Parking restriction signage...
GP Hardy
restriction signage, specifically the valid placement of the plates that
tell you when a restriction is in force, and the permitted duration of
parking?
I parked in a bay this week that had no indication visible from the parking
spot of any restriction (such as a yellow line or a nearby plate). I only
noticed the plate at the opposite end of the bay when I was on the bus. I'd
parked where the pale blue Ford Focus parked in the "street view" below.
As it turns out, I wasn't ticketed, despite being in the bay for about five
hours when the restriction is 30min, but I was interested to know if the
lack of a yellow line and/or the plate being at the opposite end of the bay,
six or seven car lengths* away, would have been a defence.
* And round a bend - even with binoculars it would have been out of
line-of-sight.
http://tinyurl.com/y9c7lyo
or
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=durham&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=13.648906,39.155273&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=County+Durham,+United+Kingdom&ll=54.818578,-1.627614&spn=0.000204,0.000597&t=h&z=21&layer=c&cbll=54.818578,-1.627614&panoid=vAAN3L4fL5JfQNG21I4yhw&cbp=12,147.28,,0,5
Nightjar <"cpb"@
> Does anyone know where I can take a look at the rules regarding parking
> restriction signage, specifically the valid placement of the plates that
> tell you when a restriction is in force, and the permitted duration of
> parking?
>
> I parked in a bay this week that had no indication visible from the
> parking spot of any restriction (such as a yellow line or a nearby
> plate). I only noticed the plate at the opposite end of the bay when I
> was on the bus. I'd parked where the pale blue Ford Focus parked in the
> "street view" below.
>
> As it turns out, I wasn't ticketed, despite being in the bay for about
> five hours when the restriction is 30min, but I was interested to know
> if the lack of a yellow line and/or the plate being at the opposite end
> of the bay, six or seven car lengths* away, would have been a defence.
Yellow lines would not normally be appropriate to a parking bay, even if
the waiting time in the bay is restricted. Waiting restrictions can be
marked by signs near an individual restriction, or they can be applied
to a zone, in which case, they only need to be shown at the entry points
to the zone.
Colin Bignell
Norman Wells
> Does anyone know where I can take a look at the rules regarding
> parking restriction signage, specifically the valid placement of the
> plates that tell you when a restriction is in force, and the
> permitted duration of parking?
>
> I parked in a bay this week that had no indication visible from the
> parking spot of any restriction (such as a yellow line or a nearby
> plate). I only noticed the plate at the opposite end of the bay when
> I was on the bus. I'd parked where the pale blue Ford Focus parked in
> the "street view" below.
>
> As it turns out, I wasn't ticketed, despite being in the bay for
> about five hours when the restriction is 30min, but I was interested
> to know if the lack of a yellow line and/or the plate being at the
> opposite end of the bay, six or seven car lengths* away, would have
> been a defence.
>
> * And round a bend - even with binoculars it would have been out of
> line-of-sight.
Try The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 at:
GP Hardy
> Yellow lines would not normally be appropriate to a parking bay, even if
> the waiting time in the bay is restricted. Waiting restrictions can be
> marked by signs near an individual restriction, or they can be applied to
> a zone, in which case, they only need to be shown at the entry points to
> the zone.
Thanks, Colin (and Norman).
There are no warning signs showing entry or exit from a controlled parking
area. A rough estimate puts the nearest "limited waiting" small sign 35
yards away - and not in the direction I'd arrived from.
I suspect I'd have a reasonable defence against a ticket, had I been given
one; especially given the nit-picking ways to get out of an otherwise
reasonable ticket as described on various ticket fighting websites...
I wonder if they've had tickets successfully overturned in the past, and so
they don't bother enforcing it any more...
Sea Monkey
So is the nearest (only) plate for the one at the "Alpha" shop next to
the fishing tackle shop? I'd have expected there to be one at each end
of the bay at least .
Ben Harris
GP Hardy <gareth...@ntlwrold.com> wrote:
>Does anyone know where I can take a look at the rules regarding parking
>restriction signage, specifically the valid placement of the plates that
>tell you when a restriction is in force, and the permitted duration of
>parking?
As someone else has pointed out, the rules about the placement of
traffic signs are in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General
Directions 2002. There are also useful guidelines (and a more readable
version of the rules) in the Traffic Signs Manual:
<http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tss/tsmanual/>
>I parked in a bay this week that had no indication visible from the parking
>spot of any restriction (such as a yellow line or a nearby plate). I only
>noticed the plate at the opposite end of the bay when I was on the bus. I'd
>parked where the pale blue Ford Focus parked in the "street view" below.
The sign there is diagram 661.1 from the Regulations, and for it
direction 11 provides:
"(2) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), signs to which this paragraph
applies shall be placed at regular intervals along a road which is
subject to a restriction, requirement, prohibition or speed limit which
can be indicated by the signs."
So there's no explicit maximum distance between signs, as long as
they're regular.
Paragraph 7.50 of chapter 3 of the Traffic Signs Manual has more
guidance on how these signs should be placed, and in particular says
"The first sign should be no more than 15 m from the end of the bay."
In your case, it would appear that this guidance wasn't followed.
>As it turns out, I wasn't ticketed, despite being in the bay for about five
>hours when the restriction is 30min, but I was interested to know if the
>lack of a yellow line and/or the plate being at the opposite end of the bay,
>six or seven car lengths* away, would have been a defence.
I don't know much about the law as it relates to parking, but I suspect
you could have fun claiming that a single sign can't be placed "at
regular intervals", or pointing out the highway authority's failure to
follow the guidance in the Traffic Signs Manual. Whether this would
help is another matter.
--
Ben Harris