Drivers' anger at parking spy cars
Hornsey and Crouch End Journal
THIS is one of the spy cars which are stepping up the war between parking attendants and motorists across the borough.
The Smart cars are fitted with reinforced windows and have the back screen blacked out to mask the CCTV camera designed to catch drivers out.
Two parking wardens travel around together looking to snap motorists, whether they are in a yellow box junction, badly parked, or even with a wheel on the pavement.
People are being clocked in a matter of seconds.
The tactic sees hundreds of parking fines generated - without the motorist even knowing they have been caught until a letter and fine drops through their letter box.
The cars, of which there are four, have been described as an underhand cash collecting tactic by those who have been caught out. They are marked as being council CCTV vehicles, but the stealthy way motorists are being fined has been criticised.
Andy Spanou, proprietor of Electrical Market, Crouch End Broadway, said: "Usually they come every night about 5.30pm, six o'clock and sit on the other side of the road. I got a ticket. The people next door got two or three.
"They're a bloody headache and they don't give us any chance, none at all.
"I've been here for 20 years. At the end of the day, I park outside for about two minutes just to lock up and now you get a bloody ticket.
"They should put signs and warn people so we know. Then if we do make the mistake we pay."
Another trader, who did not want to be named, said: "My dad's come to collect me and he has been zapped a couple of times even though he is literally there for a minute.
"A lot of members of the gym [Holmes Place] get very angry. It is a bit out of order. They should give you a warning to move your car not as soon as you park get your car towed."
Frederick Pettitt, 75, of Spencer Road, Tottenham, received a £40 parking fine after he was snapped mounting the pavement to make it easier for his disabled wife to get out the car and into her wheelchair.
The wheelchair is clearly visible in the CCTV image.
Mr Pettit said: "I reverse onto the pavement, get my wife's chair out of the boot and wheel it round to the passenger door so she can manoeuvre out of the car seat more easily.
"I am on the pavement only for a few minutes then the car is parked back in the normal place.
"I just don't think this is right. I wrote to Haringey to complain, but received no reply within 14 days. We couldn't risk it going up to £80, so we paid the fine."
Haringey was one of the first London boroughs to introduce the black and cream spy cars last October.
Last financial year the council collected £6,224,137 in parking fines having issued 162,023 tickets.
Councillor Brian Haley, executive member for environment, said: "It's not clear why Mr Pettitt needed to park on the footway but we are sympathetic where there are particular circumstances and would be happy to discuss this if he gets in contact.
"Parking on the footway is a ticketable offence and this is a priority for the council both because it damages the pavement, which the council must then repair, and because it causes problems for pedestrians and wheelchair users and mothers with young children in pushchairs particularly. "
The Smart cars are very visible and have been widely advertised in terms of their use, which is mostly enforcement of banned turns, no entry roads and so on as well as parking. "It is the responsibility of motorists to check they are parking legally, and they do run the risk of getting ticketed if they park illegally.
THIS is one of the spy cars which are stepping up the war between parking attendants and motorists across the borough.
The Smart cars are fitted with reinforced windows and have the back screen blacked out to mask the CCTV camera designed to catch drivers out.
Two parking wardens travel around together looking to snap motorists, whether they are in a yellow box junction, badly parked, or even with a wheel on the pavement.
People are being clocked in a matter of seconds.
The tactic sees hundreds of parking fines generated - without the motorist even knowing they have been caught until a letter and fine drops through their letter box.
The cars, of which there are four, have been described as an underhand cash collecting tactic by those who have been caught out. They are marked as being council CCTV vehicles, but the stealthy way motorists are being fined has been criticised.
Andy Spanou, proprietor of Electrical Market, Crouch End Broadway, said: "Usually they come every night about 5.30pm, six o'clock and sit on the other side of the road. I got a ticket. The people next door got two or three.
"They're a bloody headache and they don't give us any chance, none at all.
"I've been here for 20 years. At the end of the day, I park outside for about two minutes just to lock up and now you get a bloody ticket.
"They should put signs and warn people so we know. Then if we do make the mistake we pay."
Another trader, who did not want to be named, said: "My dad's come to collect me and he has been zapped a couple of times even though he is literally there for a minute.
"A lot of members of the gym [Holmes Place] get very angry. It is a bit out of order. They should give you a warning to move your car not as soon as you park get your car towed."
Frederick Pettitt, 75, of Spencer Road, Tottenham, received a £40 parking fine after he was snapped mounting the pavement to make it easier for his disabled wife to get out the car and into her wheelchair.
The wheelchair is clearly visible in the CCTV image.
Mr Pettit said: "I reverse onto the pavement, get my wife's chair out of the boot and wheel it round to the passenger door so she can manoeuvre out of the car seat more easily.
"I am on the pavement only for a few minutes then the car is parked back in the normal place.
"I just don't think this is right. I wrote to Haringey to complain, but received no reply within 14 days. We couldn't risk it going up to £80, so we paid the fine."
Haringey was one of the first London boroughs to introduce the black and cream spy cars last October.
Last financial year the council collected £6,224,137 in parking fines having issued 162,023 tickets.
Councillor Brian Haley, executive member for environment, said: "It's not clear why Mr Pettitt needed to park on the footway but we are sympathetic where there are particular circumstances and would be happy to discuss this if he gets in contact.
"Parking on the footway is a ticketable offence and this is a priority for the council both because it damages the pavement, which the council must then repair, and because it causes problems for pedestrians and wheelchair users and mothers with young children in pushchairs particularly. "
The Smart cars are very visible and have been widely advertised in terms of their use, which is mostly enforcement of banned turns, no entry roads and so on as well as parking. "It is the responsibility of motorists to check they are parking legally, and they do run the risk of getting ticketed if they park illegally.
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