SM42

Indeed that is a good summing up. It should also be noted that the keeper liability clause does not apply on land governed by statutory powers. E.g public highways (which they shouldn't be ticketing on anyway) and places where bye laws apply, such as ports, airports and railway land. Airports also have an interesting wrinkle that the publicly accessible roads, altthough private, are goverened by the Road Traffic Act in many cases Andy

Actually the MRLP have been quite successful in getting their policies into action 24 hour licensing and the abolition of the dog licence being two examples No too sure about how harnessing the power of joggers to heat homes for the elderly is going but maybe with the concerns over the climate, it might gain some legs. BOOM BOOM! Andy

Quite right, although I'm not too sure on NI being exempt There is no obligation to name the driver in England and Wales either. They can only invite the registered keeper to give the name and address of the driver. You do not have to acccept that invitation All appeals should be as registered keeper and give no indication or implication as to whom was driving (even discussing your case on a forum, language used should be treated with care as you never know who's watching and what details they may be able to infer from your choice of words) especially if the Protection of Freedoms Act has not been complied with in the first place. There are specific steps they have to follow to transfer liability to the keeper. Often they don't manage to follow these. Andy

Ok one last go. The Pealian principles are about the way the country is policed, by consent. That is not the consent of the indivdual, but the implied consent of society as a whole. An individual cannot withdraw their consent from the law. Principle 7 states it is incumbent on every citizen to act in the interests of society. the police paying particular attention to it. Without rules there can be no interests of society as no-one would know what they are. Are you suggesting that murderers, rapists and child molestors can opt out of justice? Are lynch mobs acceptable because they believe they are acting in the interests of society? Policing by consent is about all of us recognising the police's power to uphold the law with integrity and without favour in the interests of society as a whole . You are not using their own rules against them You are twisting or misinterpreting the rules / laws to try and wriggle out of your duty to act in the interests of society. I'm surprised you haven't used the Bill of Rights from 1688 or Cestui Que Vie Act 1666. I'm pretty certain the law has moved on since then. Taking the logic further, if you do not consent to paying for your groceries or model trains or whatever, then there is nothing anyone can do and you can live your life taking what you want and doing what you want without any regard to the effect on others. Is that a society you want? Saying you don't recognise or consent to the law won't fly in court. It may bamboozle at front line level and yes too much hassle is a sensible answer. In your case you failed the attitude test, no matter how polite you were, but there is a lot of paperwork to do when you arrest someone and sometimes you just can't be bothered or have bigger fish to fry. Who knows you may have been convicted in your abscence. Have you checked? As I said, each to their own This is not adding to the discussion about private parking companies and their questionable practices to try and winkle cash out of the motorist with minimal effort and as such I think we should leave it at that and agree to disagree on this Best Andy

Interesting that you refer to the Bills of Exchange Act 1882 and Peelian principles ( products of the criminal cartel masquerading as government) as justification for not being beholden to the cartel. But we are digressing Each to their own Andy

Makes you wonder why they don't fence the road in. If you ran a factory where 2 ton pieces of metal moved around unprotected at 30mph, I'm pretty sure the local H&S officer would have a word or two to say. The Highway Code stopping distance may be, in theory, 35 ft different for 20 and 30mph, but in practical terms the difference is minimal. (around 15ft) It is no longer 1935 and technology has moved on. I can easily beat the Highway Code 30mph stopping distance at 40mph. I tried out of curiousity many moons ago on a straight, traffic free (find one of those nowadays) country road that all locals test their cars on after repair. The car pulled up in less than 30ft. That's 70ft total adding in reaction time. I only did it once. It was scary even with ABS. The above theory also forgets that those who stick to the limit will in fact be below it, (30mph on the speedo equates to around 26mph on the ground) the car will be slowing, and will probably strike the person at well below 10mph. Ok, not ideal, but not as alarmist as the campaigns would have you believe. The sudden no chance to take any action pedestrian will still be hit at 20mph. Still not a good number regardless. It could be argued that it is far more likley that you will cause injury at 20mph as opposed to 10mph, so why not 10mph? At least I could stay happily in one gear and not be thrashing around at at 1800 rpm in second or kangarooing along in third. Don't misunderstand me. I have no problem with 20mph limits, except the horrible noises my car makes trying to stick to them and the blanket approach to them in areas where risk is minimal. In some cases the reason it's 20 is to make the Traffic Regulation Order less messy. Otherwise how can one road be 20mph, but the next one across be 30mph when both have the same basic risk factors? In one case I can think of the 30 mph road has more risk factors, such as a school, an unfenced park, shops, several pubs and numerous junctions rather than gated, private driveways and few junctions. Andy

Maybe he'd had a long day and just couldn't be bothered with the hassle and the paperwork and took the easy way out. You are sailng very close to Freeman of The Land hokus pokus Andy

Unfortunately somewhere in the region of 100,000 small claims cases for parking notices would say otherwise. Some companies won't. One in particular is very rapacious in its use of the court system Andy

Unfortunatley this will not work as acceptance of conditions and contract by conduct is well established. Do you sign the reciept at the supermarket? No? So why did you pay for your groceries if you didn't accept the contract Do you sign for car insurance bought over the internet? Are you driving uninsured? Do you sign a contract for anything bought at distance? The Beavis case also blows this approach out of the water as the contract on the signs and the terms were deemed accepted by Mr Beavis as he did not leave site. If he didn't like them he could park elsewhere. This was a Supreme Court appeal and so the decision is binding on the lower courts. The Beavis case judges were very particluar about the specific circumstances of the case and were at pains to highlight them and that can provide a good defence and make the decision irrelevant for the lower courts if the exact circumstances of a particular case differ. For the parking companies this is a detail that doesn't matter as they quote the case to give their unsolicited invoice credence and scare people into paying up. The VAT angle has been tried but AFAIK has not been a very persausive argument Enough people have used the methods you describe and have come unstuck. Judges will roll their eyes and think, "Oh no not another one". Claimant's legal teams will rub their hands with glee at the prospect of punitive damages under the court procedure rules around unreasonable behaviour. Prison time for contempt is a possibility too. Look up Freeman of the Land defences and see how successful they aren't You are treading a dangerous path my friend and if they have worked so far then you have been lucky and managed to baffle someone enough for them to drop the case. What can be used is basic consumer law that any clause in the contract that is unclear can be interpeted in a way most favourable to the consumer. The signs in car parks are usually have some of these. Andy

The double dip is a a classic. the ANPR picks up a visit at 10am,, you leave 30 minutes later. You return at 1800hrs and leave 30 minutes later. The Parking Co claim you were there for 8hrs 30 mins. One motorist was accused of overstaying the 2 hours free parking at a motorway service station, depsite only stopping for a few minutes at the southbound in the morning and the north bound on the way home later that day. The parking company claimed it was one long visit One campaigner deliberately double dipped at two car parks with different operators. He then appealed to each operator using the Parking Charge Notice from the other to prove he was not there when they claimed he was. Both appeals were turned down despite the overwhelming evidence. They only want your money after all He won at POPLA. As an aside, the parking companies have to pay £2.50 to the DVLA to get your details, I believe they still have to pay POPLA for any appeals heard and if they go to small claims that's another £25 to register the claim. Andy

Strangley Mrs SM42 and I were breathalysed whilst riding our pushbikes back in the summer in Poland. We were returning from the local lake through the forest and had reached the road, where a policeman stood in wait. Glad I decided not to have that beer by the lake as I have no idea what the limits for cyclists are. 20 mph limits cause all sorts of fun. I am regularly overtaken in them. The backstreets of Brum are festooned with them. the annoying thing is for me is that it's just a little too slow for third and just a little fast for second and I end up driving round at 25mpg rather than the 50+mpg I get at nearer 30mph. So much for reducing pollution Last week there was a very irate women behind me as I was obviously going too slowly. She eventually decided to overtake just as I started to indicate to turn right at the mini roundabout 50 yds ahead. She was even more irate then and promptly disappeared in a puff of anger at well over 20mph when I'd turned off. There's never a speed trap when you want one. BTW, speed limits apply to mechanically propelled vehicles. So not to cyclists, scooters (not the motorbikey style) pedal go karts, soapboxes and horses. Andy

Granted Whilst mum's was still visible it wasn't obvious. Looking from the end of the drive you could see anyone hanging around but not the safe itself. A wall mounted post box helped From directly in front of the house you had to look hard to see it, but could clearly see the door and the area immediately around the safe Only from the side opposite the drive, where it would be more obvious from, was the safe hidden from the street The general point is don't make its presence too obvious to those who should have no legitimate interest in it. Those who need to know can be informed of where it is. Andy

Indeed after this evening's shopping with Mrs SM42 we now know the PIN number of the MP hoping for re-election around here due to some very insecure attitudes to the key pad. He's not alone in his slapdashery ! Keying in your PIN at arm's length with a flourish is never a good idea A good idea, if possible, is to locate the key safe out of sight from the street but convenient for those who have to use it. It does shout vulnerable person to any passing ne'er do wells. Mum's was shielded from the street by some bushes in the garden and was not directly next to the door. Andy

What happens is a private parking company convinces them they have a parking problem (Parking Armageddon) that they can solve by putting up some signs and claiming a contract exists with the motorist and if you don't do what the sign says you owe the parking company a small fortune. How you can agree a contract to do something that the contract does not allow is another matter. The unfortunate landowner gets all the flak and is told by the parking company that they cannot cancel the invoice (it's not a fine, only statutory bodies can issues fines) even though the parking company is working as the landowner's agent The parking companies have to be members of a trade body to access the DVLA database, there are two bodies;, The BPA (who use POPLA) as an appeals service and the IPC who use their own in house appeals service that promises an 85% win rate to its members. The IPC run the appeals service and it all happens to be linked to a firm of solicitors whom the parking companies use to claim through the courts. It is generally conmsidered a waste of time using this appeals service as the incentive is to find against the motorist. The irony being the parking company is charged to proceed with court case they have little chance of winning if properly defended. However it is a numbers game. Enough pay up without arguement to make it worthwhile and the Small Claims court threat works often enough for the harder nuts . It has to be said that the court is always a potential gamble as you never know which judge you will get and how they feel about the issue and about having a non legal defending themelves in their court. Good defences often win, poor ones often fail, but there is always the risk of a really whacky decision. (Note NCP were stung to the tune of several thousands once, one solictor was told to" bring a toothbrush" by the judge if they didn't come back with some evidence about the case the next day) The companies have 6 years to start legal action via the small claims system. Some wait this long in the hope you have moved and won't defend the case and then they can miraculously track you down at your new address and enforce the judgement. They often use what is known as the Beavis case to justify their charge ( this was parking case that went all the way to and was lost at the Superme Court by the motorist (Mr Beavis) but had very specific circumstances) which in some cases can actually support the motorist's case or is totally irrelevant to the case in question If they comply with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, (which many seem incapable of doing properly) they can transfer the charge from the driver to the registered keeper. The Act came about when clamping on private land was made illegal and the trade lobbied hard for the right to claim off the keeper if the driver was not known. The parking industry claimed that parking cases were clogging up the court system and this right would stop that. Once this act was in place the number of cases increased exponentially. Ignoring is not good idea now and using the "no fincancial loss to the parking company" arguement is now a dead end since the Beavis case For help and to get an idea of the dirty tricks they use to get your money see the website http://www.pepipoo.com To the OP. Gathering evidence of the signage is a good start. Photograph and map out where the signs are and what they say. They may differ slightly in different parts of the car park. Good luck Andy

No photo, but whilst sat at one of Brum's endless sets of traffic lights, watching nothing pass the other way, the bus in front had the following destination: Roughley, via Sutton Coldfield. Now I would prefer to know exactly where it stopped Andy

I tend to go round the trade first, noting anything of interest for later possible purchase or further inspection, unless I have a list from a particular trader I know to be at the show. That stand will get a cursory glance to check stock levels and I'll be back later if plentiful. If not then purchasing begins. If something I'm interested in as an impulse buy sells out in the meantime, so be it, I've saved myself a bit of cash. During the trade tour a mental note will be taken of any layouts that a quick glimpse of sparks a need for further inspection Once shopping's done, it's off round the layouts. Some get a quick look, some (noted earlier ) get longer, Some I will move along looking at various aspects rather than pick one spot at the barrier. I may ask about anything of interest on the layout. I estimate no more than 30 seconds between train movements will keep my interest unless there is something else to keep my attention. This is not a hard an fast rule. I have stood in front of some layouts for longer with no movement going on just because the last train made me want to see more. This is rare though Technical problems at a layout, will, if it's a layout I want to see, warrant a second visit later in the hope that the issues have been resolved . Once all that's done I may revisit the layouts that interested me the most and perhaps a last scout round the trade in case I've forgotten or remembered something I need for a project. About 20% of the time there is spent catching up with aquaintances, many of whom, seem to know my name but I can't for the life of me remember theirs, but can probably remember which layout, trade stand or club they are / were associated with. Refreshments (if any) take place after the shopping, between layout watching or just before leaving for home An average size exhibition (e,g Wakefield) will take around 2 -3 hours of my time. Small shows less than an hour, larger shows maybe 3 -4 hours, but this can vary dramatically depending on content. Andy

Can you buy a new kitchen off them too? The toilets and buffet should be something to behold on the new / rebranded trains. A whole in house design team to do the interiors https://www.avantikb.co.uk/ Andy PS. there is a vague similarity between the Avanti A and the new whizzy triangle.

In Brum, amber means hurry up and a red means three more and a bus please Andy

Indeed there are two signals in the tunnels approaching New St from Wolverhampton. Admittedly one was outside till the NIA was built. Snow Hill has signals at the approach to the tunnel from Moor St Worcester has signals (Semaphore) outside the far end of the tunnel before reaching Tunnel Jn. The positioning of the signalling would depend on many factors relating to the operation of the station and the necessary signalling design principles in use at the time of installation. Main running signals in tunnels are not that common I would say but anything is possible. Andy

I can only report as I find. Unexpected red lights on the back of a car do confuse. Who switches the headlights on to pass on the shady side of a tree? It is not a case of panicking in general just a natural reaction to the appearance of red light on the car in front for no apparent reason. High level light or not (Can you assume that the high level will always work? If you do round here then you are in for a nasty surprise, in fact sometimes it's nice if any of the rear lights work) people will touch the brake. Maybe only for a second, but enough to start the ball rolling. As for paying attention, why do so many not notice the bus pulling up and the try to make a last minute plunge to the second lane where all the people paying attention are.

If I'd have had one, I would have done. Instead I took refuge in the Gaugemaster stand to get my breath back. Andy

It's the people wielding rolled up show guides you have to watch, especially when they suddenly thrust out an arm as you walk past and catch you with it in a rather sensitive area. (insert your own joke here) An apology would have been nice, but you can't expect everything can you? (Especially not a rolled up show guide leaping out in front of you apparently. ) Andy

I said you had started something a while back. There is an interesting (to me at least) array of pylons at the NEC by the M42 junction. Just caught a glimpse as I passed by in the half light at the weekend. Never noticed them before. I also have photos of some Polish examples, if anyone is intetrested I will download them from the camera. Andy

Auto headlights are a nightmare. Drive through one of the short well lit tunnels in Brum, go under briodge, past a tree and the back of the car lights up in red, person behind hits the brakes before realising that its the headlights coming on, not the brakes, 200 yds behind someone stops as the brake effect ripples through. In courtesy (I use the word loosely) cars I have had they can be turned off, but the default position is auto. Andy

I suspect that TMDs as small as those modelled were or are very rare. The attraction as a model is that you don't need all those pesky wagon and coaches and can concentrate on engines which everyone likes, you can still shunt without needing to uncouple, add all the detail bits to each end of the locos, you don't need half the house to build it, a panel van to move it and sound makes them more attractive still as a concept. Our club "TMD" layout is ridiculously small for a TMD, and is totally impractical as one, but it didn't start life as a TMD. It developed into one. Andy