jobsworth police man

[teamastra]

Hello,

i'm after a bit of advice, last night i had the police come to my house telling me i had to move my car as it was parked illegally. i found this strange because i have parked my car there for 3 and a half years.

outside my house is an unadopted road and as its only a single track road i park on the adjoining road. the adjoining road is 30mph. it has no yellow lines, no signs for parking restriction and i was parked facing the direction of the traffic. the police said my car was parked too close to the junction connecting the adopted road and the public road and unless i moved it in 30 mins i would recieve a ticket. the problem is as soon as i moved other people parked there and they did not recieve a ticket.

Unfortunatley because i was so shocked about the visit i didn't take the officers name or number. i feel aggrieved because nobody else who parks there has been spoken to and people continue to park there and i have to park my car miles away from my house.

does anybody know if the same rules apply for adopted road as public highways? any help or advice would be gratefully recieved.

thanks

[Janet-M]

You would not get a ticket if you was parked in an unadopted road but because you was parked near a juntion its irrelevant if the junction is adopted or not it's just classed as a junction.
As for now having to park miles away can you not just still park in the same road but further away from the junction .
As for everyone parking there after you, simply the police officer had left .
IMO there is not much you can do about it seen as you do not have the police officers number , meaning you can't query why he has asked you to move yet it appears others are allowed to park there .
I personally would still write in and ask .

[Rob S]

You should take a look at rule 217 of the Highway Code and see if it applies to you.

The Highway Code

You say the officer was a jobsworth but he didn't give you a ticket, he gave you a chance to move your car. I wouldn't call that being a jobsworth.

[teamastra]

Thanks for the advice.

[Yyates]

If you want to know who the Officer was, he would have had to write it up in his Journal. It should be easily traced if you go down to your local station. It wouldn't be worth your time asking why the others were not told to move or given a ticket as he had moved on after telling you. Remember if one limps they all limp.

[jsa986]

Ok, if in the officers opinion you were causing willfull or uneccasary obstruction or unlawful obstruction you can be given a £30 fixed penalty notice.
Yyates I can only assume that "journal" u refer to is a pocket notebook entry which is not open to the public for viewing. Carful what advice you give to people. They would laugh if you went down the station and asked to view a restricted legal documment. A stationary traffic offence like that in anycase would probly not recorded it is used for a primary source of eveidence.

Teamastra going in an complaing about the officer? Just be thankful he spoke to you and didint just issue a fixed penalty notice. they might change there mind if you complain.

I might just know what im talking about here.

[Yyates]

My post did not say go into the Police station and ask to see the guys Jornal or ask to read his scratch pad for that matter

[jotty]

It is likely that he was responding to a complaint from either a neighbour or other road user. Nowadays a Police Officer can only give tickets for obstruction as stated because other parking offences in most town have been decriminalised and are dealt with our friends from ACPOA etc. They could have just stuck a ticket on your car or if you weren't around they may have had it removed due to the obstruction.
Just because other people park there when you move, most likely because the policeman had finished duty or gone onto more important things, doesn't mean you ain't commiting an offence.
I would be tempted to check with local highways to see at which point your road becomes unadopted as it is usually 10mts beyond the junction which means if you park on this bit you will be contravention of the highway code and may be causing an obstruction.

Hope this helps.