World peace & parking

Ireckon if somebody could sort out parking problems then world peace would follow shortly afterwards. Parking is one of the banes of modern life – at home, at schools, at work, on a night out – where to park is always an issue.

The cause is simple – there are too many cars and not enough room to put them. And that means that people who own the room have us over a barrel.

After terrorising motorists for years, the clampers finally got their come-uppance but the new menace is the shopping centre car park.

As reported in the PT, Peterborough resident Terry Harris fell foul of the rules and copped a £70 ‘fine’ for outstaying his welcome at the Asda car park in the city centre.

Terry didn’t take it lying down and somehow discovered that the signs in the car park were unlawful because they are slightly too big.

A technicality you might think and not one that excuses Terry’s misdemeanour. As somebody who is a bit of a stickler for rules normally I’d agree.

But having fallen foul of these sneaky rules myself anything that sees the ordinary man striking back is okay with me.

Mrs T got hit with a demand for £80 after staying 15 minutes over the threehour limit at the Bretton centre.

She hadn’t even been aware there was a limit (there are signs, but if there are no pay machines you assume it’s free).

Thanks to the intervention of those nice people at Sainsbury’s she managed to successfully appeal the charge. It was a smart move on their part as they would have lost our annual business that runs into thousands of pounds.

What really annoyed me was not the charge, it was the extortionate size of it.

If the demand had been for £10 we’d have had a collective harrumph, paid the fine and vowed like Roger Daltry to not get fooled again.

The woman who caused the Broadway Christmas Eve bus crash with her careless driving leaving 13 passengers injured was fined £92.

So how can £80 for a small and unknowing error be fair or justified?

Our politicians should change the law and then sit back and accept the praise for delivering world peace.