New Zealander paints his own parking restrictions

A New Zealand man who has unlawfully painted yellow line parking restrictions outside his house in Wellington for the last 20 years says he has done so to improve road safety and to protest against gentrification.

Russell Taylor said it was necessary to stop cars from parking dangerously in an increasingly busy street. The city council says the lines are illegal and will be removed.

Mr Taylor has lived on Holloway Road since 1979, he says he has painted the lines intermittently over the last two decades when the parking problem in his street has become especially bad.

The roads have changed a lot since he has lived there and a lot more people now have cars. Mr Taylor sees it as a protest against the failure of the council to take action.

"Cars park on blind corners, and on occasions fire lorries and rubbish collection vehicles have been unable to turn around because vehicles are parked on both sides of the road.

"More recently we have had the additional problem of drivers going far too fast down our narrow street."

A city council spokesman, Richard MacLean, told Stuff New Zealand that it was aware there was a parking problem in Holloway Road, and it will shortly be discussed by residents and councillors.

The spokesman added that it was unlikely that Mr Taylor would be punished for his long-running, unofficial road-marking campaign.

Blue badge parking permits to cover 'hidden disabilities' in England

The Department for Transport  have said that blue badge parking permits are to be made available for people in England with "hidden disabilities" such as autism or mental health problems from next year.

The current rules do not explicitly exclude hidden disabilities, however councils' interpretations can vary.

Similar changes have come into effect in Scotland and Wales.
When the changes to the blue badge scheme in England are introduced, they will extend eligibility to:

• people who cannot make a journey without "a risk of serious harm to their health and safety" or that of others, such as young children with autism
• people for whom travel causes "very considerable psychological distress"
• and those with considerable difficulty walking, meaning "both the physical act and experience of walking"

Currently about 2.4 million disabled people in England have a blue badge as part of the system that was introduced in 1970 costing £10 in order to make access easier for disabled people.

It allow holders to park for free in pay-and-display spaces across the UK and for up to three hours on yellow lines.

The blue badge concessions do not apply to privately-run car parks. They also can not be used in central London, where residents need to apply for a special permit, although they do provide an exemption from the congestion charge.



For more on this story please visit the BBC

Ford Mondeo Fittes with Micro Reversing Sensors

This 67 reg Ford Mondeo was fitted with a Dolphin Automotive DMS400 micro sensor kit in "muddy grey" by one of our nationwide installers. I think you will agree a great match at a great price.

The DMS400 kit comes with an audio buzzer which alerts at a more frequest rate the closer you get to an obstacle.  The beep becomes continuous at a distance of 30cm to alert the driver to stop reversing.

Man puts rude note inside penalty notice holder on car parked over two parent-and-child bays

After seeing a car straddling two parent and baby spaces, Mike from Woking in Surrey decided to prank a fellow motorist with a fake parking notice.

 The offending Land Rover Freelander was outside a branch of Tesco in Weybridge, Dorset, on Monday evening

He said: “There were lots of spaces. I just didn’t understand why they’d parked like that, it was just ridiculous.#

Source image Mercury Press

“The note wasn’t meant to be nasty, it was just a spur of the moment thing to highlight the bad parking.

“I’m a rep driving around all the time and it annoys when I can’t get a space because people have parked stupidly."

Mike said he was given a ticket a few years ago" after overstaying by ten minutes. At the time he just ripped the notice off his vehicle, stuck it in the glovebox and forget about it, but when he was in the car park on Monday night he saw the perfect opportunity to use the penalty notice holder.

Mike maintains the note wasn't malicious, adding: “I wrote something short that wasn’t too offensive as I didn’t want to be using all sorts of horrible words.
"I just wanted to shock them into parking sensibly.”

Source image Mercury Press

Mike had spotted the strange parking as he entered the supermarket and 20 minutes later returned to his vehicle and scribbled the note on the back of an envelope in a black marker pen.

After Mike tucked the note inside the yellow wallet and placed it on the car windscreen he went back to his van and waited to see if the car owner would emerge and read it.

The joker added: “I’m 49, so old enough to know better, but hung around afterwards for 20 minutes.
"No-one appeared and I got bored so left.”

Read a longer version of the story here Sun

University Allows Students To Pay For Parking Tickets With Food Donations

We came cross this story published on Aprils Fools but it was no joke!

University of Florida President W. Kent Fuchs announced on Twitter that people who had been cited for parking violations on campus over the past year could get amnesty for their ticket by donating food.

"For many years, parking tickets have been a source of contention between the university administration, and our students, staff, faculty, alumni, and visitors," Fuchs begins in the the 38-second video posted by UF's twitter account.

"I am pleased to announced, on this first day of April, that UF will have an amnesty program for parking fines. And today I'm calling on Scott Fox, the director of Transportation and Parking Services to create by tomorrow, a program that will allow the past twelve months of parking tickets to be forgiven."

But, as nearly people found out this week, the UF president wasn't kidding. According a tweet from Fuchs, nearly 2,000 citations were dismissed in exchange for 9,455 canned food donations.

The "Food for Fines" program applied to all unpaid parking citations issued by the University of Florida Office of Transportation and Parking Services between April 1st, 2017 and April 1, 2018.

Donations included toiletries, canned and boxed nonperishable foods, baby formula and diapers. Participants needed to bring in at least five items per citation and there was no limit on the amount of citations that could be forgiven.

The canned food donations will head for the shelves of the school's Field and Fork Pantry.

For more on this story please visit https://www.iheart.com

 

Woman jailed for tampering with parking ticket in Dubai

A 25-year-old German woman has been sentenced to three months in jail after she tampered with a parking ticket.

The Court charged the woman with forgery after the public prosecution recommended for strictest penalty for her.

The offence took place on June 16, 2016. A ticket inspector noticed that one of the cars had a ticket on where the month had been changed by hand. "The fare paid and the parking time did not match," the inspector told the prosecutor.

"It looked obvious that the ticket was issued on May 16 but the car owner changed the date on the ticket to June 16 and left it on the front of the car. I reported the matter to my superior and then to the police."

The defendant admitted that she had got a paid parking ticket on May 16, 2016 and she used the same ticket on June 16, 2016, by changing the month from 5 to 6 so as to avoid buying a new ticket.

For more on this story please see khaleejtimes

Vauxhall Adam Installed With Front and Rear Parking Sensors

This installation was carried out on a Vauxhall Adam.  Parking sensors were installed on the front and rear of the vehicle. On the front of the car, micro sensors were installed in matt black. On the rear of the car, standard size sensors were installed in pearl.

 

 

Vauxhall Vivaro's Fitted With Parking Sensors

Watton Towing recently fitted Dolphin Parking Sensors to a couple of 2015 Vauxhall Vivaro's.  The sensors on both vans were matt black.  The kits used were rear audible parking sensors DPS400

2005 Landrover Freelander Fitted With Parking Sensors

This 2005 Landrover Freelander went in to Watton Towing for replacement rear parking sensors and they were kind enough to send us these images.

The factory fitted parking sensors had developed a fault, they were able to remove them and replace with a set of Dolphin Automotive Parking Sensors.  Matt black parking sensors mounted in the original mounts saved their customer ££££s on using genuine parts.

Huge changes are being made to MOT rules - making it harder for some vehicles to pass

New MOT rules will be introduced 20th May 2018 making it harder for diesel cars to pass.

The vehicles are to be put through tougher emissions tests and faults rated in three defect categories -

• Dangerous - immediate risk to road safety / impact on environment
• Major - vehicle less safe, impacts environment, puts other road users at risk.
• Minor -  no significant effect on safety of the vehicle or impact on the environment.

Any car that has been fitted with a diesel particulate filter that give out "visible smoke of any colour" during tests will get a Major fault and also automatically fail. If the filter looks as if it's been removed or tampered (unless it can be proved it has been done so for filter cleaning) the car will also fail.

Neil Barlow, head of MOT policy for the Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency told Auto Express the new rules will "help motorists do the right thing".

He added: "We're changing the wording on the certificate. We've done a lot of research with motorists to find out what sort of information helps."

Steering is also to be looked at in the DVSA's new criteria.

A steering box leaking oil would get a Minor fault but if the oil was dripping badly it would be pushed up to Major and fail.

Reverse lights will be checked and brake discs also inspected to see if they are "significantly or obviously worn".

An RAC spokesman said they fear the changes could end up confusing motorists.

He said: "Rather than MOT failures simply being black and white, the new system creates the potential for confusion as testers will have to make a judgement as to whether faults are Dangerous, Major or Minor.

Grieving daughter furious after council issue parking ticket on dead mum's car and refused to drop it

A grieving daughter was left "crying her eyes out" after a council refused to drop a parking ticket it had given to her dead mum - forcing her to fight it.

The woman, who did not want to be named, told the Hull Daily Mail : “My mum deteriorated quite rapidly, and had not really been able to go anywhere since last May.

“She was sedated on January 14, and she did not speak again until she died on the 16th.

“A few days later, my sister was at mum’s house to pick up some boxes to take to the tip, and found the parking fine on her car.”

The woman immediately rang East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and spoke to the customer services team. She praised them for the support they gave, and they asked her to bring her mum’s death certificate into their office as proof.

The woman’s sister took the certificate in, and it was passed on to the council’s parking department.
The 42-year-old spoke of her shock, however, when they came back and said they were upholding the fine.

“When I found out we still had to appeal against the fine, despite everything that has happened, I could have cried my eyes.”

A spokesman for the council said: "In light of this information the parking ticket has now been cancelled and we will be writing to this lady with confirmation."

Toyota Prius with flush fit sensors installed

Installation of Dolphin Automotive DFM400 flush mount sensors fitted by Dennis onto a Toyota Prius in Northampton .

Mercedes A 180 Fitted With Custom Sprayed Flush Fit Parking Sensors

This Mercedes A 180 was fitted with flush fit Dolphin Automotive DFM400 parking sensors. The sensors were custom spray painted by the fitter before putting on the car. The fitting was carried out by Celtrack.

What was the UK's favourite new car colour in 2017?

Black was the most popular colour for new car buyers in the UK in 2017.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, more than 500,000 black cars were sold last year, which accounted for 20.3% of all new car sales.

This was a change to 2016 when White was the most popular colour. The colour with the fastest growing demand in 2017 was gold, with demand up 19.1%, it still remained an extrovert choice with just 0.2% of the market.

The survey also revealed differences between regions, with black the colour of choice in southern England, but white still the most popular in northern England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.


Top 10 Car Colour Choices

1. Black (20.3%)
2. Grey (19.7%)
3. White (19%)
4. Blue (16%)
5. Silver (10.0%)
6. Red (9.9%)
7. Green (1.1%)
8. Orange (0.8%)
9. Bronze (0.5%)
10. Yellow (0.4%)

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