Hammersmith and fulham parking permits rules gone mad
Is it me or is there a crazy mad FBI style situation going on a h and f parking dept. yesterday I turned up there for a second time to try and obtatain my permit, for my own car to park outside my own house but was refused for a second time. The ridiculas reason this time was because my housemate's (the person I share the car with) signature was apparently different than on her 10 year old driving licence that she signed at 18 years old. I had my v5, insurance, about ten documents of id and my council tax proof but no i was asked to leave again...as I looked around I soon became aware that several other people were being asked to leave too. One man because he had his bussiness name on some documents but even though he could prove the Bussiness was his, they wouldn't accept the documents. And believe me the documents to provide are specific- they won't accept a letter from the bank, it has to be a statement or you need a proof of tax code dated within two months or a wage slip with your address on ( not everyone has there address on wage slips, mine doesn't) etc etc. So I was sent home by the thrilled jobs -worth Denise, and felt devastated again with another half days work out of the window and, I had to travel on a half hour bus journey back to fulham with the realisation I had to do all this for a third time if and when I could get the time off work. My car in the meen time is parked in a £100 a week car park!!!
Now the point is we tax payers are paying for this service. Up and down the country much needed jobs are being cut yet these bullies are still in post. Why is this messed up situation needed, does it stop the fraud-steers, no. Does it affect hard working law abiding citizens, yes. There is absolutely no purpose for this draconian system at a time when the country is in a crisis. I vote we get rid of this interrogatory system and bring in a simple one, where honest members of society can obtain a pass for there car in a simple way and save the council thousands....
Comments
Of course the council will say it is to protect and benefit the residents, but it is the complete opposite. Parking permits are now a cash cow. Why do you now need need a warden buzzing up and down an out-of-the-way residential street on a scooter several times a day? Only a year or so previously, you seldom saw one in a few days, and there were no problems that I could see? Why can't you have guest permits in Hammersmith and Fulham as in many other boroughs? As you say, the system is supposed to be for the benefit and protection of the residents. If your permit was not visible (slipped down etc), you'd incur a fine, even if its existence could be verified on the system. Crazy.
Contact your local councillor to complain - it's their job to sort this sort of thing out for you and in my experience they are usually quite effective.
God! Tell me about it...I have had the same trouble a couple of times...getting turned away for not presenting the specific this or that document.
My situation sends them into a muck sweat as we have a Motability lease car in my Mothers name, and she is disabled and doesn't drive. I am the driver so the red tape gets in a bit of a knot when we try to get a residents permit!
What gets me is that WE are trying to GIVE THEM MONEY!!!!!, and they make it all so bloody difficult.
Yes, it's pretty hard to go about your daily life in between trying to obtain parking permits and appealing against parking fines!! I am a law abiding citizen, but it seems that whatever you do, its always somehow wrong, and some jobsworth will be lurking about to penalise you for it! :o(
I'm all for making a contribution to keep vehicles off the roads in London, and cycle on a daily basis to work, and most places locally, as there is limited road capacity. But I do own a vehicle for my own convenience. The punitive parking controls must affect businesses though. A year or so ago I stopped outside Maison Blanc on Holland Avenue for one croissant (parking bays but availability off between 7 and 8am or something similar). Looked left and right for warden (fully aware), ran in, no-one in the queue, bought really quickly, ran out - ticket! He hides round the corner - the same warden, I often see him on my (usual) cycle route.
yes I agree we should have guest parking cards for a very nominal amount.. The system with Hand F is very complicated and results in you paying £1.50 an hour instead of £1.80 which is not worth it.
Here the parking restrictions go on until 8.30 but the few guests I have who use a car come more like 7.30.
Time for another survey of our needs.?
I haven't had the same problems actually getting a permit that others have, probably because my situation is very straightforward. But I agree that we should have some guest parking cards. When my brother and niece come to stay for a few days, it costs a fortune.
It's unfortunate to have to go to Fulham more than once to get the documents 100% right, but to say these are FBI-style checks is a bit OTT.
We pay just £119 a year for residents parking permits in Hammersmith (less than 32p a day) which is pretty amazing value to park in Central London. People go to great lengths to claim these permits fraudulently and every permit issued to a fraudster means one less space for us to park near our homes. Once you get a permit, you can renew it easily and automatically online, so the Council have to make very thorough checks when the new permit is issued.
I bet there isn't a Council in London that doesn't insist on up to date original documents proving that an applicant lives at their address and that they own their car. If LBHF started waiving these requirements just because the applicant looked plausible, there would be no space left for genuine residents.
Don't knock the staff who are carrying out these checks - it's there for the benefit of the rest of us.
While I applaud H&F council for extended hours in zones F & S where I have resided for the best part of a dozen years because of the proximity of Chelsea Football Club, where the end result during a weekday match would be I'd drive back from the office (in Hampshire) only to never be able to find a parking space. But by god it makes for an ABSOLUTE nightmare for friends or trades visiting by car.
My car is in storage at the moment and I am literally dreading the amount of paperwork I will have to generate and sort out when I bring it back to London to fulfil the requirements of the council's OTT (sorry Mark L - while I appreciate parking permit fraud - I don't agree with you on a number of things) proof points.
An example of their inability to be flexible. Recently my friend was away climbing a mountain for charity and kindly offered me the use of her car for a month. I live here as my permanent address, I pay my council tax.
Could I get a temporary permit?
No! Because the car wasn't registered to me. They expected me to pay the daily pay and display rate every day. Ridiculous. So I had to decline the friend's loan of a car.
We need proper guest permits that we can top up/activate on an ad hoc basis, via their website and the parking attendants can simply scan that permit to see if it's valid, we need daily permits (if Brighton and Hove can produce something as rudimentary as a scratch card to enable guests of residents to park - why can't H&F).
Rant over!
Some interesting comments here...The fact that I said FBI style checks is not over the top...They sent me home 3 times! Once because they felt a signature was a little different even though they had car log book, driving license, bank statements etc etc. Also its FBI in the way they treat you, I’m sorry but I cannot respect and appreciate what these people do because they are nasty, aggressive, vindictive individuals. They love shouting and sending people home, they thrive off the power of it, and as an expert in communication and body language myself I can read their subtext clearly. If they were decent individuals with good customer service I wouldn't feel so angry but they are not, they are aggressive, defensive, rude and nasty and darn right miserable.
Lets face it most of the people that queue up there on a daily basis are middle class hardworking, busy people who need their pass sorted fast as they are busssssyyyyyyy.... We shouldn't have to go through all this. I spent 2 and a half days of work traveling to Hammersmith and being shouted at.
We are not even allowed to lend friends cars or its too much stress to hire etc etc. Some people ie Janice C above have more complex situations and need supporting not penalising! And its also very difficult for those of us that live no where near Hammersmith town hall!
Thank you for your comments Mark L £119 is not a huge amount to pay a lone but it is on top of tax and insurance and outrageous compared to the rest of the country! To park outside your own house - which I pay enough for thank you very much, and I expect respect when I am paying it, I don't expect to be bullied by people getting off on a power trip.
Well said Hellen!!! Totally agree with your comments, and the comment by DC.
Oh and the other thing mark l- I did have up to date, origional documents - with me!!!
Yeah know you mean. I'm fortunate to have my permit and want to change car but I'm pretty busy and expect a lot of pain getting a new permit sorted out so I'm proba ly going to leave it until I move somewhere new.
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