streets banning M/Hs. (lol)

 

Dave

[Guest Peter James]

colin - 2012-09-03 8:38 PM

 

We had the same problem at (I think) Dawlish, in this case it was a weight restriction, although sometimes it's difficult to know if the quoted weight is gross weight or payload, i.e. I was in Devon 'scratching my head' lookin at a sign saying 30cwt limit thinking "who knows their cars weight in cwt" when I realised this was not gross weight limit :$

 

I am not certain but I think that would be one of the many rules that are unenforceable - apparently millions of parking tickets are paid that would not be enforceable because the signposting does not meet proper standards. In this case the weight should be in kilogrammes, and state whether laden or unladen weight.

[Guest Peter James]

nowtelse2do - 2012-09-03 8:50 PM

 

You've done it now. New signs will be going up in the side streets banning M/Hs. (lol)

 

Dave

 

Oh I don't mind them, I've got a commercial van loaded with furniture ;-)

[pepe63xnotuse]

It always baffles me how those in charge of overseeing parking,can impose restrictions and yet give little or no thought as to offering any alternatives for the vehicles that they affect..

 

(..Don't get me wrong,I don't think MHs(or "stealth campers" ;-) )should be allowed to be pitch up on the prom' etc for days on end though... (lol) )

 

As for buses/coaches,well I can understand why they wouldn't want them "on street" parking or clogging up "ordinay" carparks..and surely somewhere like Bournemouth has *designated coach parks anyway ?...:-S

 

(*Are there any spaces put aside in these for MHs?)

 

 

 

[lennyhb]

Wishful thinking and it will never happen - Why can't we have a law like the Belgium's recently introduced requiring councils to provide parking for Camping Cars.

(lol) (lol) (lol)

[lennyhb]

Need more signs like this (Germany of course)

[BGD]

lennyhb - 2012-09-04 2:55 PM

 

Need more signs like this (Germany of course)

 

 

 

 

Doesn't that mean you're supposed to park in the flower border?

[lennyhb]

They let me off because I was a visitor, didn't try to chase me away like they do when you arrive in a Motorhome in the UK. :D :D :D

[Guest Peter James]

Well I was passing Bournemouth Town Hall so called in again today. Saw another parking supervisor She reiterated that only vehicles with PLG on the tax disc were allowed to park in the car parking areas. I told her that PLG must be an old classification because it seems only the old cars have it on their tax disc now – except for the very old cars which have ‘historic’. Very few cars in their car park have PLG on the tax disc All I got was a Blank stare.

I asked to see the Traffic Regulation Order. Another Blank Stare. I said there would have to be one or the restriction would be unenforceable. She said there must be one so I asked to see it under freedom of information legislation. She said I would have to send in a written request by email. I said can’t you just show me a copy. She said we can’t just show it to anyone. I said she had to make it publicly available under freedom of information legislation. She repeated I would have to send in a written request by email.

I am wondering whether they have actually got a TRO to enforce this.

Because if they had got one I don’t see why they wouldn’t show it to me without writing in?

Out in the street I saw a traffic warden ticketing a car (on double yellows and blocking an exit so he probably deserved it). When he had finished the ticket I asked the Traffic Warden if it was ok for light vans to park where it says ‘Cars and Motorcycles Only’

He replied ‘as long as you can drive it on a car licence its OK. Its just the big American caravans that cause the problems’ (whatever that means I don’t know)

So every council employee I have asked has given a different answer. Are they making it up as they go along?

 

I have moved the van on to a street that says ‘cars and motorcycles only’ – again have seen other light (c3.5t) vans and motorhomes parked here.

 

[George Collings]

The 30 cwt or 1500kg Limit almost certainly refers to the now oudated unladen weight concept. If by chance anyone with a motorhome gets a ticket because of their unladen weight , photograph all the big unticketed 4X4s and 7seat cars in the park as most of them will be over the weight as well.

 

Authorities ( Local, etc) appointed by the govermen to enforce the law have a legal duty to do so impartially and fairly. If the MH gets ticketed and other large vehicles do not its unfair descrimination and illegal.

[Tony Jones]

Slightly OT but similar - there's a flyover in Chelmsford which cuts out an irritating roundabout (locals: I'm talking about the Army & Navy of course), but the signs on the approach say "Flyover: Cars only."

I know a few local traffic police, and none of them knew what it meant!

So a few years ago I e-mailed the county council to ask what the legal order said, since "cars only" wasn't a legal definition.

After a few days I got a reply from someone in Highways, to say she'd found the order and it was purely a weight limit (3500kg). Still not sure whether that's GVW or unladen, but since my max GVW is 2900 it doesn't really matter to me. So I just carry a printout of the e-mail in case anyone ever stops me. No-one has, although police cars have sometimes followed me over the bridge!

So I'd say - keep asking, and insist on a proper answer. Quite apart from the Freedom of Info Act, anyone potentially affected by any law has the right to know in advance exactly what it says - since "ignorance of the law is no excuse!"

[tonyishuk]

We got a ticket in Worthing for parking a 3.5 ton m/home on the seafront road where there were signs with cars only.

 

Sods law was that we saw the warden start to write the ticket in the distance, once started he 'ad to serve it.

 

Tried all the "logical" arguments but fell on deaf ears. The silly thing is that we could have parked on the other side of the road, away from the sea but in front of rather palatial houses. Warden said the house owners complained that large vehicles blocked their view of the sea.

 

So the council banned large vehicles on one side of the road not the other.

 

Fine hurt s bit though, I am not surprised the meters are vandalized Builders foam works well (according to the internet) !

 

Rgds.

 

 

[Andy_C]

A useful source of local authority TROs (however not all of them and not always the most up to date ones) is to be found at http://tro.parking-adjudication.gov.uk/default.aspx

 

Andy

 

 

[Guest Peter James]

Thanks for the replies.

I parked the van where it says 'cars and motorcycles only' for a couple of days, and nothing happened. Again there were other vans and motorhomes parked there.

When I get home I will request the TRO and see how they define 'car' - link http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

 

Incidentally, Just done some googling and see others have found Bournemouth Council as incompetent as I have. One guy got off a ticket for parking on a loading bay because Bournemouth Council loading bay markings were only 2.0m wide. Loading bay markings must be at least 2.7m wide for obvious reasons. It must 'also be marked 'Loading Only' not 'Loading Bay' as Bournemouth Council had done. Not that I would park on a loading bay. Just that it confirms they don't know what they are doing.