Nothing says more about the attitude of councils in Britain today than Paralympic gold medalist Richard Whitehead being given a parking fine.
The 200m sprint champion was hit with a £75 ticket after leaving his Toyota 4×4 in a disabled bay – even with his blue badge showing.
Granted, the blue badge was four days out of date.
But would Richard – a double amputee – have grown new legs overnight? Unlikely.
Yes, the parking wardens didn’t know who was driving the car.
However, their actions show just how much common sense they lack – and how ruthless their bosses are.
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For the wardens are merely agents of increasingly dictatorial local councils.
Richard, who starred in the reality TV show Splash, was given the ticket by Nottingham City Council.
This is the same group who introduced the hugely unpopular Workplace Parking Levy, forcing employers to pay £334 a year for each parking space they provide – even if they own the land.
The charge is, of course, an attempt to increase the use of their equally-unpopular eco-friendly tram system.
If there was a text book on how to alienate people, threaten the local economy, and cause chaos of the streets, this would be in there.
Quite why council’s cannot see this just shows how out of touch there are.
In the case of Richard, the ticket was scrapped by Nottingham City Council.
But there are tens of thousands more each year who don’t have the time or know-how to appeal tickets.
In these instances, the councils gladly receive the extra revenue.
If raising cash through law-abiding motorists was justified, then there would be less resentment of councils for doing so.
But its not. Often we see the same local authorities spending small fortunes on needless vanity projects, massive salaries for their executives and cushy jobs for pen-pushers.
Until the problem of parking fines is resolved, we will see an ever increasing divide between authorities and the people who are paying their wages – and for whom they are supposed to be working for.
