Resident sets up website to shame illegal parkers

10:18am Wednesday 6th March 2013 in News By Andy Carswell

Double yellow lines on Whielden Street in Amersham Double yellow lines on Whielden Street in Amersham

A FED-UP resident has got so sick of drivers ignoring parking restrictions he's set up a website to shame motorists who park on double yellow lines.

Jeremy Biggs said he was driven to the move because of a lack of enforcement on Whielden Street in Amersham, where he lives, adding the situation was continuing to get worse.

Transport for Buckinghamshire, which handles parking enforcement in the county, has said this week it will increase patrols to combat the problem.

But Mr Biggs said the problem has spiralled out of control because nothing has been done to stop people parking there illegally on Fridays and Saturdays.

The 58-year-old freelance copywriter said: "I got so fed up, I've been photographing illegally parked vehicles for the past year. If Transport for Buckinghamshire can't do anything, I'm go to publicise the fact people are parking illegally and shame them. If they won't do anything, I will.

"The whole situation could be sorted quite easily if Transport for Buckinghamshire had enforcement officers go up and down the road once. Be seen, issue tickets to cars that are parked on double yellow lines and within a couple of weeks word will get out.

"I appreciate they can't patrol every street every single time but this is a problem that happens every weekend.

"The situation is getting worse and will get worse unless or until the council gets a visible presence in Old Amersham on Friday and Saturday nights."

He said the problem was caused by people visiting Amersham's pubs and restaurants who 'couldn't be bothered' to park elsewhere and walk.

Mr Biggs said he has previously confronted motorists about their illegal parking.

He said: "They've said don't worry, it's perfectly safe. That's not the point - I know you won't get a ticket. When I say to have a bit of consideration for the residents they look at me like I've grown another head."

Mr Biggs said feedback he had so far received from the website, www.amershamillegalparking.co.uk, had been positive.

Transport for Buckinghamshire spokesman Laura-Jo Stocks said: "Transport for Buckinghamshire was made aware of the parking issues in Whielden Street  last year and we have been working with our parking contractor NSL to ensure an appropriate level of enforcement particularly on the weekends at the closing time for the pubs and clubs.

"Unfortunately there will always be people who will take the risk of a PCN (parking ticket) and ignore the restrictions.

"The spate of contraventions last spring and summer seemed to improve but has now returned. We have asked NSL to increase the patrols in the area and have written to the local restaurant and pub to ask them to encourage their patrons to park lawfully and not risk a PCN.

"Unfortunately parking issues are to be found in many places around our town centres and it is not possible to have a Civil Enforcement Officer permanently located in one  place.

"This particular road will continue to be patrolled at weekends on a regular basis and we expect the level of contravention to gradually reduce."

Comments(18)

The Nomad says...
10:31am Wed 6 Mar 13

what a twit!

Most of the "offences" on his website are of vehicles parked in the evening or over night
Whilst double yellow lines are not for parking on, does he really expect patrols through the night?
As for getting out of bed on a sunday morning to photograph the "offender of the month" I would have thought that there are better things to do at that time

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678 says...
10:41am Wed 6 Mar 13

isn't publishing peoples reg numbers online helping insurance fraud and car tax fraud, two crimes worse than parking on yellow lines!

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OneArmJack says...
10:58am Wed 6 Mar 13

What a sad, pathetic individual he is.

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fraggle-rock says...
11:12am Wed 6 Mar 13

You should ask for a PCN machine and issue tickets yourself and ask for a commission.

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Stand up for England says...
12:29pm Wed 6 Mar 13

Irrespective of the previous comments, it is more a reflection on the lack of enforcement that has prompted a member of the public to have to take action. Personally, I'd rather he used his time to photograph the scum that use disabled bays in shopping centres, car parks whatever when there is nothing wrong with them; they're just to bone idle to walk a few extra metres to give those less fortunate than themselves some respect. Go to John Lewis or Asda, happens every single hour of the day. Name and shame these deviants Mr Biggs and you'll get a lot more support especially from me.

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hopefulresident says...
12:33pm Wed 6 Mar 13

I happen to agree with him. I live in Aylesbury and we have terrible problems with people thinking they can park where want at all times and it does disturb residents. Anyone who says that he is wasting time etc. obviously hasn't had these issues and ironically will probably be the first to complain when it happens to them. Its about the principle. As for the publishing of licence numbers, that seems like a lesson to respectfully consider others? Its a shame to see common decency and respect thrown to the side as things will only get worse if we keep breaking down our communities.

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s6blr says...
1:06pm Wed 6 Mar 13

Gosh if you visit any social clubs, churches, fraternities and the like in Marlow and park on them, the parking nazi's will fine you 24x7x365 with no discussion.

Send them to Amersham!

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ArnyP_HW says...
3:30pm Wed 6 Mar 13

The copywriting industry in Buckinghamshire is obviously very quiet at the moment.

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ElliotEH says...
3:32pm Wed 6 Mar 13

I can understand why this is annoying for the guy I think he's going about this the wrong way as, while he's apparently getting positive feedback at the moment, he'll no doubt go down as one of those annoying people with too much time on their hands and in the end it will be detrimental or simply be ignored.

While I don't think there's anything illegal, unless he's breaking the Data Protection Act, about publishing number plates online I'm pretty sure that without the consent of the owners this could land him in trouble since people could potentially sue him for libel.

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chris740 says...
3:44pm Wed 6 Mar 13

what a sad sad bloke. there as got to be more in his life. than this

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YorksDavey says...
7:29pm Wed 6 Mar 13

He should take a walk round Wycombe, the bad parking here will give him a heart attack!

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Gizmo61 says...
7:51pm Wed 6 Mar 13

I can quite understand Mr Biggs' frustration, but the matter should be left with the Transport for Bucks and NSL to deal with.

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Malc London says...
7:12am Thu 7 Mar 13

Perhaps there is a case for removing the yellow lines? Amersham has a parking problem, not helped by the inadequate time restrictions on parking places.

A new car park is needed, especially near the hospital.

Relaxing the parking restrictions, especially at night, could be a short term solution.

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piran says...
10:31am Thu 7 Mar 13

So what is the name of this website that J Biggs of Amersham (aka the parking Nazi) has set up??

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Hedgehunter says...
12:33pm Thu 7 Mar 13

piran wrote:
So what is the name of this website that J Biggs of Amersham (aka the parking Nazi) has set up??
If you read the article it will tell you!

I love the fact that the web site's main cover image of the Land Rover (parked on double yellows) has had its registration plate blanked out....

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Malc London says...
1:19pm Thu 7 Mar 13

The example of "parking offender of the month" shows quite clearly that the yellow lines are not necessary and should be REMOVED.

I also dispute that claim made on the website that the drivers are drunk and then get in their cars and rev the engines whilst throwing litter and breaking bottles.

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Agniesca says...
5:05pm Thu 7 Mar 13

If we imposed fines for every parking violation we could probably halve our property tax bills and also the unemployment problem in the area

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Lividov says...
10:22am Fri 8 Mar 13

I think phoning whilst driving is still a bigger problem than this.

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