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Original poster

I have always wondered (parking)...

10 replies

AprilSmiles · 25/05/2023 12:30

In the early 00s, I lived in London and regularly travelled around London to gigs by car.

One of the gigs was in Highbury (I think!), where the old Arsenal stadium was.

I always used to travel after about 8 p.m., when parking restrictions were generally eased and it was easy to find parking.

When I got to this gig, the parking road signs said that you couldn't park there before 6 p.m. (as usual) or before 8.30 p.m. on match days.

I had arrived on a match day.

My question is this. As a non-football-following person, can the Highway Code insist that I know about when match days are? If I had parked there and/or been clamped or towed, would it be a reasonable defence to protest about expecting to know when football fixtures were? (There was no additional signage showing dates of matches.)

I have no skin in the game. This was 20-odd years ago and I didn't get a ticket. But I've always wondered!

OP posts:
Fiftyisthenewsixty · 25/05/2023 12:35

I don't know! But my dh once got a ticket for parking in the early morning where you're not allowed to park "on market days". No sign of the market when he parked which I think was unfair. I think you could successfully argue that you were unaware of match days.

bibbityboppityboo · 25/05/2023 12:36

I think the onus would be on you to check whether it was a match day or not (either through local news, looking at the stadium or searching fixtures) but that's much easier now with smartphones and google, not sure how easy it would have been back then! I don't know if ignorance of a rule counts as a defence if you had got a ticket, but it would be worth a try tbh.

Original poster
AprilSmiles · 25/05/2023 12:40

@bibbityboppityboo The thing is, you didn't realise that you couldn't park there on match days until you arrived there and saw the signs. (So you couldn't check match dates in advance.) There was also no evidence of whether or not it was a match day when you arrived, a bit like PP with the market days. In those days, smart phones didn't exist (or certainly weren't mainstream), so there was no way of checking.

It just seemed unfair to me that you could potentially be punished for not caring about football!

OP posts:
bibbityboppityboo · 25/05/2023 12:54

AprilSmiles · 25/05/2023 12:40

@bibbityboppityboo The thing is, you didn't realise that you couldn't park there on match days until you arrived there and saw the signs. (So you couldn't check match dates in advance.) There was also no evidence of whether or not it was a match day when you arrived, a bit like PP with the market days. In those days, smart phones didn't exist (or certainly weren't mainstream), so there was no way of checking.

It just seemed unfair to me that you could potentially be punished for not caring about football!

I guess that would be your defence! It's a tough one, they'd probably have a really obscure sign somewhere that said match day or not they'd be relying on 😂

I use google now to check match days (if I'm planning on going out shopping or similar!) I'm not sure what I'd do to check if I didn't have a smartphone. Probably the paper?! Lord knows tbh!

off · 25/05/2023 13:21

I live in a suburban area where a lot of the houses were built before cars were a thing (I live in one of these, and we have one car), and a lot of the other houses were built under planning regs that stipulate there should be enough room to park x number of cars, where x is smaller than the number of cars people actually have. This means huge pressure on street parking all the time, with every available space utilised plus many dubious ones.

A few years ago, they (perfectly reasonably, from a safety perspective) put extra yellow zig zags along a stretch of road in front of the local school which used to have space for several cars, with a sign saying no parking at certain specified times of day (i.e. kids arriving and kids leaving), in term time. No indication of when "term time" is, though, and while many people with children assume we all instinctually know when every half term is in all local areas, I don't. I go online and download term dates for the school, obviously (though I don't know whether inset days count), but visitors would have to find somewhere to stop and search online for those, assuming they have a phone with data.

The road marking change was done recently enough that they could have put in an electronic sign indicating whether today is a "term time" day, and I think that given this technology is now available, it would be reasonable to expect to be able to know whether it's legal to park somewhere based solely on information provided at the parking location, whether the restriction is market days, match days or term days.

ShirleyPhallus · 25/05/2023 13:27

I think the onus is on you to find out isn’t it, so perhaps better to think of it as “no parking at all, unless there is no match on” rather than “you can park here unless there is a match on”

FreedomDrops · 25/05/2023 13:32

Nowadays they have a little add-on sign which they add to the pole with the dates of forthcoming match days.

I think generally any ambiguity in the law gets interpreted against the state and in favour of whoever they're trying to punish.

MajesticWhine · 25/05/2023 13:34

Interesting that you are holding onto this question after all this time OP Grin

Original poster
AprilSmiles · 25/05/2023 14:30

MajesticWhine · 25/05/2023 13:34

Interesting that you are holding onto this question after all this time OP Grin

I'm not known for being able to let a grudge go...

OP posts:
Original poster
AprilSmiles · 25/05/2023 14:31

FreedomDrops · 25/05/2023 13:32

Nowadays they have a little add-on sign which they add to the pole with the dates of forthcoming match days.

I think generally any ambiguity in the law gets interpreted against the state and in favour of whoever they're trying to punish.

Aha! Perhaps as a result of someone petty like me challenging their ridiculousness!

OP posts:
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