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Original poster

Urgent advice needed - I have been a bit bad....

106 replies

tartyhighheels · 05/03/2010 11:04

ok so we have had parking crackdown at our school which involved 8 (yes 8) police, comm support officers and traffic wardens standing about and moving everyone on

On the first day i reverse into space and forget tow bar is on and knock car behind number plate - no damage but cue. gross over reaction by pc and cso - take all my details check everything try and tell me they can do me for driving without due care and attention - bear in mind no damage and owner of car really cool about it... this goes on and on and ends up in them not being able to do anything at all as all legal - i was ascerbic to say the least because this charade took about 45 mins and all my children were there etc.

Next morning though am folk hero with mummies.... my victory however is short-lived

because, the next day after school pick up

cars parked and mummy in front of me putting her dc in car and securing him in car seat, i pull in behind her and wait for her to leave the space. wpc runs (yes actually sprints accross the road) and tells me to move on immediately. I say i am waiting for space, she says move on right now or i will give you a ticket for double parking! i say again i am just waiting and she gets her magic book out so i drive off (past the children we are trying to protect twice unnecessarily - in my mind putting them at more risk than just staying put) - i go off and then turn to the very space i was waiting for - wpc points at my car as i do something and writes in magic notebook - pick up children and then drive off and as i do wpc in question gives me a sarky smile and wave (even the 8 year old dd remarked how sarky) so i go to give her the finger and shit out at the last minute and think better of it...

Next day - i am charged with section 5 public order offence!!!!!!!!!! she says i gave her the 'wanker sign' (not my style) - actually i didn't but i said nothing rather than make it any worse.

so... am i going to get a criminal record? could she have given me a fixed penalty thus avoiding criminal record? do you think i was harrassed? and actually as i said i didn't really do the thing i was accused of but rather was going to give her the finger (thank god i didnt eh?)

Amazingly due to the grave seriousness of this crime it has been brought to magistrates court with a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!! amazing

i am terrified but completely outraged - i know i pissed them off by not commiting and offence the day before but this is so so over the top.

any advice anyone????? crapping myself..

OP posts:
Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 08:10

the police were being nice - ha ha ha ha ha

clearly you have too much time on your hands - whe i spoke to a lawyer about this she just told me i didn't get a ticket becuase they wouldn't have made it stick if i contested it.

The parking is a red herring this is not about parking, in your mind it may be so but i started this thread about police abusing their power and asking for advice in defending myself against something very unfair, your insistence on labouring the parking point does nothing except make you look like a pedant. Gosh what interesting research, at least you will be able to quote this now to someone who is in doubt.

You need to get out more.

OP posts:
Ivykaty44 · 15/03/2010 08:22

I hope you don't get a criminal records for something you didn't do

I hope that you really think about you operate your car

to have got an MP involved the parking around the school must have been an issue

Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 09:12

Like i said i have no idea as have only bee there for a short while and i am not an offender - never park illegally and again, this isn't about parking - i was merely trying to provide a context but it had nothing to do with what happened to me.

OP posts:
Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 09:24

HOORAH!Just called the courts and the case has been completely withdrawn - so now just formulating my letter of complaint to the Chief Constable re. wasting my time and money etc etc. Will be polite yet a tad bloody smug.Thanks so much to the helpful people who put my mind at rest as genuinely it was a bit scary for a while there.

OP posts:
dhlurker · 15/03/2010 10:15

is getting abusive really appropriate (online, or in the car for that matter)? The parents at your school need to collectively look at their behaviour and try and make some changes. Your own behaviour whilst not extreme is not quite as righteous as you now seem to be making out.

Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 10:25

no not righteous but absolutely in the right - ratified by the fact that the case has been dismissed

i am sure it pleases you to set yourself as some moral guardian of the law but i didn't do anything - that's the thing

I will let the parents of the school know how concerned you are about their collective behaviours re. parking but again, this was not about parking....this was NOT about parking... i know you cannot accept that but it was my op, and it was not about parking: Got that?

Still smug anyway

OP posts:
dhlurker · 15/03/2010 10:53

yes not about parking.....

Just about despite the police crack down on first day you manage to crash into another car outside a school(whilst parking); on the second day you get moved on for double parking...

Call it what you will, anti-social school run behaviour is what it is and police action is rare enough that it won't be going away from the majority of schools anytime soon. Every year the number of cars increases, every year the vehicles get bigger, every year the drivers behaviour gets worse, but just keep on trucking.

Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 10:56

oh crikey i have a land rover and a range rover - it's all true i am a bad person and doing my bit for global warming at the same time

still smug though

OP posts:
Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 11:02

oh yes, and still innocent of the charge brought against me (the non parking one) - hurrah for me!

OP posts:
oldenglishspangles · 15/03/2010 11:08

Well said dh lurker - how can we expect children to modify their behaviour if their parents show no respect and are unable to deal with conflict in a constructive and rational manner.

Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 11:11

yes yes moral high ground people but i was innocent and wrongly accused and that is now proved by the case against me being dropped

still horribly smug

OP posts:
dhlurker · 15/03/2010 11:42

to be fair one of my kids is being driven to and from school every day this year, it will be nice when its over but in the meantime I am firmly placed by your side on the moral low ground tartyhighheels

The other day I took him to school and made a comment to him about the crazy people who park on the pavement at the school and the response was "but thats where granny parks", sometimes kids are just too honest.

It would be nice if schools could try and tackle their traffic problems in a non confrontational way and without singling out individuals as few are completely blameless in this. The best schools are those that have a strong sense of community, but too often this seems to go out of the window as soon as teachers and parents get behind the wheel.

lucykate · 15/03/2010 11:48

glad to hear it's all over for you, although can see some irony here when you say "i was innocent and wrongly accused" given your thread title "urgent advice needed - i have been a bit bad..."

so, not totally innoocent then

dhlurker · 15/03/2010 12:54

I blame police stereotyping; they've obviously had a typical school run traffic offender described to them in the briefing room prior to operation kinderblitz: "she's normally driving a large 4x4, often collides with other vehicles when manoeuvring near the school, always double parked, makes offensive gestures when asked to move...." then along comes Ms Tarty in her High Heels and SUV innocently minding own business. Next time there's a police crackdown turn up in a hooded top riding a mountain bike and they'll leave you alone.

Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 12:59

the bit bad refers to me being cheeky to the copper the day before - it was meant to be a bit ironic tbh....

yes, still totally innocent...

OP posts:
RedbinDippers · 15/03/2010 13:08

Go to court and plead not guilty. They will then set a date for your trial. There is chance that the police witness won't turn up. If they do argue your case reasonable. It will then be down to the magistrates, and this will depend on where you live, rural beaks are more likely to beleive the police than urban magistrates who know how often they lie.

Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 13:11

no it's been dismissed already with no court appearance, hence my smuggy smugness

OP posts:
Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 13:14

there was no witness it was a theoretical person i may have offended.....

OP posts:
dhlurker · 15/03/2010 13:22

v.funny: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RbDAVNR9bg "mummy can polar bears drown". Totally unrealistic of course, in real life they would have been parked on the pavement outside the school rather than up the road, and the driver would have shot the patronising copper dead rather than sit there and be lectured on her contribution to global warming.

ajandjjmum · 15/03/2010 13:43

Glad it's sorted tarty - and I would be feeling pretty smug too!

Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 14:01

thanks everso ajandjjmum - it has been a terrible worry

OP posts:
Quink · 15/03/2010 14:09

I'm glad it's been withdrawn, tarty, it was a nonsense.

Happy parking in future !

RedTartanLass · 15/03/2010 14:55

Glad it's all over and lol at dhlurker's police stereotyping!!

Original poster
tartyhighheels · 15/03/2010 15:50

agreed with the nonsense Quink - I am always happy parking.....

OP posts:
Anagallisarvensis · 29/04/2010 12:27

It's never pleasant being ticked off, is it?

We've just had to get the police and traffic wardens to our primary school to enforce the new drop off arrangements. We just want to keep the children as safe as possible.

What if all the drivers just double parked waiting for a space to become available?

But never mind, because you might not be technically guilty you can continue as before and feel smug at getting away with it.

What have you done today to make you feel proud?