Thursday 28 May 2009

From Fined to Found!

The saga of the zero waste parking ticket!

This story starts on Monday, when on returning from a half-term visit to the cinema, I was met by a Parking Penalty notice ungraciously attached to my windscreen.

With my blood pressure starting to rise, I spluttered the words made famous by Victor Meldrew....

"I don't believe it!" I ranted, getting all hot and bothered in the car park.

I was convinced I'd paid for the ticket and I was certain I'd placed it carefully on my dashboard, but with two children who were frollicking around like a pair of ferrets, who knows what could have happened.

As I peered into my car, I could see the flimsy piece of paper lying on the floor in the footwell. It must have blown off the dashboard while my little ones were getting out of the car.

I was vindicated.

As a honest citizen, I'd felt enraged that I'd been accused of bypassing the system. Geez, I don't even give other people my unspent parking tickets, so to be fined £20 when I'd already paid was enough to send me into a spiral of discontent.

"It would never have happened if the bus service was running." I muttered.

"And it certainly would never have happened if the council still used those annoying stick-to-your-windscreen parking tickets. They never used to blow away"

And that was it. I had obviously lost the plot, because only months earlier I had been praising the benefits of the new ticketing system as a means of reducing paper waste. No more gummy paper to send off to landfill, just simple lightweight paper tickets I could bung in my compost bin.

So while I work on my appeal and gather the evidence of my innocence, I must remember to add one more thing to my shopping list.

Blu-Tak!

______________________________________________________

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Arghhhhh Parking attendants and their mean hearted nature. It makes me so angry, when I see them stalking the streets wearing their hats I hope their heads boil and drop off. Arghhhh.
Zooarchaeologist; the proud owner of one parking ticket, one bus lane fine. Neither my fault guv'nor. Shirker of speeding cameras, I work for a local authority and try and fail to exploit the system to my advantage mainly as im not an MP.
Rant, rant, rant

Kate said...

It is funny how sometimes the greener product can be less convenient... the compostable ticket flying away in your case...

I am sorry you got a ticket. Those are no fun.

John costigane said...

Hi Mrs A,

I also used a council parking area recently when attending to legal matters and carefully placed the ticket on the dashboard, closing the door smoothly. When busy, accompanied by children, it is easy to overlook the care required.

Blue-Tac is a good choice for future situations and might save others similar upset.

There are difficulties with Zero Waste options and it makes sense to consider any possible consequences.

Maisie said...

I have a small piece of blu-tak stuck to the dash board in the front corner.

I have been using this idea for nearly 5 years now.

I started it when i didn't want to have to keep piggling the horrible ginky sticky off the window.

buryblue said...

You can see how the parking attendent was just doing there duty - saw no displayed ticket so issued a fine but in your shoes I would have been frustrated and angry

Emma said...

Modern cars are so well made that just closing a door can create pressure waves that can squirt air all sorts of places, especially from windscreen vents, where the ticket is most likely to lie on the dash. So even if you know you laid it in view, the footwell is where it may end up.

I have to say that Volvo kindly have a little sprung clip out of the frame for just such a use.

But over t'other side above the tax disc, I must confess to having double-side taped up an old plastic CD sleeve 'just in case' I need to pop a ticket in clear view.

Almost Mrs Average said...

Hi Zooarchaeologist - LOL, with a track record like that you've got no chance of making it into politics then. :-D I've also refrained from pulling the old line "but look how much landfill tax I've saved you by keeping my bin nice and slim". Don't think it would have washed by now. :-D

Hi Kate - hello and welcome to the blog. My appeal has not worked, so I'm trying again. It really did ruin the day.

Hi John - I think the moral of the story is to put on a bus service on bank holidays. Now there's a thought :-D

Hi Maisie - love your style. Shame it's taken me this long to find out. I won't be caught out again :-D

Hi Buryblue - good to see you and hope you're well. I was thinking about you the other day when driving past Pakenham Mill and where were once the elephants was a huuuuuuge sculpture of a tarantula. Yep I know the parking attendant was doing their job, but so was I, which is why I was gutted. Bad luck eh. Happens to us all :-D

Hi Peter - ahh...I've had a thought...maybe, just maybe, council instructions should be amended to say remember to display your ticket clearly on your dashboard, car seat or footwell. Oh that would work, happy customers everywhere....unless one got blown into the back seat of course :-D

Great re:use for the CD cover. Looks like you're another who's one step ahead of the game. :-D

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