RB170

On my way to work this morning I passed a scamera van ilegally parked so I thought I'd get some piccies of it. This seems wrong to me but is it legal, are they allowed to park like this and still prosecute you ?




This was parked nearly infront of a school but by the time the offender has seen the van and been caught he's allready run over 20 school kids because he was speeding and the van is in THE WRONG PLACE !

Petem95

There was some fuss a while back with revenue vans parking dangerously, and I think after some complaints they were forced to park elsewhere.

Im surprised to see this is actually near a school which is unusual, and I can only assume its only parked there in school holidays as I doubt many people speed past there when the school is open, so the van probably has more profitable hiding places.

hedgehog

They can park where they like and their evidence is still valid.

Most laws contain a clause that means that the law doesn't apply to a member of the law enforcement community going about their business. So you will find that, in effect, there is nowhere that is illegal for them to park their van. Of course most laws regarding parking are in place for safety reasons and so this often results in the vans being parked in dangerous positions. However, this works to their advantage as the more deaths there are on our roads the more they can call for increased speed enforcement and raise the cash to employ hundreds more staff in their "safety partnership." They are literally taking your money to finance killing more motorists.

The other guidelines on visability and so on are only guidelines and so are frequently ignored, they are not worth the paper they are written on.

DJ73

park something bigger behind it !!!! *ucking anker's

r32

What would happen if you did this? Would it be an offence?

Cupramax

Obstruction me thinks...

JackClark

In this case I don't give a crap where he's parked, he could be up the tree for all I care, if you're speeding outside a school then tough ****.

ru'

Yeah, 'cos maybe some kid has gone into school despite the holidays...

ajm

Is that another wonderful piece of traffic planning there? Is that a bus stop?.... it looks like the area he has parked on used to be a bus stop layby that has been filled in so the bus now blocks all the traffic causing more congestion and kids are put in danger by people trying to get past it.

We have several of those helpful modifications near here!

jbryant

I don't think he's illegally parked. That looks like hard standing that is laid in a kind of concrete grid effect so that grass can grow through (and it doesn't look too horrid).

I've seen this same stuff laid specifically for scamera vans to sit on (any who turn off the Basingstoke ring road onto the A33 will be able to spot the regular scam site just down the hill from the junction). In this instance they used to regularly sit on the grass collecting taxes. I guess they laid hard standing so they didn't get stuck when the wanted to drive off for donuts

In your example, it's a camera van parked in an obvious location, and it's sat outside a school. For once I have to say I have absolutely no problem with the location.

Joolz

jbryant

oh yes - he could perhaps be positioned slightly better, to catch people speeding towards the school, but for that to happen, he'd need to be sat directly outside the school! This would be more hazardous to the kids as they then wouldn't have clear visibility to cross the road!

They are trying here to stop 20 kids getting run over by increasing awareness and stopping drivers from speeding past schools in the first place. Not to catch a single lunatic speeder.

They're putting cameras in one of the few locations that almost everyone (members of this board included) seem to find acceptable, and kudos to them for doing it rather than picking a high-profit site (though obviously this may be a high-profit site as well).

Joolz

PS. As for the person operating a camera phone while sat in the car

RB170

Who was sat in a car ? not me I parked up and got out

jbryant

Aha - you fooled me with the perspective shot of the school entrance on that first photo I was just joshing anyhow

Joolz

King RA

lol, some nerdy oik

dsmith

It may surprise those with kids that the lives of those without doesnt revolve in its entirety around school holidays. Apart from a passing interest in the lighter traffic during school holidays and a general desire to avoid holidays at the same time as hordes of feral children i.e. stay firmly inside the house If someone at work says its half term - I have no interest in school holidays.

Perhaps the scamera scheduler is also childless and he saw no reason to remove it from a regular schedule of scam sites.

hedgehog

Last year accidents increased at 743 camera sites and there is evidence to show that putting a camera at a junction can distract the motorists for a significant proportion of the time it takes to cross that junction.

With this in mind, and also based upon simple common sense, placing a camera outside a school is one of the most dangerous things the scamers can possibly do and is something that we should fight even harder than the revenue cameras. The last thing most motorists need outside a school is a camera distracting them from the children, parked cars, people pulling out etc.

I suspect you will find that this is actually why the camera is there in the holidays: it is so the partnership can produce stats to show that they positioned their camera outside a school (because as we've seen some people actually still believe that is a sensible thing to do and so the partnership consider it good PR) but also to ensure that the accident rate at this particular school doesn't go through the roof.

If you want to save children then oppose cameras outside schools as they are an accident waiting to happen.

RB170

The scamera van is placed in the wrong place to stop anyone speeding past the school so in affect it's pointless being there

Tiggs

Pity idiots that cant drive along a road without crashing when they see a van didnt put themslelves out of action for good.

Diesel

Pity that those that want to cause distractions based on simplistic theories cant be honest about the consequences of their actions. Particularly as we are all on the side of people's safety and longevity...

Abdabz

The act of catching and punishing drivers who arent capable of driving within the parameters of the law cannot be described as pointless, wherever the camera is...
Generating revenue to help keep law abiding citizens taxes down is just an added bonus...

RB170

LMAO thats a good 1

vindaloo

For the Police or affiliates, I guess that'd cover it. What about where the enforcement is contracted out though?

J.

john_s

iTrader: (1)

Someone should have phoned the police and told them that there's a "bloke sat in a van outside *school name* taking photographs"

John.

hedgehog

The honest answer is that i am not sure but would imagine that those involved in the van scam will be "acting on the authority of the Chief Constable" and that the law will be worded such that someone acting in this manner will be excused.

That is a guess, it may be that they assume this is the situation but that it has never been tested for example, but you may care to write to your Chief Constable asking if you have grounds for an official complaint. I'm not sure that i can see how the van is illegally parked in saying that.

Diesel

LOL - Paedocam, now that WOULD be doing society a real favour... [Accountant says NO!]

D