Tonight's entertaining news article

[Pondlife]

BBC News - Man in Birmingham disabled parking bay tow stand-off

A driver who wrongly parked in a disabled bay in Birmingham has been sitting in his car for more than six hours to stop it being towed away.


Who's gonna blink first?

[mudskipper]

Well someone's given him a cup of coffee. So presumably at some point he'll need a pee.

[Acme Thunderer]

Apparently the council backed off and released the car.

Bennetts Hill parking stand-off: Defiant driver WINS battle with parking officials - Birmingham Mail

[vwdan]

Parking in Disabled Bays is one of my pet hates and a display of such arrogance that I'd rather see him and his car crushed.

[alluvial]

Apparently the council backed off and released the car.

Bennetts Hill parking stand-off: Defiant driver WINS battle with parking officials - Birmingham Mail

“That’s all I wanted from the beginning,” he said, adding that he now plans to sue Birmingham City Council for loss of earnings.

“I fully intend to sue,” he told the Birmingham Mail.

Good luck with that then

[SantaClaus]

I actually did the same once in Crouch End - wasn't parked in a disabled bay, just parked wrongly in a controlled zone because of confusing signage.

Unknown to me, Haringay council's tow truck drives up and down the high street at precisely the confusing time, until some mug (me) pops into M&S.

Anyway, standing in the queue, I saw the gear being attached to my car, so I sprinted out of M&S and sat in it. Eventually they gave up, removed the lifting gear and issued me with a ticket.

I disputed the ticket on the basis of the signage being misleading and paid nothing.

No doubt they do this again and again, cause a) they have all the time in the world b) it's not their money and c) it's a jolly good wheeze.

[vetran]

If they are that worried about disabled bays they should try Slough pretty much half the parkers in them seem up for the 800 metres.

It sort of sounds like half and half, the muppet parking illegally and the tow truck coming too quickly with the Police.

I do think this obsession with towing immediately needs looking at, I suspect the law doesn't favour such.

[Pondlife]

I'm guessing that over the 6 hours and once word had spread then any number of armchair lawyers would have advised him on his rights. Hence the shift from "please please don't tow my car" to "That's it I'm suing."

[vetran]

section 8.88

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...orcepolicy.pdf

Where a vehicle is causing
a hazard or obstruction the enforcement authority should remove
rather than immobilise. Immobilisation/removal activity should only
take place where it gives clear traffic management benefits.

If a driver returns to the vehicle whilst immobilisation or removal
is taking place, then, unless they are a persistent evader, it is
recommended that the operation is halted, unless the clamp is
secured or the vehicle has all its wheels aboard the tow truck. If
immobilisation or removal is halted, the PCN should still be enforced.

When a vehicle is parked where parking is permitted, authorities must
not73 immobilise or remove in the first 30 minutes following the issuing
of the PCN, with the exception of ‘persistent evader’ vehicles (see
paragraphs 8.105 to 8.107 below) where the time limit is 15 minutes.

[SantaClaus]

section 8.88

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...orcepolicy.pdf

"When a vehicle is parked where parking is permitted, authorities must
not73 immobilise or remove in the first 30 minutes following the issuing
of the PCN, with the exception of ‘persistent evader’ vehicles (see
paragraphs 8.105 to 8.107 below) where the time limit is 15 minutes."

Interesting. In my case, they didn't wait 30 mins. They hadn't even issued the ticket yet.
They stopped the truck at my car and started attaching the lifting gear immediately.