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Dear Mr Mandville

Thank you for your e-mail concerning the vehicle which was parking in Queens Road. I have investigated this incident and can report the following:

CEO 574 was enforcing this area when he noted the vehicle parking partly on the bus stop. The driver moved to the DYLs  to finish loading. He was then approached by a Bus Driver who asked why he had not issued a Penalty Charge Notice as the van was on the bus stop, on a loading ban and in a bus lane.

CEO574 responded to this question by pointing out that the van was not sufficiently in the bus stop to enforce it . There are no chevrons on the kerb to denote a loading ban and the CEOs are unable to enforce the vehicle for being in the bus lane.

Bus Lanes are enforced by CCTV . This is monitored and enforced by staff based in Bartholomew House and Penalty Charge Notices are posted to drivers who contravene.

The e-mail has also been forwarded to Parking Strategy Team for their comments on the loading restrictions.

Please let me know if there is anything further I can help you with.
Regards
Carol Rogers
Contract Manager
6a Pavilion Buildings
Brighton 01273 292241
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From: mandville
Sent: 13 October 2009 17:45
To: Carol Rogers
Cc: Jason Kitcat; Sven Rufus; Roy Pennington
Subject: Re: Queens Road

Hello,
Thank you for your response.
Could you please explain what DYL means. The whole of that road is a bus lane. This should not affect the fact that loading restrictions apply or not.
Just for clarification, the van at the time  was not parked in a bus stop but was parked next to the "no loading" sign.

The enquiry was IF the vehicle had been ticketed and if not why not. If it is a case that the chevrons had been erased, that would contavine the signage (as provided by dated photograph), the chevrons should be reinstated.

If as you say, that enforcement is only possible by camera viewed from the council then despite the fact that the section of road as far as I am aware is legally signed, is unenforceable and the signs should be removed.

That leaves all the bus lanes open to abuse as the cameras at the following locations are in the following states:

- Dyke Road to Clock Tower. - camera mounted on pole outside church yard spends more time looking uphill or into graveyard than focusing on the "bus lane"
- Clock Tower /North Street Junction - moveable camera when it does look down north street is focussed on the Up side of the street and not the down side where more offences occur.
- Old Steine /South West Corner - Castle Square - No camera in place.
- St Peters Place /London Road Junction moveable camera points more northbound up London road and onto Aldi than into the bus lane.
- Old Steine St James Street - ignores the contra flow bus lane to Castle Square.
- Oxford Street/London Road - no camera at all on the bus lanes or to catch the illegal manouvres made at this junction.

The natinal recommendation is that "All bus lane cameras should be fixed static to prevent blurring of offenders number plates"

I am therefore asking that you provide
# proper enforcement of these areas for the safety of other road users as trying to manouver buses round illegally parked vehicles at the Queens Road approach to the station causes blockages and is dangerous.
# A copy of the Traffic Order for each of these stretches of road mentioned before I make an FOI request.
# Provide me with a direct telephone number to contact the Parking Office with any vehicles parking against provided signage.

You can view a gallery of people parking against regulations at http://baddriversparkers.fotopic.net/

Thank you
Liam Mandville
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Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 11:33 AM
Subject: Queens Road

Dear Mr Mandville,
With reference to your email dated 07.10.09 regarding various issues in Queens Road.  Existing sign and line maintenance is dealt with within my team.  I will visit the area of Queens Road highlighted within your email and arrange for the removal of any conflicting signage that is found.

With regard to the current Traffic Regulation Order, this can be viewed at The Parking Information Centre which is based at Hove Town Hall.  To arrange please call Grant Shaw on (01273) 296537.

Yours sincerely,
Chris Langan
Assistant Traffic Technician
Parking Strategy Team
t - 01273 292194
m - 07795 336 478

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Sent: Thursday, October 15, 2009 3:32 PM
Subject: FW: Queens Road
Dear Mr Mandville,

Thank you for your email. Carol Rogers has forwarded it to me for response.

‘DYL’ stands for double yellow line. Civil Enforcement Officers cannot ticket vehicles for movable offences as the Penalty Charge Notices they issue must be affixed to a vehicle or handed to the driver. This is simply not possible when a vehicle is in motion. As advised by Carol Rogers, bus lane enforcement is carried out by capturing the contravention on CCTV. This is undertaken by the Traffic Control Centre; I’ve copied in the Traffic Manager to note the camera comments.

The stretch of yellow line concerned does not have a loading ban. Officer 574 did not ticket the vehicle as loading was being undertaken.

Queens Road receives a high number of Civil Enforcement Officer foot patrols. Since the beginning of the year, 118 Penalty Charge Notices have been issued to vehicles parked in contravention. I am confident the Civil Enforcement Officers are carrying out sufficient enforcement in this road but will monitor the situation to ensure this is the case.

The Parking Strategy team will check Queens Road for any signage faults and copies of Traffic Orders are available in local libraries or can be obtained by contacting the Parking Information Centre located at Hove Town Hall, please call 01273 296537 for further information. If you observe vehicles parked in contravention, they can be reported directly to the Civil Enforcement Officers by calling 0845 6035 469 option 3.

I do hope this information has answered the queries that you put forward in your email. If you have any further questions or queries relating to parking matters within Brighton and Hove then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Regards,
Sarah Dew
Contracts Officer
Parking Management

T:01273 292384 F:01273 293278