How many of us have come up against the totally inflexible employee brigade,you know the type

The bus driver who will dispute the fare youve paid for the last six months and hold the bus up doing it.

the Mc supervisor that wont sell you a brunch muffin at 11.30 and 20 seconds

i got a parking ticket on campo lane having just parked up.

i had no change so my wife went the 20 yds to the shop on the corner to buy something to get some.

meanwhile the traffic warden was making his way down the road,i stayed with the car till my wife came back,but alas the warden got to me first.

i explained i had just arrived and my wife was getting change to put into the pay and display machine,but he was having none of it. he said if he had a pound for everytime hed heard that hed be a millionaire

despite my pleas that if i intended not to pay i would have driven off when i saw him coming,and my wife was getting change,he ticketed my car(damn those electronic printers) i didnt even get the chance to drive off again,i had parked so that was that.

unfortunately my wife was in a queue so by the time she got back the deed was done.

now i know these blokes have a pretty thankless task to perform but do they need to be so rigid. i once saw one ticket a car because the sticker had fell off the windsreen.

moral is when parking in town make sure youve got the change available.

anyone else...over to you

The problem, i believe, lies with the organisations rather than the individual. If they are not given any lee-way in their decision making, and have no authority to make such decisions then they really have no choice.

Generally, though, I would rather everthing was more flexible, and people couldn't be sacked for being kind. It would make the world a better place...

You are within your rights to dispute that ticket. If you don't think it is justified, which it evidently isn't, then you can write and appeal against it. A well worded letter along with support from your witness (your wife) and times of arrival, put together as a strong case, may mean the ticket is cancelled.

Too many people just accept authority. Do not accept what isn't correct. Give 'em hell and don't be passive over that one!

Rules are rules at the end of the day. If you knew you didn't have any change you shouldn't have parked up until you did have some change.

Originally posted by Sidla
Rules are rules at the end of the day. If you knew you didn't have any change you shouldn't have parked up until you did have some change.

yeah i take your point sidla,as i now know to my cost.

my argument is surely he should have realised nobody is daft enough to stand with their car and wait to get a ticket,if i was trying to blagg free parking i would have jumped in the car and driven off when i saw him coming. my story was genuine. i suppose i wrongly believed he had a brain in his head or a moderate amount of common sense, had i left the car unattended then fair enough.

i dont disagree with you ,but to me hes a jobsworth

Originally posted by Sidla
Rules are rules at the end of the day. If you knew you didn't have any change you shouldn't have parked up until you did have some change.

Rules are rules ... and they are for circumventing and creating as many disruptions and havock to those who create them (mostly for their own benefit) as possible.

So long as you stay legal of course :-)

Oh ... and if you don't ... the #1 rule is ... DO NOT GET CAUGHT.

You should have jumped back in the car and ran him over.....

Originally posted by gizmo
i dont disagree with you ,but to me hes a jobsworth

Maybe he's just ****** off and takes delight in exercising his power and ******* other people off !!!

Well ... who wouldn't be ****** off working as a meter monkey !?

Originally posted by fnkysknky
You should have jumped back in the car and ran him over.....

Totally !!

Is there a rule that stops you driving off while they are writting the ticket !?

That happend to me once ... got back to car and the guy was writing my a ticket ... I was waiting like 2 mins for him to finish it and stick it on my car ... I should have just drove away.

Am I leagally required to wait for him to make out the ticket !?

Originally posted by Sidla
Rules are rules at the end of the day. If you knew you didn't have any change you shouldn't have parked up until you did have some change.

So what's he supposed to do, drive around in a circle until the Change Fairy comes along and drops him a bag of change through the sun roof? Any traffic warden with a brain (granted that's probably not many of them) should have at least given him a few minutes for his wife to get back.

Originally posted by Jamie
Totally !!

Is there a rule that stops you driving off while they are writting the ticket !?

That happend to me once ... got back to car and the guy was writing my a ticket ... I was waiting like 2 mins for him to finish it and stick it on my car ... I should have just drove away.

Am I leagally required to wait for him to make out the ticket !?

No you are quite entitled to drive off while he is making the ticket out - supposedly until it's stuck on your vehicle it hasn't been served. My dad's done it on numerous occasions over the years - one traffic warden ended up on the bonnet for 100 metres or so, don't think I've ever laughed so hard. Think they've tried changing it recently though so they can send tickets through the post - very, very dodgy.

i'm afrad i can't comment on this topic,because my mam reads this site and guess what her job is.............now i wouldn't want to upset mi owd ma would i.......hello mam :)

Not quite as bad as parking in a deserted car park at 9.14pm, then returning to find a ticket that was issued at 9.15pm.

He must have had a grin on his face seeing me leave the car alone.. but the car park bang next to it (the one across from Flares) clearly states it's free after 8.30pm so I thought the same applied for this one.

And it was a Thursday night. Pathetic, IMO.

How about if you just leave your car parked in the middle of the road ... then go get change ... come back and pull over to a parking meter !?

Is that legal !?

I still say write in and complain about the way you were treated. You were taking 'reasonable measures' to obtain change in order to stay in the parking space. They have to prove otherwise. State that you explained the situation to the warden and were not treated fairly. He could easily have given you the benefit of the doubt, hovvered around a bit and if she had returned (with her shopping), hopped in the car and you'd sped off into the sunset then he could have confronted you then, which would have been more meaningful.

I'd be interested to see the rule book on this one.

Most definately write in and challenge it.

As for the McDonalds point in the first post - easy....don't eat there!

McD's breakfasts are great - don't knock 'em. Saved me on numerous times when I've been in a rush and missed brekkie etc.

As far as I am aware, you are within you legal right to stop on yellow lines if you are picking something up of value or dropping something off of value.

So next time a warden tries to ticket you for stopping to get cash out of a machine you can tell them you are within your rights!

A sheffield DJ, forget his name, got sacked for telling people this legality as there were complaints from the wardens that it was making their lives difficult now that people had been informed of this on air.

Originally posted by Foxxx
As far as I am aware, you are within you legal right to stop on yellow lines if you are picking something up of value or dropping something off of value.

As far as I am aware it is illegal and always has been. You can stop on single yellow lines when it is out of the restriction time. Normally sundays and evenings.

Originally posted by Foxxx
As far as I am aware, you are within you legal right to stop on yellow lines if you are picking something up of value or dropping something off of value.


That's the impression I had too. Dropping off/picking up is okay.
Double yellows don't represent a clearway.

Double yellow lines mean no parking at any time. Quote from this site:

Parking appeals (http://www.parking-appeals.gov.uk/welcomeEN.asp)

Double yellow lines mean that parking is restricted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (in other words ‘at any time’). With effect from 31 January 2003 councils are not required to erect a sign plate to accompany an ‘at any time’ restriction.

It also shows grounds for appeal and how to do it.

Originally posted by Classic Rock
I still say write in and complain about the way you were treated. You were taking 'reasonable measures' to obtain change in order to stay in the parking space. They have to prove otherwise. State that you explained the situation to the warden and were not treated fairly.
I don't see why there should be any ground for a complaint. If you don't have any change then you shouldn't park, no matter how short the period it takes you to get change.

What if someone else was about to park in the same space who had the correct change, but you beat them to it? You wouldn't be very pleased if someone did that to you and then you found out they didn't have the money to pay.

Rules are rules, and no matter what anyone says, rules are not made to be broken. If people start to bend the rules, then the rules will gradually get looser until it gets to the point where the rule may as well not be there in the first place.

The traffic warden was just doing his job. As Jamie said: "the #1 rule is ... DO NOT GET CAUGHT", however you did get caught, so any amount of complaining is not going to help matters.

We are British though, therefore it is our God given right to bitch, moan and whine about stuff, Lord knows there's enough cause to in this City alone much less the Country.

Originally posted by Sidla


Rules are rules, and no matter what anyone says, rules are not made to be broken. If people start to bend the rules, then the rules will gradually get looser until it gets to the point where the rule may as well not be there in the first place.

The traffic warden was just doing his job. As Jamie said: "the #1 rule is ... DO NOT GET CAUGHT", however you did get caught, so any amount of complaining is not going to help matters.

i think youve laboured the point there sidla, ive already agreed with you in an earlier post,but remember your own wise words if you ever come up against someone who wont budge an inch despite the obvious staring them in the face....On the day....... i was unlucky to meet mr jobsworth. and thank you to all those offering support but like a good citizen,i duly paid up.

back to the point in hand tho, any other stories about employees or officials refusing point blank to show any leeway at all?

Originally posted by gizmo
if you ever come up against someone who wont budge an inch despite the obvious staring them in the face.
I have been in the situation, and I agree it is annoying, but at the end of the day you have to accept that rules are rules.

I've also been in the position of the traffic warden. I used to work on a hotel bar and before people could put drinks on their room bill they had to present their room card. If people hadn't got their card then I used to be lenient and accept their key. However, I soon stopped doing this when someone ran up a £400 bill without presenting their credit card at reception, they then left without paying. We were all told that if this happened again it would be stopped out of our wages. If customers forgot their room cards then they could get angry with me, and even violent on one occasion. However, there are always people who want to take advantage of others, and because of this it has to be the same rule for everyone across the board, no matter how strict it may seem.

Hey Traffic Wardens...morons.

When im at work i park where ever it is convinient to aid me in my work,,,double yellow...of course however I do not ever park in disabled bays.


we should have national park on yellow day.

I'm not too sure about this, but isn't a car that still has the driver in (with the keys) not classed as parked. Surely it is 'waiting' so not commiting a parking offence. And if the warden hasn't started to write the ticket BEFORE speaking to the driver then the driver can just drive off. Usually after the warden has asked the driver to move on.

May be wrong, but I'm sure I've read something about this.

Originally posted by Sidla
We were all told that if this happened again it would be stopped out of our wages.

That's just not legal. Nobody is allowed to stop this sort of thing out of your wages.

Originally posted by Tony
That's just not legal. Nobody is allowed to stop this sort of thing out of your wages.

if it is written into a contract that states that any losses due to staff negligence can be recovered from the offending employee,then it is perfectly legal if you sign it.


unless such a contract exists it is in fact illegal youre right there tony

Yea.. but I'm sure that this changed recently to even exclude it being written in to a contract. We had to take out a clause that staff were responsible for handing back their uniforms on leaving the firm, or it would be deducted from final wages.

It was a clause in our contract, because we also had to cash up at the end of the night. If the till did not ballance by a substantial margin it could be taken out of our wages.

It might have been in your contract but they still can't do it. If you look carefully you'll realise most of the stuff they put in there has no legal basis.

This is the very place to find out what the rules and laws concerning our day to day attempts to live a peaceful life.
I love this site for the valuable or informative links that others share and before long you're up on quite a few things.

As for jobsworths - apart from Liberata I can live with most of the 'problems' life throws at me. One of my brothers though is having a tough time of things. He's recently forked out £80 for a medical in his attempts to return to long-distance lorry driving and is getting messed about something chronic. Strict eye tests - fair enough as that's a safety issue but when driving documents aren't returned and seem to go missing then you wonder if Liberata are in on that too!!!!!!!!!!!

Why don't SF get the traffic wardens interviewed on here or someone to explain our rights as workers etc. Now wouldn't that be an opportunity?????????

Originally posted by fnkysknky
It might have been in your contract but they still can't do it. If you look carefully you'll realise most of the stuff they put in there has no legal basis.
If you sign it then it has legal basis.

Originally posted by Sidla
If you sign it then it has legal basis.

No it doesn't Sidla. Regardless of what a contract contains, it is still subject to the Law.

Originally posted by Tony
No it doesn't Sidla. Regardless of what a contract contains, it is still subject to the Law.

Exactly, I had signed a contract that said I needed to give 6 weeks notice if I intended to leave. I had been there less than a year so explained that the contract was irrelevant. In the end they were very happy I offered to work a weeks notice instead of walking out there and then :)

Jobsworths?! Jobsworths you say?! Look no further than the muppets who work in the job centre in Hillsborough Barracks.... They're so stoopid they're lucky to have got their own jobs let alone have the ability to find work for other people.

Originally posted by Rich
Jobsworths?! Jobsworths you say?! Look no further than the muppets who work in the job centre in Hillsborough Barracks.... They're so stoopid they're lucky to have got their own jobs let alone have the ability to find work for other people.

Aren't these the people who don't bat an eyelid at sending some poor sap off to a toilet cleaning job at £4 an hour then have the nerve to threaten industrial action to better their own cosy jobs.

My dream. Everyone gets a job, no more job centres. Job centre staff have to come to us for employment.

Now wouldn't that be fun.

"Here's yer brush mate, start on Division Street and work your way down. What's up? Its a job innit".

Originally posted by Tony
No it doesn't Sidla. Regardless of what a contract contains, it is still subject to the Law.
I wouldn't have signed it if I'd known ;)