Traffic wardens have sparked new anger in Wolverhampton – by slapping £30 parking tickets on cars for sale outside a city showroom.
Around 13 used cars lined up outside Charles Clark Toyota on the Bilston Road were hit with the yellow tickets.
The barmy crackdown on Saturday was witnessed by passing motorists, who contacted the Express & Star as the two wardens handed out the penalties at the garage, just outside the city centre.
Today the situation was labelled “absolutely ludicrous” by Tory opposition transport spokesman Councillor Neville Patten.
He said: “I was under the impression traffic wardens were set up to keep traffic moving and prevent jams in busy areas.
“If this is the situation then maybe it is true what people say, that they are there to raise as much money as possible.
The dealership has parked cars on the extended pavement during opening hours for a number of years without complaint.
But the council today insisted the garage was operating illegally and that they would take further action if bosses continued to park vehicles outside.
Tim Clark, spokesman for Wolverhampton City Council which operates the wardens, said: “The public highway is not the property of the car dealership.
“It is illegal for car dealerships to obstruct the public highway and park vehicles on the pavement.
“This is an ongoing problem and the council has received complaints about it, which is why we have asked our parking attendants to tackle it. The dealerships have been made aware that they are not to use the public highway as an extension of their showrooms and they will face action if they continue to do so,” Mr Clark added.
No-one from Charles Clark Toyota was available for comment this morning.
Thirteen of the wardens, who wear distinctive red uniforms, started work in February after the police handed responsibility for enforcing parking rules to the council.
More than 4,000 tickets have been issued since the wardens were introduced.
Of those, 492 have been challenged.
On Saturday we revealed wardens would be visiting schools around the city every week to monitor bad parking by motorists on the school run.
Parents who park on zig zag markers and double yellow lines will be hit with £30 fines, which rise to £60 if not paid within two weeks.
Wardens have recently been patrolling the first red route in Wolverhampton on Stafford Road, handing out fines to motorists ignoring the no-stopping rule.
20 Comments
Good to see that the wardens are doing their job and enforcing the laws of the highway. Why should the garages think they can get away with blocking the foopath? Perhaps Councillor Patten should read his highway code more often!
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I agree with the wardens. They are enforcing the law. Parking on pavements causes damage which then means the council has to resurface (eventually!) which costs money.
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This is a message from the press office of Wolverhampton City Council. At the time of writing, article on the E&S website gives no mention that these vehicles are actually parked illegally on the pavement which is classed as the public highway. This land is not an extension of the car dealership’s showroom.
The council has received complaints about this problem and this is why we were forced to take action.
On Saturday morning this particular dealership and others were visited by a parking attendant and politely asked to move the illegally parked vehicles. Three dealerships did so right away, but Toyota was given more than two hours and still had not moved them. It was only then that the parking attendants returned to take enforcement action in the form of fixed penatly notices.
It is easy for the media to present this as a ‘money-grabbing council’ story. However, as we have always said, the new parking enforcement is about keeping the city moving and not raising revenue. If the council was just out to make money from penalty charges we would have given out tickets right away and not given the dealership any time to move the cars.
I hope the public realise that the council has a duty to enforce the law and that is what we are do
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the world’s gone crazy how much footpath do people want i’ve never seen more than a couple of people walking down there so what is the problem if toyota pulled out & jobs were lost over something like this would you be so willing to send in the wardens
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Hold on a minute. Since when does a footpath constitute a road? It is made from ashpalt however and has there are no yellow lines on the footpath cars can park on there. If they didnt want cars to park there they should have made the path narrower.
Its bad enough on the Stafford Road now, cause I can’t go see my mum in the car without having to park on the pavement anyway. Now I am likely to get fined. There is plenty of room on that path.
Another stupid law bought in by this taxmoney wasting council.
No wonder so many people are emigrating!!!! Another breach of our human right to the freedom of choice to get about how we want too!!!
Finally, why should I a cyclist also share a bus lane…take away the bus lane, make them cycle lanes as these buses issue stinking exhaust fumes.
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for God’s sake, wardens get a life. I walk past Toyota every other day with a pushchair, and i dont find it a problem. The other day I saw the wardens put tickets on disabled scooters. What next pushchairs parked on the pavement. It’s just a big money making scam!!!
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Good on you Tim Clark.
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Is there something people don’t understand about parking on the pavement? The Highway Code makes it perfectly clear:
218: DO NOT park partially or wholly on the pavement unless signs permit it. Parking on the pavement can obstruct and seriously inconvenience pedestrians, people in wheelchairs, the visually impaired and people with prams or pushchairs.
http://www.highwaycode.gov.uk/22.htm#218
The highway is defined as the road, verges and pavement - all of which the council own. It’s the council’s job to apply the rules equitably. There can’t be one rule for one and another regardless of how wide the footpath is.
Sensibly, it appears the wardens gave couple of hours to move the cars without ticketing them - three dealers obeyed the law, Toyota didn’t – where’s the money making scam in that? Toyota has clearly been trying to get an unfair advantage over other dealers by acting illegally. How would you feel if you were a rival law abiding dealer? I’ve no doubt this is where the complaints have come from.
At the end of the day Toyota have been had bang to rights got what they deserved.
Finally, Rob H, it’s your human right to break the law? Really? If that’s the case, mind if I chose park my van across your drive on the pavement tonight? I’ll take the risk on a fine.
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park somewhere else
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Came along Bilston Road today and not a car on a pavement so maybe they don’t need to park there after all. The pavement by Toyota is wide but it’s much narrower by Volkswagen, Renault and Vauxhall and it can’t be one law for one and one for another.
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So the council have had complaints have they. Well lets see them then! Why would anyone bother to complain about something that causes no problem to anyone. How could those parked cars cause a nuisance in any form. The Council obviously think we are stupid to buy that one. It’s nothing more than Revenue generation. They know it and we know it. They should spend their time and our money tackling the real issues such as illegal parking that causes congestion and inconvenience to others but hey maybe that wouldn’t raise as much revenue and commission as a string of parking tickets in one hit.
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Ive been fined OUT OF HOURS Parked up in a busy town where spaces are not available when unloading gear from my car into a club in Wolverhampton, These wardens need to Grow up and Get a life and start chasing down ilegal drivers those without tax and causing harm for the way they drive Something needs to be done The Question is will it? Its all a Money making scam!!!!
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leon,where were you parked to get a ticket? also you should know that the new wardens cant enforce any violation that does not relate to parking! no tax,thats a police matter!
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LOL, so when can we start slapping tickets on stupid pedestrians who stand in the road talking , or insist on walking straight across the road in the belief that the motorist won’t hit them?
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I think i have a more important question about parking not that this isn’t important anyway where i live there is a school in the next street now outside the school there has been lines painted and signs to say no parking between the hours of 8.30 - 9.30 and 3.30 - 4.30, so they all park in our street and cause a problem for residence, You can’t make people walk there children to school specially now with it being harder to give up work due to paying bills, so most mothers have to drop there children off and go to work so shouldn’t the school/council provide and car park where it is safe for parents to park that doesn’t cause problems for residence and is safe for the parents to get the children in and out of the cars?? There is a school being built in noose lane, willenhall, and they have provideded a drop off point for parents which is on the school car park, can nothing like this been done for schools???
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If you look at the Photo, 2 Wardens are blocking a wide pavement,the cars dont hurt, just open the roads to pedestrians,let the Cars use the walkways,live and let live.
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i can see it now ,thats 6,000 for the car sir and thirty for the ticket, but think it’s not just car sales garages people who sell old bangers with for sale signs all over the windows parked nowhere near there houses but on fields waste land etc,god im getting old i’ve got to stop moaning.
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I do agree that the same rule should apply to all and Toyota do have a large enough car park at the rear to present their vehicles. If they were asked to move them and then did not then that’s fair enough. The unfortunate thing is is that the only way to get people to listen is to hit them in the one place where it hurts the most - their wallet. The traffic wardens are only doing their job and they get a lot of stick for it - they don’t make the rules, they simply get paid to enforce them. About time they got left alone.
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Toyota are in the wrong for useing a public footpath as extra showroom space,I live near a school and it’s about time someone did something about the idots who park on Zig-Zags and yellow lines, they would soon have something to say if thier child got knocked down because some idiot was illegaly parked.Send them to West Brom they would make a fortune.
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Does this mean that the council wardens are going to act against all the shops who spill out their wares onto the pavement, if not why? or is this another double standard we are supposed to turn a blind eye to
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