However, in Britain many cities also use parking control as a 'tool' to try and force a reduction in the total number of vehicles on the roads. They have fallen for anti-car activists' argument that it is the very expectation of easy availability of parking at journey's end that encourages people to drive, so they try to restrict the amount of parking space available to private motorists who, unable to find a parking spot will then (they hope!) switch their journeys to public transport. Sadly this too is a flawed theory propagated by luddite by anti-car activists as in reality what happens is that either the motorist will just park illegally or, if they have the option, go somewhere else where parking is easier (ie: out of town shopping centre).

Another favoured parking control tool follows the concept that wherever there is parking, it must be chargeable - with the motto being the more expensive the better! Officially these charges are supposed to fund new off-street parking facilities for those people who insist on driving in our cities, the theory being that 'in time' almost all on-street parking will be replaced by off-street car parks. Those with long enough memories may recall that the same criteria was used with the introduction of the parking meter in the 1950's. As yet we are still waiting for the monies raised to be spent as publically advertised and it is very probable that we will still be waiting in the 2050's.

In the meantime parking gets both harder and more expensive, so as a result the motorists vote with their accelerator pedals as they forsake places (such as town centres) where parking is difficult and / or expensive and instead drive to the large regional shopping centres, such as Brent Cross, Bluewater, Metrocentre, Merry Hill, Trafford Park, etc., where parking is free and easy. Of course this both increases traffic levels and harms local traders, established town centres and those people who are unable to travel to the regional centres. Some politicians see a solution in making the regional centres charge for parking too; so, once again, more revenue generation is seen as THE answer (sigh), whilst investing in proven successful fixed-infrastructure alternatives that provide an attractive alternative choice and thereby help reduce traffic levels is shunned.

(For ideas on what is really needed, and how it could be funded, see the Enough Stick, How About Some Carrot page).

Parking and zebra crossings.

Making a Rod For One's Back!

Footpath parking.

In many areas of Britain parking on the footpath is illegal, and in the Devonian village of Beer they have found a novel way to ensure that motorists comply with this regulation. The thought of the possible damage if a wheel should stray into the water channel certainly focuses the mind to be very careful when parking!!! This water channel also improves road safety because it encourages pedestrians to cross the road at designated positions - and not walk out from between the parked vehicles.

Note the broken yellow lines painted alongside to the kerb. For many years these markings designated that the parking restriction applied for less than the working day (ie: only part of the day eg: rush hours or short parking bans to stop commuters parking there all day), nowadays they have been replaced by a continuous yellow line, which used to designate that the restriction applied for the whole of the working day. So in effect the same markings designate that very different restrictions are in force. Are you confused? Yes, so are most motorists, who now have to look for little restriction plates which are supposed to be fitted to roadside posts (or street lamps) but too often are missing. The real beneficiaries of this will be whoever pockets the fines for 'illegal' parking.

The French seem to have a different attitude to parking than we do - as these pictures show there are places where motorists are expected to park on the footpath.

Cyclists and Parking.

These cyclist parking meters were seen on a visit in the early 1990's, however they were not there on a visit made in 2006.

However as the next views show, it seems that the issue of bicycles being left just about anywhere has become such a problem that it has been found neccessary to embed these 'no parking' signs in the footpath next to trees, railings, etc, in a vain attempt to stop cyclists from leaving their transports 'just about anywhere'. However cyclists are cyclists and the observance is even less than that shown by car drivers for parking restrictions.

Park & Ride.

Park & Ride schemes are often claimed to reduce urban traffic congestion by encouraging motorists to park at outer-suburban locations and complete their journeys by public transport. Sometimes the transport will be dedicated to the Park & Ride facilities, other times the car parking will link into the regular public transport. Depending on locality and service provided the cost of the parking could be included in the transport fare, payable in the car park, or completely free.

Sign at entry to Controlled Parking Zone, advising days / hours of operation which can vary in different areas.

Bay closed, for whatever reason...

Above & below Anti controlled parking scheme protest in Buckhurst Hill, Essex. See text below for full details.

In an effort to try and stem the ever-growing tide of motor vehicles across Britain many of our national and local politicians have formulated a plan which ultimately will make it impossible to park anywhere (except your front / back garden) without being charged. In some inner-city areas, especially near rail stations where commuter parking is a problem the locals have welcomed the idea - if only because it reclaims the streets for their own cars.

The idea is that local residents pay an annual fee and display a special licence (personalised to the specific vehicle) in the windscreen. These licences will also be specific to a local area which can be just one street or a group of streets. Road markings and plates (either free standing or on street lamps) will indicate where parking is allowed, and for which zone. Usually there are also some spaces reserved for short stay visitors who pay cash using either meters, pay and display or vouchers.

However, most local governments will happily sell significantly more licences for their residential parking areas than there is space to park all the permit-holding vehicles - so often despite having paid some motorists cannot park legally. At least the local governments are honest enough to publically state that a licence is no more than a permit to park and does not guarantee that space will be available. (I wonder, how many other organisations, businesses, etc., can legally get away with selling a product that it warns may not be useable)?? What happened to the consumer protection legislation???

Some households have two (or more) cars; many local governments will only sell one licence per household so the extra cars must be parked elsewhere.

For short stay visitors some local governments allow residents to buy visitor permits; often on a daily basis. Often residents are restricted in how many such permits can be bought on an annual basis.

Apart from the expected problems in transferring licences when a car is changed (sold / stolen / hire car whilst own vehicle is off the road for repairs etc.,) perhaps the most significant problem that this system has seen is what happens at boundaries - especially between different councils. In some areas the situation does arise whereby vehicles can only park on one side of the road because of this.

Another problem is where local residents (who do not own cars) sell their right to a parking permit to someone else. They are not supposed to do this, but some do.

Where the residents parking system fails is with people like plumbers, midwives making routine calls, appliance repair specialists (eg: washing machine) etc., who often do not know if their visit is going to last 10 minutes... or 3 hours. These people frequently receive tickets (or worse); they need to drive as their vehicles will carry important tools of their trade which cannot be transported any other way. Why should they be penalised for trying to carry out their lawful daily toil?

When the local council in Buckhurst Hill, Essex wanted to introduce a residents parking zone the locals were so angry that they organised a petition, which was successful. Local people were very happy with the existing system whereby to stop commuters parking in the local shopping street there is a lunchtime one-hour restriction. Incidentally, although Buckhurst Hill is on London's Underground it is outside the London local government area, so retains its police traffic wardens and has fully de-regulated buses - like the rest of Britain. (see two video-stills at base of image panel above left).

Addlestone, Surrey, Pay & Display machine which also gives free parking - see main text for full details.

P&D machine at entrance to a car park in Southend-on-sea, Essex - see main text for full details. Click image to see a larger version in a new window. Note the aircraft waste gas "chemtrail" in the top left corner of the image.

This Pay & Display sign comes from on-street parking in Orpington town centre, in the London Borough of Bromley.

This machine requires motorists to use the keypad and enter part of their vehicles' registration number onto the ticket - see main text for full details.

In many areas parking meters (which are usually individual to the parking bay) are being replaced by Pay & Display machines, with a few machine serving a group of parking bays. However, whereas with meters if it is not working the vehicle can often park for free with these machines if one has failed then motorists are expected to use another nearby machine. But woe betide them if they use a wrong machine which serves a different set of parking bays! The machine seen here is powered by a battery which is recharged by a solar panel - if only every aspect of motoring was sustainably powered like this...!

Pay & Display parking is very common in Britain. The idea is that motorists pay at the machine and display a ticket (or 'receipt') so that a roving attendant can verify its validity when looking through the vehicle's windscreen. Charges usually vary according to location, in most cases they are based on hourly or half hourly time periods which must be decided upon in advance. The regulations usually allow motorists to stay for less than the pre-paid time period (although refunds for the unused time paid for are never given) but should they stay longer then they can expect to be fined, and possibly even have their vehicles clamped or taken to the car pound. Similar penalties apply if the driver fails to buy a ticket or if the ticket is not left the 'correct' position in the vehicle.

The machines located in the Leo CO-OP superstore car park, Addlestone, Surrey, (see picture left) are very unusual because they allow up to three hours free parking. The idea is to deter commuters who will want to park all day (the superstore is very near the railway station) but not to stop shoppers coming. To take advantage of the free parking drivers must push a special button on the machine and display the ticket in the normal way. Otherwise they will be fined (also in the normal way).

Usually when the P&D system is used in car parks the motorists are expected to park their vehicle and then immediately find a machine and purchase a ticket. This car park in Southend-on-sea, Essex, uses a different system - motorists are supposed to pay on entry, and then find a parking spot. As the sign on the machine suggests, at busy times motorists should wait until they are sure a space is available before paying and entering. Few motorists like the concept of paying for time they cannot use and instead many do the sensible thing and enter, park and then walk back to the machine to buy the ticket (see picture left).

Most P&D machines require full payment for pre-set time periods and will also accept over-payment if the motorist does not have the correct change, however this system penalises motorists who have insufficient change for a complete time period or only want to park for a few minutes while they nip into a shop. Unfortunately too few councils recognise this and use the more user-friendly machines which calculate the correct parking period according to the actual payment made.

Sometimes motorists who stay for less than the pre-paid period will pass the ticket to someone else, effectively letting them park for 'free'. Where tickets are marked as 'not transferable' this practise is illegal, however it is very difficult to prevent as to achieve a successful prosecution the attendants have to catch someone doing it. Occasionally to do this an attendant will arrive at the parking spot in an unmarked car and see if anyone offers them a no-longer required ticket, another solution is to use a machine such as this one (below left) which requires motorists to input part of their vehicle's registration number at the time of payment so that it can be printed onto the ticket which is displayed in the vehicle.

An issue which road users need to be aware of is that at local government boundaries it is very important to use the correct P&D machines. It is too easy to be caught out and pay at a machine from one borough and park in another borough's parking bay. Traffic wardens are rarely sympathetic enough to turn a blind eye!

The sheer arrogance of petty officials who have power over others! This is what would be expected from societies ruled by thugs such as Hitler or Stalin - not in a (pseudo)-democracy If they REALLY wanted to encourage people to pay then they would either use machines which give change or allow part-hour payment - as in Orpington (see image panel on left).

Pay & Display sign warning motorists to follow the rules - or expect to be fined.

In many areas private companies will wheel clamp people who use private car carks without permission. Sometimes they also operate on unused land next to shops which are not car parks as such but enable people to park off the main highway, often encouraging such illegal parking by using their own vehicles as decoys, following the principle that where motorists see one parked vehicle then they will park there too. In Scotland however such behaviour is illegal after a judge likened it to extorting money with menaces. Signage as large and easy to read as this is a rare treat - too often the signs are small and located where they are too easily missed. Note the very expensive-to-contact mobile phone contact number. click image to see a larger version in a new window.

Voucher parking sign. Click image to see a larger version in a new window.

For the sake of an easy life some people will buy extra vouchers for the next time they visit this area (effectively giving the local council an interest-free cash advance); these vouchers must then be used before an expiry date otherwise the council will have received money for nothing. It wouldn't be so bad if there was a single nationwide Voucher Parking system, but unfortunately the opposite is the reality, so motorists who regularly visit different areas can also be caught out by using a voucher that is not valid where they are at that moment.

The Voucher Parking system operates like a scratch card. To use them motorists must scratch over the sections for the day, date, times etc. Of course, if they make a mistake (ie; get the date wrong - a simple but common mistake) then the card is effectively voided. And the money wasted.

The only positive aspect of this system is that in areas of high street crime where the money in Pay & Display machines is frequently stolen the voucher system will remove a source of income from the thieves.

As the cover on the parking meter suggests, payment for parking is now made by telephone.

A road sign advising motorists of the parking restrictions in force at that parking bay.

Detailed information on how to pay for parking, which is located on the footpath-facing side of the pole seen above.

The Telephone Parking System.

In recent years some towns and cities have started using cashless telephone-based payment systems which require motorists to telephone (or text) a central office and pay via a pre-arranged account, a 'plastic' card or the mobile phone telephone bill (the exact payment options may vary from one parking operator to another). To prevent violation the streets are still patrolled in the usual way, however as there are no visible displays (either next to or within the vehicle) proving that it is indeed parked legally the system is heavily reliant on the traffic wardens carrying portable electronic devices which are updated from the central server on a 'real time' basis.

As ever there are both benefits and disbenefits.

Perhaps one of the biggest benefits is that the operators of some schemes will allow people to buy extra time, which can be very useful if (for instance) a business meeting is running late or a plumber is making an emergency repair which is going to take half-an-hour longer than originally anticipated... Many people will also welcome the facility whereby they can receive automated text messages to their mobile phones advising them when there is a predetermined amount of 'paid time' left. Almost everybody will appreciate not having to face the issues of having sufficient coins with which to feed a parking meter or buy a 'pay & display' parking ticket - especially as parking prices are such that very frequently even if £2 coins are used possibly a fair number (ie: 6 - 10 !) may be required to pay for the parking.

Less welcome perhaps is that people without mobile phones and either plastic card or pre-arranged parking contract (account) payment systems are usually unable to park (sometimes a public telephone will be nearby, but this cannot be relied upon). An addition, as it seems that the British systems tend to use 0870 revenue sharing 'non-geographic' telephone numbers which are always outside of mobile phone calling plans so the person making the call also has to pay 'top whack' for that call. As the calls invariably include a number of minutes 'on hold' waiting for the next available person to answer so calls can become fairly expensive. (The word 'fleeced' come to mind). And then there are the service charges (ie: account fees and / or flat rate 'transaction fees') which some parking operators charge... - sometimes even every time a person parks their vehicle!

From the parking operators point of view perhaps the most significant benefit is that it means that the cost of handling the physical money (coins) is taken out of the equation. Secondary benefits include that the lack of cash means that the costs of the street-based parking meters and / or 'pay &' display machines are avoided, as is the issue of loss of income from monies stolen from the street based machinery. Where available automated systems involving text messaging or voice recognition spoken systems can be very cheap to operate, although some people rate such systems as being very 'user unfriendly' and much prefer to speak with real human beings.

Furthermore, in addition to the savings from the costs just detailed above, the use of telephone systems actually creates a new revenue stream (ie; a 'nice little earner') for the local government operating the parking control system, with the newly sourced revenues coming by making people pay for parking via 0870 telephone code numbers than through revenue sharing can earn several pence a minute - even whilst the caller is 'on hold' waiting to speak with someone. Cynics would suggest that this alone is enough of an incentive for the parking control operators to make sure that there are never enough call centre staff to answer calls quickly. NB: Calls to 0845 telephone codes also often facilitate revenue sharing and whilst they are a little less expensive to call it can be questioned whether they too are appropriate for *any* public service of any kind.

People who use telephone parking also need to remember that all these transactions also leave trails, so that Big Brother can record their every movement. However, in cities with large CCTV systems (ie: London) this is already the situation.

The concept is that the motorist displays a card in the windscreen which has a 'dial' which can be turned to show the approximate time of arrival (eg: 11-11.30am). The dial will also show a time by which the motorist must have left the parking area, typically this will be 1-1½ hours later (eg 12.30pm).

Technically these disks are city-specific although often (but not always) they show similar time periods so as a tourist we would use the one we had wherever we were. In some areas disks were free, in others there was a small fee.

Simply lengthening the hours of operation for parking controls may make on-street parking more difficult but in itself will do nothing to encourage people to use alternative transports. There were so many complaints about the 8.30pm ending of the parking controls that since this image was taken the hours have reverted bach to 8.30am - 6.30pm.

A traffic warden uses his computerised terminal to give an illegally parked vehicle a ticket. These terminals allow wardens to instantly 'know' if a vehicle has unpaid tickets.

A clamper at work in the London Borough of Camden. In this instance the vehicle's owner arrived just in time and escaped with nothing more than a fright!

This man wasn't so lucky. He must now 'pay' a visit to the car pound and 'pay' (again) to get his vehicle back. At over £100 it will be very 'paynful' (sic).

----------- Wheelclamping and removing is not just for illegal parking - among the 'other' reasons why vehicles might be immobilised in this way are their not showing a valid tax disc or having unpaid previous parking tickets.

It does not help when the signs show different times!! What about 6pm - 6.30pm? Wardens bonanza time??

In many areas shops do not have rear entrances or loading bays, so deliveries must come from vehicles parked in the street.

Click the cashtill or speaker icon to hear the cashtill ring up a sale. (This link leads to an 8kb file called "cashtill.mp3").

In London (and some provincial towns & cities) parking has been privatised, which means that instead of the police (and traffic wardens) patrolling the streets and giving out 'fines' for illegal parking (parking tickets) the job is done by a private company on behalf of the local council. These wardens can also issue tickets for other motoring offences, such as not having an up to date tax disc, stopping on a pedestrian crossing or the "zig-zag" road marking either side of the crossing, and more...

Effectively this means that on-street parking control and supervision has been placed under the jurisdiction of commercial organisations which have vested interests in rasing as much money as possible by issuing as many tickets as possible - and although there are supposed to be codes of conduct (aka: rules of engagement) the reality is that most road users feel that war has been declared - and they are the enemy.

The main reason for the privatisation of parking control was that the existing 'yellow line' parking control system was so very badly policed that many motorists just ignored it and parked where they liked. And, even if (in the unlikely event) they did get a parking ticket they would ignore that too as the chances of any follow-up action for non-payment was very slim.

The introduction of private wardens also saw a shake-up of the fines procedure; parking tickets are no longer criminal offences, if paid within 14 days there is a 50% discount whilst if unpaid after 60 days there is a 50% surcharge.

So far so good...

For people who want to dispute a parking ticket a new tribunal was set up, and sometimes it even agrees with them and cancels a ticket. But, as the appeals procedure is somewhat slow any appellant who loses also misses out on the chance of taking the 50% discount for speedy payment. As a result many people find it to be cheaper (and easier) to just pay up.

The privatised traffic wardens are not supposed to receive a 'bonus' for issuing more than a set number of tickets per day or be reprimanded if they issue too few tickets, however, it is often alleged that this does happen. It is also alleged that the wardens who frequently exceed their 'targets' will get (faster) promotion within the private company.

We all saw the TV programmes where a warden was trying to issue over 100 tickets a day and even though his computerised ticket-issuing terminal's battery failed on the first attempt a later attempt proved successful.
How many of these tickets were wrongly issued???

Some traffic wardens' duties include driving to more remote areas and ticketing any illegally parked vehicles that they may find. To do this the regulations allow them to park in places where other vehicles would receive tickets. However, it was found that some of these wardens would park at dangerous locations (on junction lines - of - sight, etc) while giving out parking tickets... even (allegedly) causing accidents as a result.

Worse still, they would park their unmarked vehicles on yellow lines and disappear, using their cars as decoys to entice other motorists to park nearby. And when enough did so - snap - another bundle of tickets issued. (A bit like a spider that spins a web and then retreats until it has several 'bites').

Even mobile blood transfusion units have received parking tickets - while volunteers were inside giving blood!

But it isn't just the traffic wardens who need watching...

However, it isn't just the traffic wardens who need watching -- when one motorist received a ticket for not parking properly within the marked bay he discovered that the bay was smaller than the regulation size, so technically he was unable to park legally. In this instance the ticket was cancelled but the local authority refused to re-paint the bays the correct size. (He had a Saab saloon car - not a massively large vehicle).

When a large number of patients visiting medical specialists in Harley Street, London started getting tickets it was discovered that the parking meters were running so fast that for every 30 minutes of 'paid time' the meter would run out after just 25 minutes. This meant that for a maximum visit of 2 hours (@ £1.00 per half-hour) they would loose a whopping 20 minutes. More than enough time to be ticketed, clamped and / or towed away. (A spot-check in March 2000 found that the meters had been replaced by the 'pay & display' system - see below - and the charge increased to a massive £2.40 per hour.

Among the other 'antics' worth mentioning are the wheel clampers who immobilise meals-on-wheels vehicles and hearses outside Churches.

Once a police officer even arrested a traffic warden for 'obstruction' when the warden gave an illegally parked vehicle (near Buckingham Palace) a ticket. Funny though, despite much media coverage when it happened the newspapers were much more muted when it came to a follow-on explaining why the warden was arrested. Instead, it seems some sort of behind the scenes settlement was struck.

Where the parking system really falls down is in its lack of respect for the various business and utility services on which we all depend. And we all end up paying - plumbers, for instance, regularly get tickets and all they can do is charge their customers more (ie: you and me) and treat the fines as an 'expense' to be offset against their tax bills. These people carry the tools of their trade with them, they must both drive and park very close to where they are working.

Nor just local councils or wheelclampers...

Of course it would be wrong to suggest that all traffic wardens and 'officialdom' are devils whilst all motorists are angels:-

a government study published in 1999 found that people committing parking offences were very likely to be also committing other, more serious offences.

Looking at vehicles illegally parked in disabled driver bays they found that 1 in 5 (vehicle owners) were 'of immediate interest to the police', 1 in 3 (vehicle owners) had a criminal record and 1 in 5 vehicles were known (or suspected) to have previously been used in crime.

In March 2005 it was announced that to reduce the number of incorrect parking tickets its privatised traffic wardens are issuing Westminster City Council in central London would be giving all its traffic wardens new computerised parking ticket issuing equipment which will be programmed with the restrictions in force on the roads being patrolled. So, if a roads's parking restrictions begin at 8.30am then it will not be possible to issue a ticket at 8.29am. The machine will not allow it.

Furthermore, every parking offence will be photographed so that if a motorist complains that the ticket was incorrect, or their vehicle was not there at the time, (etc) the photograph can be used to clarify the situation - and help prove guilt / innocence.

These actions are being carried out as part of a 'motorists charter' which also includes new investments designed to speed up the complaints procedure so that complaints will be handled within just 5 working days - instead of the 18 working days when the investment was announced.

Parking Confusion.

Because each of London's 33 local councils controls parking within their respective areas it often happens that rules and regulations differ. This can and does cause confusion to both Londoners and visitors alike who may not realise that this is the situation and / or may read the local road signs incorrectly (if, that is, the signs exist in the first place). The situation can be even worse at local government boundaries where vehicles parked just yards apart can be subject to very different regulations - especially where the boundary is along the centre of a road - so that different sides of the road have different parking zone restrictions. This is very much a problem for local people in areas where there are residents parking zones and as a result they can only park on 'their' side of the road.

On a wider scale the confusion extends city-wide, with some people questioning whether the numerous zones could not be amalgamated into one, which would set consistent standards. The principle objections to this would come from the 33 local councils which would loose a very lucrative revenue stream. In addition people who live in areas which are not deemed to be "anti-car" would object to a change of the system if it resulted in stiffer restrictions being introduced where they live.

Public Holiday Confusion.

One example of what can happen comes from the winter holidays 2004/5 when New Year's day was on a Saturday, but the official public holiday on the following Monday. Some local councils enforced Saturday - style parking restrictions, whilst others enforced the much more lenient public holiday restrictions. In London Westminster City Council was one of the areas which enforced Saturday restrictions and its traffic wardens issued over 3,000 parking tickets worth about £180,000 in fines. Many vehicles were also towed away (stinging them for a £150 extra charge) and / or wheel clamped (the unclamp fee being an extra £65). Apparently in Westminster the roadside signs advise motorists that parking restrictions are not enforced on public holidays (so parking meters, pay & display parking systems are free plus it is permitted to park on single yellow lines) and being New Years Day most people believed it was a public holiday.

In this instance, and after much media criticism most parking tickets were cancelled (only those which would still have been issued on a public holiday still stand) and people who bought pay & display parking (and still have the receipts) were able to apply for a refund. However nothing will repay the inconvenience and time theft caused to many innocent road users whilst waiting for their vehicles to be unclamped or when retrieving their vehicles from the tow-away car pound.

Admittedly the above situation will not occur again for a number of years (in 2011!) and was in part caused by government departments wrangling (over the status of the Saturday as a public holiday when it was not a weekday) but the fact remains that it did happen. Hopefully by 2011 a more consistent solution will have been agreed upon, and all local governments will follow similar, well publicised restrictions. As with some of the other information on this page this was sourced from news reports in the London Evening Standard newspaper and / or and their website www.thisislondon.co.uk and according to them at least part of the Saturday / New Years Day parking restriction confusion was because whilst an official for the Government's Department for Work and Pensions stated that Saturday was indeed a public holiday the Department of Trade and Industry overruled this.

Red Route road sign.

Red Route road sign.

Archway Road: A 3 lane dual carriageway that changes into a narrow urban road lined with shops and residential properties.

Archway Road: 4.35pm and despite the lack of congestion the parking restrictions are already in force, backed by a police tow-away vehicle.

Crouch End station in 1994. In 1936 electrification works were began to extend Northern Line UndergrounD trains through this station and on to Alexandra Palace. Work stopped during the war and never restarted. --------------- Restoration of rail services would have alleviated congestion on the roads, as an alternative to unpopular road widening.

The X43 shows its true colours! My camcorder catches a specimen off-route outside Kings Cross Station with its destination blind revealing all - Rail Replacement Service.

Instead the idea was hatched that a network of existing roads would be designated for a far higher standard of parking control with the aim of speeding up the traffic flow. This switched the focus of the vociferous anti-road widening lobby to the fear that their local roads would become urban racetracks, attracting more and faster through traffic to the detriment of local people. So, to help 'sell' the concept to these anti-roads protestors it was decided to put in extra bus priority measures (especially bus lanes, but not traffic signal pre-emption) and install speed cameras even though the use of these cameras was meant to be restricted to accident blackspots and not as a 'general catch all'.

The original philosophy behind the red routes was that roads should only be for moving or live vehicles and therefore parked or dead vehicles should be banished elsewhere. To achieve this the planners wanted to create a lot more off street parking facilities, but because it would have meant knocking down a lot of buildings the concept was amended so that on-street parking (and loading) would still be permitted albeit only within designated bays at certain times. These varied according to location and even resulted in the creation of some free (either time-limited or completely unrestricted) parking spaces where none had existed before.

The red routes differ from ordinary roads in several ways. The most obvious one is that the lines painted in the gutter are red - and not yellow! On these roads stopping is prohibited except where road markings / plates on street lamp columns expressly state otherwise. They are still patrolled by the police traffic wardens (instead of the privatised local government wardens), parking ticket fines are higher and there is no 'discount' for paying quickly.

Two initial red routes were chosen, one of which was the A13 through East London. Within months shopkeepers along the inner London section of this route found that although the red routes introduced draconian restrictions during the rush hours the off peak 'short stay' free parking spaces gave them a commercial advantage over rival traders along the parallel A11, which kept its yellow lines.

The other route in the red route pilot scheme was the A1 through inner North London. This included the Archway Road, part of which is a three lane dual-carriageway which suddenly ends and becomes a narrow road with shops and houses on either side. This is the road that the government had wanted to widen, against much vociferous opposition.

Incidentally, that road widening scheme would have cost billions and it's a pity the government lacked any enthusiasm to balance such expenditure by spending similar sums on London's railways. Parallel to the narrow section of Archway Road is a section of railway that in 1940 was partially electrified as London Underground's Northern Line - even appearing on the famous Underground Map as lines being electrified but - in 1954 and with much of the work completed (having been suspended in 1941 because of the war) the whole line was closed (in favour of buses) on the feeble excuse of a shortage of coal for the steam engines that were then operating there. Nowadays part of this line has become a parkland walkway which may be very pleasant to walk through but does nothing to solve London's transport woes.

To further give the impression that the A1 red route scheme was not just about speeding up car traffic but would also be good for public transport a new rush-hours only 'express' bus service was introduced (the X43). London Transport Buses bought a fleet of brand new specially decorated double decker buses (cost £100,000 each) many of which made just one journey per rush hour and returned to the depôt empty. (In those days LT was still publically owned so did not have to justify the cost of the new buses like a 'private' company). At the same time an existing bus route (279) was shortened so that it would no longer parallel the route 43. If that was not enough a very busy underground station along the red route (Angel) was also closed for rebuilding. Together these factors ensured that when a traffic survey was conducted the results showed that the introduction of the red route had coincided with a healthy increase in bus patronage.

After a couple of years a survey was conducted by the Transport Research Laboratory which found that the A1 red route had led to a 17% reduction in road accidents which involved personal injury, bus journey reliability had improved by 33% and journey times had reduced by 10% - in fact all classes of road traffic enjoyed faster journeys. Furthermore, it suggested that the cost of implementation would be recouped within two years.

More recently the red routes have spread all over London. In many areas their introduced was locally unpopular, especially where residential and shopping streets were involved. In most cases however the red route restrictions have been accepted - albeit with an attitude of dejected resignation and feelings of injustice over the lack of local democratic accountability over the issue. At least one area saw (unsuccessful) attempts to fend off the red routes end up in court. Because the principle of the red routes had been enacted via the national government as an Act of Parliament these court actions were doomed from the outset and the resulting bill for the cost of the court case was so large that some of the people involved faced personal ruin, even bankruptcy.

Surprisingly some of the roads which have been converted to red routes were already urban clearways where illegal parking was already criminal offence which attracted penalty points on a driver's license. Converting these roads to red route may have been tidy in the urban planners book but surely the money could have been better spent elsewhere?

The stated aim of the red routes has also evolved to become more passenger transport orientated; now the idea is to improve road safety and speed the movement of people and goods, not vehicles. Buses of course carry more people than cars. so they are treated as priority vehicles.

A survey in 1997 which compared some other, more recent, red routes with their previous 'yellow line' status in 1994 found that journey time reliability improved by 10% - with all traffic benefiting - and illegal parking virtually halved, which the survey attributed to the introduction of some free short term parking and loading spaces.