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At Full Chat
Mike Rutherford's column
Being legally mugged on a high street near you...
NABA - Nigel, Alan, Bob and Allard - might sound like a naff, boy band version of a Swedish pop group. But they're just ordinary family blokes trying to get on with their lives. They're law-abiding citizens who work hard and pay their taxes. Oh, nearly forgot: they also have a weakness for taxed and insured motor cars. Shame on them.
Nigel always thinks long and hard about using the appropriate vehicle for the occasion, opting for his tiny Smart for work and his immaculate, low-mileage Porsche 911 for pleasure. Alan's hobby is to bring old, unloved, mostly American vehicles back to life. In that sense he's one of the ultimate recyclers who's as socially responsible and environmentally credible as experts who repair important buildings or paintings. Bob's the proud owner, restorer and driver of a 1960 Hillman Minx. Again, he thinks deeply about the planet and his social responsibilities, so he rides a bicycle to work most days. Allard has swapped his thirsty Mazda RX-8 for a new, cleaner, smaller, more environmentally sound 50mpg diesel BMW.
The members of NABA all live or work in the High Street of Rochester in Kent. Whenever I watch motor racing at nearby Brands Hatch or take my kids karting to Buckmore Park, I pop in to see them. Last time I caught up with Nigel, he was talking to me from the driving seat of his Smart as I stood on the pavement outside his business. Within seconds, a member of the local parking Taliban ran to the scene of the 'crime' and ordered him to drive on, or else. Seems a businessman can't park his tiny car outside his own store for a few seconds, even when its livery matches the sign over the shop and is causing no obstruction.
As a High Street homeowner, Alan at least has a resident's parking permit, you might assume. Er, no. Despite the hundreds of on-street bays in the surrounding roads, he doesn't qualify and must pay to park all day and half the night in the council's pay-and-display spaces. Bob I only know because I've been a customer of his High Street shop - Backroom Books - for years. It's small, cramped and the best place I've ever found for quirky motoring titles plus rare technical manuals and historically important journals. Bob donates a percentage of his profits to the kids' charities he's actively involved in, and if he's got too much stock and not enough space, he generously gives books away. Compare his value and contribution with that of the local authority, which handed Bob a £100 ticket for parking his Hillman outside his house as he carried out safety checks and minor repairs to his exhaust, damaged by poorly surfaced local roads.
Allard has been one of my best mates for 35 years. After meeting him for a quick drink in the High Street the other night, we returned to our cars to find a parking ticket on his. Seems the new and ludicrously complicated Medway Council rules allow free parking on only one side of the road. The ticket was slapped on his windscreen at 9.45pm by cynical 'enforcers' presumably on double or triple time.
In the great scheme of things Nigel, Alan, Bob and Allard, their neighbourhood and their local parking gestapo aren't important. But they are symbolic of what's happening in Britain today. Decent, hard-working motorists trying to live, work and make a positive contribution are effectively being mugged by negative parking enforcement regimes. And, in the process, the traditional high street is being murdered.
Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV's Pulling Power and is founder of the Motorists' Association
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| Motorists are being mugged by negative parking enforcement regimes – and in the process, high streets are being murdered | |
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Nigel always thinks long and hard about using the appropriate vehicle for the occasion, opting for his tiny Smart for work and his immaculate, low-mileage Porsche 911 for pleasure. Alan's hobby is to bring old, unloved, mostly American vehicles back to life. In that sense he's one of the ultimate recyclers who's as socially responsible and environmentally credible as experts who repair important buildings or paintings. Bob's the proud owner, restorer and driver of a 1960 Hillman Minx. Again, he thinks deeply about the planet and his social responsibilities, so he rides a bicycle to work most days. Allard has swapped his thirsty Mazda RX-8 for a new, cleaner, smaller, more environmentally sound 50mpg diesel BMW.
The members of NABA all live or work in the High Street of Rochester in Kent. Whenever I watch motor racing at nearby Brands Hatch or take my kids karting to Buckmore Park, I pop in to see them. Last time I caught up with Nigel, he was talking to me from the driving seat of his Smart as I stood on the pavement outside his business. Within seconds, a member of the local parking Taliban ran to the scene of the 'crime' and ordered him to drive on, or else. Seems a businessman can't park his tiny car outside his own store for a few seconds, even when its livery matches the sign over the shop and is causing no obstruction.
As a High Street homeowner, Alan at least has a resident's parking permit, you might assume. Er, no. Despite the hundreds of on-street bays in the surrounding roads, he doesn't qualify and must pay to park all day and half the night in the council's pay-and-display spaces. Bob I only know because I've been a customer of his High Street shop - Backroom Books - for years. It's small, cramped and the best place I've ever found for quirky motoring titles plus rare technical manuals and historically important journals. Bob donates a percentage of his profits to the kids' charities he's actively involved in, and if he's got too much stock and not enough space, he generously gives books away. Compare his value and contribution with that of the local authority, which handed Bob a £100 ticket for parking his Hillman outside his house as he carried out safety checks and minor repairs to his exhaust, damaged by poorly surfaced local roads.
Allard has been one of my best mates for 35 years. After meeting him for a quick drink in the High Street the other night, we returned to our cars to find a parking ticket on his. Seems the new and ludicrously complicated Medway Council rules allow free parking on only one side of the road. The ticket was slapped on his windscreen at 9.45pm by cynical 'enforcers' presumably on double or triple time.
In the great scheme of things Nigel, Alan, Bob and Allard, their neighbourhood and their local parking gestapo aren't important. But they are symbolic of what's happening in Britain today. Decent, hard-working motorists trying to live, work and make a positive contribution are effectively being mugged by negative parking enforcement regimes. And, in the process, the traditional high street is being murdered.
Mike Rutherford writes for the Times, Daily Telegraph and Independent, presents ITV's Pulling Power and is founder of the Motorists' Association
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