Fined pensioner: signs wrong on Marlow street (From Bucks Free Press)

Fined pensioner: signs wrong on Marlow street

7:30am Saturday 5th September 2009 in Marlow By James Nadal

A PENSIONER has vowed to contest a parking fine after discovering the road markings and signs on the street are wrongly laid out.

Colin Russell, in his seventies, a retired insurance broker, of Fern Lane, Little Marlow, was given a ticket at 11.35am on Saturday August 1 for parking on a single yellow line in Beaufort Gardens, Marlow, which corners Cromwell Gardens.

He said he was “disgusted” about the £35 fine because the signs showing drivers what times the restrictions apply are ambiguous.

Mr Russell wrote to the Department for Transport to find out what the regulations state for continuous single yellow lines.

Judith Tracey from traffic sings policy branch at DfT wrote in a letter: “Where there is a change in the prohibition but no change in the road marking (i.e. where the time period of a single yellow line changes), signs for each prohibition should be mounted either side by side or one above the other at the changeover point.

“Each sign should include an arrow indicating the direction in which the prohibition extends.”

There are unbroken single yellow lines on both sides of Cromwell Gardens, running through to Beaufort Gardens on one side and Claremont Road on the other.

However, the Marlow Free Press found this week that the signs placed on the two streets are not displayed in accordance with the regulations outlined by DfT.

Some of the signs say Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm, while others say Monday to Saturday 8am to 6pm, but they are not mounted side by side, nor one above the other and there are no arrows indicating where the restrictions begin and end.

Mr Russell said: “I was disgusted, it seemed to me like a trap. I think it's wrong and I'm probably not the only one who has been caught.

“I went to the bank, I was only there for 20 minutes. I pulled around onto Beaufort Gardens to park having seen the one saying Monday to Friday and didn't realise there was another sign."

He added: “I have been driving for many years and never had a parking fine like this before.”

Mr Russell said he paid the £35 fee under protest, which he stated in his letter, fearing it could rise to £70.

However, WDC said in doing so he had effectively waved his right to appeal.

“I disagree with it, why can't you appeal even if you pay the initial fine?” Mr Russell said.

WDC said Mr Russell's comments regarding the legality of the signs had been passed onto Buckinghamshire County Council.

BCC is the highways authority but WDC is responsible for enforcing parking restrictions.

Buckinghamshire County Council spokesman Catherine Lafferty said: “We are investigating the case and we will give it our full attention.

“We will be getting back to WDC a the earliest opportunity.”