Source: Evening Chronicle
A TAXI driver has dug his heels in over a battle of the seaside parking bays.
George Brodie pays 30 pounds a year to North Tyneside Council for a permit to park at seafront sites.
Mr Brodie and his wife Dawn, who live in Park Crescent in North Shields , had parked on a ramp opposite the Grand Hotel in Tynemouth, which leads to the Longsands, so they could walk their dogs on a Monday morning.
But Mr Brodie said a North Tyneside Council parking enforcement officer arrived and issued him with a 25 pounds ticket.
“I told him I had a permit but he said I was getting a ticket for not parking straight and being a couple of inches over the bay line,” said Mr Brodie, whose car is a Mercedes estate. “I have a long car and I was parked right up to the wall. I couldn’t believe what was happening for the sake of a couple of inches.”
When Mrs Brodie noticed that the enforcement van had been parked with its front end well over its bay markings, she took pictures.
“He jumped into the van and reversed it into the bay,” said Mr Brodie, who has appealed.
He said: “There were only a few other cars parked on the ramp and it is not as if it was a weekend. I was so annoyed, especially as his parking was worse.
“If I am fined then I want proof that the officer has also been fined. It should not have come to this. The whole thing has been so stupid.
A council spokesman said: “An important aspect of the decriminalisation of parking contraventions is the ability of motorists to have their objections heard and considered fully and impartially. If Mr Brodie has submitted an appeal then we will examine his case.
“While our parking control vehicles are exempt from normal waiting restrictions when being used in the service of the council, officers are always encouraged to use a designated parking facility whenever one is available.
“After receiving the photograph of this vehicle partially beyond a parking bay in Tynemouth, we will be interviewing the officer concerned to establish if there was a reason he could not use the whole space.”
