School run mother brazenly dumps her Mercedes on a ROUNDABOUT then claims she's allowed to park there when police slap her with a fine

A school run mother parked her Mercedes on a busy roundabout and then claimed she was in the right when police ticketed her.

The driver plonked her car just off the Swan Corner roundabout in Billesley, Birmingham, leaving one exit blocked.

She was caught by a police patrol outside Swanshurst School following parking complaints from staff and parents.

Driver plonked car just off the Swan Corner roundabout in Billesley, Birmingham
Was caught by a patrol outside Swanshurst School following parking complaints
Insisted she was in the right to park in the road before being ticketed by officers

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6644255/School-run-mother-brazenly-dumps-Mercedes-ROUNDABOUT.html

Make places for people to park then. This country is getting worse and worse for parking facilities.

If we keep accommodating all the vehicles we'll end up with vast housing estates which incorporate the rest of the country as car parks, there's never enough. Its time to leave the individual transport in the past.

so vintage......you dont agree with freedom of movement? and bugger the disabled ?

Not at all, I want a very good transport system that caters for all and has good access;
What's the point in individual transport with one person per car, polluting the atmosphere and clogging up space?
I live outside any shopping or entertainment areas with a useless bus service and I don't drive, before the almighty personal transport came along the bus/train service was pretty good, trains have gone of course and the buses are getting worse, they'll be gone soon as they have in many places leaving many people stranded.
So who exactly is being selfish here?

What is a "A school run mother"? Is this a ruse where the school board has "run" the mother to create the hysteria? Is this a contrived issue?

Lord Foul wrote:
so vintage......you dont agree with freedom of movement? and bugger the disabled ?

How long would it take for the traffic flow to grind to a halt,  if everybody was allowed to park wherever they like  ???

yeah but....

ok so we end up with nothing but "public transport"

1) public transport in many cases wont allow guns even in a slip
2) they wouldnt allow one to carry home ones freshly culled deer
3)I want transport of a size i need, when I need, to where I need, NOT on some unreliable timetable, going via stops I dont want thus increasing journey time and ending up at a stop over a mile away from where I want to be....I.e door to door (or in my case door to woodland) once at the wood I require said transport to be on call 24/7 to go where I want and back..
4) public transport wont get my 2 bags of cement , 1 bag of plaster and 10 2x4x8 foot lengths of timber from the store to home
etc etc etc
5 I dont think public transport would appreciate me taking my pack of woofits on...in fact many now play up merely over ONE dog

public transport is fine for the drones who dont have a life and do fk all but work booze and play video games....with the odd trip to the pub

In other words leftys, who are sad sacks, who would say you shouldnt have or do these things, you are not a drone of the hive mind~(less) you are not a fit in our grey little future.


the real answer of course is legislation ...a one mile parking exclusion zone (except for residents) around all schools, AND a policy of confiscating and crushing vehicles illegally parked

Of course, we "could" also have a policy of NO cars/private vehicles for townies after all you are oh so fond of your public transport THAT would solve the problem of parking in towns and cities......

and...you dont drive???

why?
If its for medical reasons then fair enough

otherwise......pathetic and you point isnt about "selfish" its about (like most of these lefty issues like shooting etc,) nothing but sheer jealousy, wrapped up in some fake "concern" about something or other as a disguise and justification.

Well said Vic ! Few years back, call from Farmer, "Rape just showing, hundreds of Pigeon feeding on it, come quick". Car in for repair, catch Bus ? Sack of Decoys, Pigeon Magnet, Shotgun, Thermos, Sandwiches and very large Lab, No chance !

Neither LF's nor nicko's rants against "lefties" would stereotypically apply to me, anyways...

I have a truck licence,
I own a 'SUV' type car,
Like Victor I need a car for moving 'things' as well as people,
Many of my joirneys are heading out of town -- where there is zero public transport..

Over here, the whingers and whiners in inner-city and urban areas are just as likely to be conervatives or anarchists, as soon as being "lefties".

While many of those driving less than a mile from home, and then parking illegally around school zones, shopping precincts or hospitals, will tend to be well-monied and self-entitled good little capitalists..

IF those selfish little knobs were allowed to continue parking wherever and whenever they choose, then they will just as easily block my -- or Lord Foul's -- progress just as easily as anyone else's...

Lord Foul wrote:yeah but....

ok so we end up with nothing but "public transport"  

1) public transport in many cases wont allow guns even in a slip
2) they wouldnt allow one to carry home ones freshly culled deer
3)I want transport of a size i need, when I need, to where I need, NOT on some unreliable timetable, going via stops I dont want thus increasing journey time and ending up at a stop over a mile away from where I want to be....I.e door to door (or in my case door to woodland) once at the wood I require said transport to be on call 24/7 to go where I want and back..
4) public transport wont get my 2 bags of cement , 1 bag of plaster and 10 2x4x8 foot lengths of timber from the store to home
etc etc etc
5 I dont think public transport would appreciate me taking my pack of woofits on...in fact many now play up merely over ONE dog

public transport is fine for the drones who dont have a life and do fk all but work booze and play video games....with the odd trip to the pub

In other words leftys, who are sad sacks, who would say you shouldnt have or do these things, you are not a drone of the hive mind~(less) you are not a fit in our grey little future.


the real answer of course is legislation ...a one mile parking exclusion zone (except for residents) around all schools, AND a policy of confiscating and crushing vehicles illegally parked

Of course, we "could" also have a policy of NO cars/private vehicles for townies after all you are oh so fond of your public transport  THAT would solve the problem of parking in towns and cities......

You know I respect a lot of what you have to say, Vic, but when you get on one you do tend to fly off on unnecessary tangents

So you exceptional situation is the reason why everyone should drive a car if able to? Come to Asia to see how that turnd out - I'll buy you a face mask so you needn't worry about the sometimes toxic air

I agree that in the countryside people need cars; but in cities, where public transport is almost always 100x quicker and always greener, there is no excuse to drive. In cities that is.

Also, I love how anyone who isn't cutting down trees, shooting something or building something automatically have no life

Tbf though, since you do such a good job stereotyping townies, I guess you want to bring balance by presenting country folk as angry, grumpy ruffians

Who's Ranting Wolfie ? I'm not. I,m just saying Public Transport would be no good to people who do what I used to do !

I don't drive because I'm no good at it, so why inflict possible accidents on myself and everyone else.
Every morning the traffic from the towns and villages is nose to tail to get to Cardiff or Newport in one direction or Swansea in the other, the junctions for Cardiff turn offs can take you 30 mins to negotiate, parking is a nightmare when you get the, everyone is going to more or less the same place and there's maybe one or two in each car, go by bus, tram or train and more people can be moved per vehicle with less obstruction and less pollution. Maybe places with good public transport like cities should ban personal transport, the obvious people will still need a car like doctors doing house calls, police etc. In the country it may be required to have personal transport unless we have some kind of driverless car that can be called to you to either drive yourself or be driven then be returned to a central point or even a decent bus service for goodness sake.

even a "called" driverless car is no use to me

1) when I want it I want it NOW, not wait until one is available
2) will it come with either a trailer or sufficient space in it for the often bulky and heavy gear I have?
3) will the leasing/hiring company permit a small pack of dogs?
4) will it be available to stay on site 24/7 for the duration of my stay in the woods (variable according to weather and whim from 3-7 days)


finally those who dont do as I have their own lives...sure.....but the ones who complain about what and how I do DONT....simples

1 they have no idea what is required to manage a woodland to the best benefit of wildlife
2) that DOES involve tree felling and especially careful thinning
3) coppicing, which is the system in use over 65% of my woodland is an ancient management system going back centuries, which is of great benefit to the ecosystem of the wood, promotes diversity and density of both flora and fauna, is applauded by ALL woodland authorities and supports a number of endangered species.
4) pest control via shooting is necessary and recognised as the best method of vermin and pest control in woodland by all "authorities"

when we bought the wood it was neglected and over grown with little light to the ground and a puacity of herbaceous plants and small shrubs.....
Since we have taken ownership of the wood (3 years ago) the number of individuals (birds) in any species had at least doubled and in the case of songbirds even more so
the number of species had increased 30%
insects have increased, with feeder species higher than expected
butterfly species up by 6
amphibians individuals up by 20% species up by 1
mammals individuals up by 20% endangered/protected up by 2 including the hazel dormouse
plants trees already there improved and coppice stools rescued thinned to benefit remaining trees of note and eco value. (native hardwoods)
herb layer, at least 6 new species noted last year, (presumably already present in seed form,) allowed to grow by allowing light in in coppiced area, includes one species of orchid and one rare species.

and for wolfies benefit

IN BRITAIN......

90%+ animal rights activists and shoot sabs (I dont count hunt sabs, since I dissagree with fox hunting with a pack of hounds) are sad sack looser lefties with nothing better to do to relive the unmitigated boredom of their miserable existence.

they have NO idea of what they are on about, being driven, not by evidence based claims but emotive "hug a tree rat" ideas.
And we already HAVE "SOME" in the Labour party, (and who must therefore be moderate left ) who would take these small woods into "public ownership" and allow public access......which of course would instantly ruin their value for the environment and ultimately lead to their destruction,

but vintage has a point....take the cars off the townies............

they have buses etc and dont need a car. me? I dont go into large towns and cities unless forced and inevitably I'm only "passing through" because there is no better route.

we could also reduce the number of vehicles on the road by being more selective as to who is allowed to drive

1)ALL criminals above a certain level of offending should not be allowed a vehicle or even to travel in one (except public transport)
2) All druggies and drunks not allowed to drive
3)anyone with a DUI conviction likewise
4)anyone with mental health problems such as depression etc likewise
AND

especially...improve and expand the rail system for freight and GET THE WAGONS OFF THE ROAD.

Good point about the railways, I caught the end of a programme talking about using the canal system again, don't know if it feasible.
The mail trains were  stopped and all the mail now goes by road, who thought that up, at least when it went by train it was still being sorted on the way. The mail line under London was closed down about twenty  years ago, its crazy when we are being lectured on carbon footprints and conservation, we just add to the problems on the roads and to parking not to mention road rage and parking rage. The size of the trucks on the roads even around here on B roads is frightening.
As said some people in certain circumstances could be exempted where working transport ie truck/landrover is required.

Re:  Railways...

Over here, the same thing has been happening with the country rail system, where the State governments have closed a lot of secondary trunk lines, as well as side lines into country towns , over the last 30+ years --  leaving road transport as the only viable way for a lot of country regions to move produce..

At the same time, the freight lines have been largely privatised (with some States keeping a small proportion of the equity), so that there is still rail transport between major centres, but once people reach those big towns, they might still be a few hundred kilometres from their home towns or farms.

While "public transport" is reasonable enough in the capital cities, and the larger secondary cities like Newcastle/Lake Macquarie, Gold Coast, Geelong and Wollongong, it deteriorates fast as you move out through the suburbs, becoming non-existent out on the fringes.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if other biggish countries --  the likes of the USA, Canada, Argentina and Brazil --  have also been witnessing the same contractions in regional services, at the same time as intra-city services have been expanding..

And leaving many people out in smaller towns and villages virtually stranded if they don't have access to their own transport...

Vintage wrote:If we keep accommodating all the vehicles we'll end up with vast housing estates which incorporate the rest of the country as car parks, there's never enough.  Its time to leave the individual transport in the past.

Well, in my case I suppose I could walk more than three miles to the nearest two-a-day bus stop along winding country lanes....or I could cut that to about two and a half miles by yomping across fields and wading across a couple of ditches.

Oh, it's only five miles to the nearest GP surgery (provided one can get an appointment within the next three weeks) and 11 to the nearest A&E hospital...easy to jog there at 80 and with a dicky ticker, eh?

Like anyone else, I have to eat, but no problem...the nearest food shop is only six miles away.

Nearest bank? 10 miles away.

Nearest post office? Four miles away.

Ban "individual transport"? More bloody pie-in-the-sky from the urban "elite".

Fred...I reckon the best idea is to build a wall 1 mile high round all the cities and big towns........then pray for rain...........

Ok, I'll concede personal transport for country folk as there is no alternative at present. I don't think there's much call for personal cars in cities with pretty damn good public transport, as I said for people working and moving around they'd need their own works transport.
At the moment we have three hospitals that we can be sent to one 10 mins away one 25 mins away and one an hour on a good day, visiting without a car though can be problematic so I don't envision people in rural areas being stranded as they are now, I would be hoping for great improvements in those areas. Pie in the sky of course.

What infuriates me, old chap, is that those holier-than-thou, self-styled and usually Left leaning "environmental campaigners" who constantly and pompously preach to us about the need to ban cars and vans from our roads generally live within strolling distance of the nearest railway or tube station, have a bus stop outside their front door and the Uber cab app on their latest state-of-the art mobile phones.

And just because they lay claim to their own presumed moral superiority by cycling or jogging a couple of miles along publicly maintained, well-lit and cleaned streets between their urban semis and their nice air-conditioned offices, they can't see why we out in the sticks should not be able to do the same along our unlit and pothole infested country lanes.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't swap my lifestyle for theirs...I awake every morning to the sight of rolling countryside, sheep grazing in the fields, woodlands and even a Tudor grange and tithe barn a few hundred yards away, and I am more than happy to put up with the absence of public transport and services and bear the heavy cost of driving to the nearest town when I need to.

OK, so my vehicles cause pollution - I accept that. I would happily swap my car for an all-electric one if I could be confident of finding a charging point (God only knows where the nearest one to me other than at my own home is located) or not having to join a mile long queue at a motorway service station because everyone else who has been forced to rely on battery power is trying to do the same thing on a Bank Holiday weekend.

And in any case, who bears the cost of simply scrapping as worthless something that represents, for most of us, our second largest capital investment and asset?

Wasn't it the bloody politicians who leaned so heavily on companies and individual motorists to switch to diesel not all that many years ago?

I don't want to strand anyone, quite the opposite. What I don't want is in the words of Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi to constantly 'pave paradise and put up a parking lot' - in this wonderful paradise we as Brits are lucky enough to live in.

obviously there is not a one size fits all solution
when i was living in Sydney I largely took public transport (trains)  my commute was about 3km drive 35km train and 1.5km walk.
now I live out in the Country it's a 72km drive and there is no other option.

that doesn't mean there shouldn't be policies to improve public transport in the Cities because that will still improve it for the majority.

In Australia, Buses are probably more practical for regional towns since there isn't the population to justify trains that can carry hundreds of people. It would be good if they linked the regional centers with high speed rail though.