For most drivers, the only place they can be certain of parking without facing unwelcome fines is their drive, but not so down one Redbridge street.
Residents of Roll Gardens, Gants Hill, have revealed that since a new Redbridge Enforcement Officer was assigned to their neighbourhood cars parked securely on homeowners’ drives have been receiving tickets.
The reason? The homes’ short drives, built in the 1940s, mean most cars slightly obstruct the road’s wide pavement.
Irshad Nabee, Roll Gardens Neighbourhood Association chairman, said: “It’s just stupid – common sense would say that these tickets should not be given out.
“It seems like one new enforcement officer has decided to just walk up and down twice a day and ticket cars parked on their owners’ drives.”
Cllr Karen Packer (Con, Barkingside) suggests potential solutions including a residents only permit scheme or a temporary suspension of all ticketing in the area.
She said: “These residents have lived in this road for 20, 30, 40 years, and there’s never been a problem.
“But now some people are getting two or three tickets a day, just for having a few inches of their car hanging over the boundary of their drive.
“Yes I can see that it is technically breaking the regulations, but why now? Surely common sense says this should be looked at because these drives are very short.”
The Barkingside councillor added it was “appalling” that residents were being put through the financial stress of facing needless fines.
When told of the problem, council leader Cllr Jas Athwal accepted it looked as though a mistake had been made.
He said: “We’ve had this problem before, in the opposite way, in that cars that were blocking pavements were not getting ticketed, and I’ll have to give the same answer now as then.
“If that vehicle is causing an obstruction, and certainly if the pavement is narrow then there will be a ticket issued, but certainly if the pavement is wide, and provided the back wheels aren’t on the pavement and there is only an overhang, then there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Cllr Athwal, who has paid four parking fines while in office, also said overeager wardens will be retrained if necessary.
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