A 90-year-old woman has been spared from two parking tickets she received within the space of just 15 minutes, thanks to the Echo.Yup, just partially obscured. She had one. It was on display. Just not 100% on display...
Yesterday, the Echo highlighted the plight of Irene Reynolds, who was given the fines after her disabled permit accidentally became partially obscured on two occasions.
Irene Reynolds found her car, parked near her home in Old Leigh High Street, had been given a ticket because she had accidentally left a glove covering part of her disabled permit.This should be a heartwarming story, shouldn't it? Little old lady fights off jobsworth bullies with the help of her local newspaper! Townsfolk rejoice!
Still seething about parking wardens’ meanness, she drove off to take a friend to Leigh Broadway, where she parked on Leigh Hill, near St Clement’s Church.
Her friend left her a Mars bar on the dashboard as a thank you present for the lift – and it covered part of her parking permit. The result: Another ticket.
Except...well, read for yourself:
gordonbennet, southend says...Ah. Right. Ok...
Frankly, I'm more concerned that a 90-year old 'in very poor health' and recovering from a broken leg is driving a car on busy roads around Leigh...
perini, Leigh on Sea says...I'm beginning to think that...
Shall we get this into perspective? The lady in question should or should not be driving - that really is a matter for her doctor to decide! The facts are that she didn't display her disabled badge properly and got 2 tickets for that - you can argue the semantics of whether they should have been given but she didn't totally comply with the rules.
An element of sensationalism has crept in to this as no way would she ever be imprisoned for non payment of the fines.
Ah! Wait! Sanity!
* Post title refers
Alekhine, Rochford says...Thank god for that. Sadly, he's/she's outnumbered:
LOL - so much for the rules are rules brigade. There are too many people who unquestioningly follow rules assuming wrongly that it is the law.
emcee, Southend says...Just wonderful...
OK people, listen up. If you find yourself in the unfortunate position of getting a parking ticket, regardless of any evidence supporting it's rightful issue, just go to the Evening echo with your plight. They will get you off. No question. That is unless you are under 75 years old or completely able bodied...then you've got no chance (the echo won't even run with your story).
Irene Reynolds did get one thing right, Derek Kenyon and the council are downright cowards to have given in to this lady (and the Echo), especially as it is quite probable they had this lady bang to rights in the first place. I also think that the Echo are a disgrace for even supporting Irene Reynolds who, in my opinion, should grow up and act like a respectable 90 year old and not a spoiled schoolchild. Irene Reynolds needs to consider herself a very, very lucky lady today.
daveyboy25, southend says...*sigh* My faith in human nature needs restoring after reading that...
maybe i will not need a solliciter for my next crime, just use the echo seeing as they are so great. the old bat deserved the fines
* Post title refers
14 comments:
'Crab analogy' - I loved that. But then I thought, how would all the crabs escape from a bucket? If they had a pyramid scheme then the ones doing all the work would be left behind? Evolution would breed that out of their nature pretty damn quick...
The Crabs in a Bucket one was new to me too. I like it. I assume that, if they chose to and were able to 'think' that far, they could allow many of them to climb out on the backs of others, and the escapees would then dip their claws back in to help out their brethren. But, being crabs, it's all 'me me me' and no-one escapes.
Very true.
I think some of the commenters have a point about the newspaper. Papers like this one never campaign against a general injustice; that would be too much like proper journalism. Instead, they take one extreme (and heart-warming) case and make that the whole issue. Presumably, if a young disabled person had been treated similarly, there wouldn't have been half the fuss.
At one time, she could have visited the Council offices with her blue badge, and there would have been an apology for the misunderstanding. These days, the rules are interpreted rigidly and without any reasonable discretion, and by people who really ought to know better. Rules which are enforced reasonably tend to get obeyed. Rules which are enforced without any humanity engender hatred for the whole system. Not good.
The crab/bucket syndrome is a neat and concise summary of socialism, ie "If I can't be successful or wealthy then I wont allow anyone else to be".
PS I'm not the gordonbennett from Southend.
I wonder how you can partially cover the blue disk to the point it's not obviously what it is?
I went to the Ombudsman a few years back over a parking ticket. The Council people lied throughout that I had parked on 'vivid yellow hashing'. The Ombudsman took one look at their photograph and pronounced in my favour. There was no hashing of any kind. And no means of pursuing the liars.
It doesn't have to be 'obviously what it is'. That concept belongs to a forgotten age. The disc must be 'displayed', which I take it means completely visible. Hide one corner, even if that corner has nothing printed on it, and you are in default of the regs. And that's enough these days.
I'm afraid that the sheeple are becoming more and more acquiescent to their own destruction, even to the point of welcoming it (when it happens to others), proudly and inanely declaring that 'I love Big Brother'.
PS If there are any idiots who read this blog, I was referring to Orwell's masterpiece, not the ridiculous reality ... Oh, never mind.
PPS. Women drivers are a hazard at the best of times, let alone when they are 90.
Awfully and creepily familiar.
As the snow melts and uncovers all those lovely yellow lines, the Wardens will be waiting. Woe betide all those people who thought it would be OK to abandon their vehicles without considering the parking restrictions, just because there's a little bit of snow. O joy unrestrained, it's going to be a lucrative Xmas for the Wardens!
I think the fact the old dear wrote on the Mars bar "F*ck off you bastard traffic wardens" may have contributed a little to her troubles.
On the topic of newspapers 'campaigning' I have some experience of this: an editor once told me that such campaigns were in fact just an easy way of filling column inches. You published a 'complaint' and made a phone call or two and someone, somewhere would back off in the face of the power of the press. Perhaps the official or business was in the process of doing something about it anyway.
The paper however takes the credit.
"You published a 'complaint' and made a phone call or two and someone, somewhere would back off in the face of the power of the press. "
Hence this shameful anecdote.
I can't see any further than the jobsworthism here with the fine giver. Seethe.
"a neat and concise summary of socialism" - My father likes to quote "Find out what people enjoy doing, and stop them from doing it"
" Papers like this one never campaign against a general injustice; that would be too much like proper journalism. Instead, they take one extreme (and heart-warming) case and make that the whole issue."
Yes, newspapers usually suck at campaigns.
"I wonder how you can partially cover the blue disk to the point it's not obviously what it is?"
As Richard points out, it's not necessary to do so to any degree of 'total obscurity'. Not for the target-driven jobsworth.
"As the snow melts and uncovers all those lovely yellow lines, the Wardens will be waiting. "
Oh, I'm just waiting for a few of those stories.
"Hence this shameful anecdote."
Good grief!
"My father likes to quote "Find out what people enjoy doing, and stop them from doing it""
Quite!
"Find out what people enjoy doing, and stop them from doing it"
I thought that was 'evangelical Presbyterianism'? As opposed to the passive version: "the nagging suspicion that someone, somewhere might be having fun"!
Of course, with McBruin, we've had both recently.
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