Dear Mr Mustard,

I parked in Aprey Gardens NW4 on April 28 in order to go to the bank to make a standing order for Barnet Council Tax.

The road has no restrictions on parking but when I returned I found a parking ticket from Barnet Borough Council on my car claiming “27 Parked in a special enforcement area adjacent to a dropped footway”.

I took the photos of my car parked there with no obstruction of any footway and I have no idea why this ticket was issued, What do I do?

Thank you

Ms W

 

Thank you Ms W for your question about a type of frequently issued parking ticket. So ironic that you got what amounts to a parking tax when you were paying your council tax. You also do what Mr Mustard does, park as near as you can for free and walk the rest.

First: what is a "dropped footway". It is where the pavement is lowered to meet the road (or sometimes the other way around) so that pedestrians can cross the road, for the continuation of a cycle lane or for vehicle access.

Second: how did you get the parking ticket being as how you were parked in a quiet side road? There are two possibilities. The first is that a resident who thought you were overhanging their drive could have asked for enforcement to take place. The second is that there are five or six traffic wardens on scooters who patrol all over the borough from 7am until 11pm and they are looking for people like you.

The only dropped kerbs you can park across are those in marked bays during the hours of operation of the bay, but then you would need to move as soon as the hours finished. I think those bays are intended to help the person whose kerb is dropped park outside their own property. The only other case is for a dropped kerb that serves only one property (so not a shared drive) with the permission of the resident ie, you when you visit a relative, but not when it is inside a CPZ zone and there is a yellow line and you are inside the CPZ hours. Sorry it is a little complicated, but that is how it is.

Here is an example of a car that is contravening. The yellow line on the road was put there to show the workman where to start & finish the dropped kerb. In this photograph about 30cm of the car is overhanging the dropped kerb (the sloping kerb does not count for this contravention) and although the independent adjudicator at PATAS would ignore a trivial amount it is Mr Mustard's view that this amount of overhang will be seen to be more than trivial.

Times Series:

Third: it does not matter if you didn't obstruct the dropped kerb - that is not the test. The contravention is being adjacent, i.e. next to, the dropped kerb.

Fourth; The whole of Barnet (actually of Greater London) is defined as a 'special enforcement area', so don't park across a dropped kerb anywhere in London. You have been warned and it is an expensive lesson to learn the hard way.

Would all readers of the paper please take note of this and ruin the traffic warden's day by not parking across any dropped kerbs except in the very limited circumstances spelled out above.

Yours frugally,

Mr Mustard