Nanny knows a good money raising tax scam when she sees one, and nothing is more lucrative to her cronies in our "respected" local councils than parking fines.
My fine home town of Croydon illustrates this point rather well. Local motorists have been complaining for months that Croydon's traffic wardens have become more ruthless than ever before.
Statistics confirm what has long been believed, by those on the receiving ends of fines, that the number of parking tickets issued in the borough is soaring.
A humongous 21,300 extra fines were issued to drivers in Croydon in the 2006/7 financial year compared to 2005/6.
The increase of 25%, from 86,500 to 107,800, included fines to Debbie Morrison who, being pregnant, walked too slowly to her car and Aimee Green who was fined for putting too much money in the meter.
A nice little tax scam indeed!
It seems that every new piece of legislation Nanny brings into law has a fine attached....Kerching.
ReplyDeleteWhen the law is used for revenue raising people tend to become very cynical about it, we have reached that point now. Parking fines, speeding fines,smoking fines, dog walking fines, bin fines etc etc are all nothing more than a stealth tax. Government agencies and regulators handing out huge fines to other government bodies and private companies....who does Nanny think pays these fines? We do of course....BBC fined and paid for out of our taxation, NHS trust fined and paid for out of our taxation, Train companies fined: cost passed on to comuters via ticket prices and raised carparking charges. Kerching.
Errrmmm actually, they don't call them fines. They now call them "Penalties". This is to flout the 1689 Bill of Rights which forbids "fines and forfeitures without trial by jury". Of course these councils don't want you to be messing them around asking for trials with juries - so they change the wording to "penalty" and hope nobody notices.
ReplyDeletePeople who'd like to contest parking tickets can get help here as to whether they might have a case:
ReplyDeletehttp://neilherron.blogspot.com/
Would not a penalty which involved you handing over property (i.e. your cash) come under the heading of 'forfeitures' ? Maybe some hope there!
ReplyDeleteAlthough my university days when I studied law were many years ago now, I seem to recall that in 1689 property related to real property namely land. Personal property, including money and wife came under chattels.
ReplyDeleteBuild up the evidence against the Council and get people signed up to the site and we will continue to expose what has become the biggest example of Highway robbery since Dick Turpin was about!
ReplyDeleteAs well as the high level investigative stuff we will also show you how easy it is to spot how councils do it wrong.
Regards,
Neil H
www.parkingappeals.co.uk
www.neilherron.blogspot.com