File:Carew & Kimberley Roads - Those little white lines -1.jpg

English: These photos are part of a set - Check your CPZ lines. Those at the top and bottom-right show Carew Road N17. Bottom-left is Kimberley Road N17. I took them on 8 July 2008.

Photos in the set showed streets in Haringey - where I was then an elected councillor. Also streets elsewhere in London. (With one from Manchester.) They give information so people can decide whether or not to challenge Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs or 'parking tickets') where road markings were not compliant with the Statutory Regulations.

Important: For an update in May 2009, please see below.

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Meeting Neil Herron and Simon Aldridge

On 17 June 2008, I met Neil Herron of Parking Appeals Ltd and Simon Aldridge of London Motorists' Action Group. Among other things, Neil and Simon explained something so straightforward and simple that I found it almost impossible to believe. The white lines* in the Controlled Parking Zone bays across the street from my home did not comply with Department for Transport regulations.

"Are you certain", I asked. "Yes", they said. Which meant that a huge number of our local CPZ parking bays were non-compliant with the regulations.

Could professional Highways contractors, a professional Highways Service, and a professional Parking Service all get it wrong? Well, it seems they can and they had. Not just in Haringey but in many local authorities across the country.

Checking With The Department for Transport

I wrote to the Department for Transport (DfT). They referred me to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002. And to the drawings in their Traffic Signs Manual. I looked at both and they confirmed what Neil and Simon said. ( See page 123 of the Manual; diagram 10.28 )

Street after street painted wrong? Surely not? (It's like someone tells me my trousers are on back-to-front.) So I wrote back to the DfT to check. Was this indeed correct? Was I looking at the right drawings? Yes, they said.

Here's the simple rule. For CPZ parking bays like those in the photos above which do not have individually marked spaces for each vehicle the correct marking is a single broken white end line. The markings shown in these photos - a double broken white line at the end of a bay - must be used where there are individually marked-out spaces.

Haringey Urban Environment Department - Bureauburble

I also wrote to Haringey Urban Environment Department asking if they knew their CPZ lines were wrong. And, crucially, if wrongly painted, would motorists succeed if they 'made a representation' to Haringey or appealed after getting a parking ticket (PCN) ?

In previous arguments about yellow box junctions in Philip Lane council officers in that Department had insisted on their 'good faith'. When it came to these white CPZ lines their initial reply was pure obfuscation.

They wrote they were: " taking action to address errors in existing signing and lining throughout the borough". This would "involve remedial action if necessary". Also that: "members of the public have the right to appeal against any PCNs they have been issued. Those PCNs will be upheld where we consider that the markings and signs are clear and enforceable.".

What did this weasel-worded bureauburble mean? It later turned out to be something like: 'We know full well that many of our CPZ parking bays are wrongly marked. But, you know what? We'll just carry on giving fines anyway. Most motorists won't know and won't object.

Good faith? Hardly. Certainly and clarity? None at all.

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( * The yellow lines seem to be properly marked, with the correct 'T'-bars at the ends.)