16-02-2010, 03:30 PM
Following the receipt of a Parking Notice Fine recently for parking on double yellow lines when displaying a Disabled Badge (belonging to my 86 year old mother), I decided to conduct a Freedom of Information request with my County Council.
At the heart of the matter was the fact that I had (or rather my mother had) unknowingly displayed the Blue Badge upside down. This attracted a fine. Thinking it a straight forward matter (I should be so naive) I wrote to my local Council providing details of my mother's blue badge in order to establish the fact that it was current and in date ( UK Blue Badges are - quite extraordinarily - printed on both sides, one side showing a photo of the card holder, the other side showing the date of its expiry).
The design of the badge is clearly flawed and there is no reason whatsoever why it shouldn't be printed on one side only, showing both the photo and date of expiry. But (he said with a knowing smile) such an obvious solution would immediately curtail the revenue raising potential of councils.
With most of the councils in my County having now responded, many have elected (in my view) to use a loophole in the law not to provide the information requested --- which was this:
What percentage of tickets issued to Blue Badge holders were for incorrectly displaying the badge?
Even the local council who issued the PCN to me for "incorrectly displaying" the Blue Badge, claim they do not keep records of the "types" of infringement and they they do not have to keep such records.
But one courageous local council - and one of the bigger ones too - did provide the requested information. Of a total of 210 PCNs issued to Blue Badge holders from 1996 to date, 81% were for incorrectly displaying the badge.
Supposing this percentage to be fairly typical, not just across my County, but across the nation, what we have is a designedly punitive measure aimed at invalided drivers - who, because of their handicap, are probably one of the least able categories of drivers to be able to afford the additional financial burden heaped on them.
The words, 'cynical', 'disgraceful', 'bastards', "shot, "taken", "and", "ought", "out", "be' and "to" should be rearranged into a suitable sentence that expresses my opinion.
At the heart of the matter was the fact that I had (or rather my mother had) unknowingly displayed the Blue Badge upside down. This attracted a fine. Thinking it a straight forward matter (I should be so naive) I wrote to my local Council providing details of my mother's blue badge in order to establish the fact that it was current and in date ( UK Blue Badges are - quite extraordinarily - printed on both sides, one side showing a photo of the card holder, the other side showing the date of its expiry).
The design of the badge is clearly flawed and there is no reason whatsoever why it shouldn't be printed on one side only, showing both the photo and date of expiry. But (he said with a knowing smile) such an obvious solution would immediately curtail the revenue raising potential of councils.
With most of the councils in my County having now responded, many have elected (in my view) to use a loophole in the law not to provide the information requested --- which was this:
What percentage of tickets issued to Blue Badge holders were for incorrectly displaying the badge?
Even the local council who issued the PCN to me for "incorrectly displaying" the Blue Badge, claim they do not keep records of the "types" of infringement and they they do not have to keep such records.
But one courageous local council - and one of the bigger ones too - did provide the requested information. Of a total of 210 PCNs issued to Blue Badge holders from 1996 to date, 81% were for incorrectly displaying the badge.
Supposing this percentage to be fairly typical, not just across my County, but across the nation, what we have is a designedly punitive measure aimed at invalided drivers - who, because of their handicap, are probably one of the least able categories of drivers to be able to afford the additional financial burden heaped on them.
The words, 'cynical', 'disgraceful', 'bastards', "shot, "taken", "and", "ought", "out", "be' and "to" should be rearranged into a suitable sentence that expresses my opinion.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14