A freedom of information request has revealed that on a single road in London last year, 1,580 Motorists were fined in a single day.
Their crime?
Driving down the road.
Hammersmith and Fulham council took it upon themselves to decide they wanted this particular area to be an “LTN”, which means — and I had to look this up — a “Low Traffic Neighbourhood”.
But rather than simply closing the road, they instead decided to install two cameras.
And in just one day (May 12th) last year, they extorted £205,920 from Motorists.
A spokesman for the council proudly boasted;
“The number of fines issued for driving through our LTN tumbled yet again last year as more and more drivers changed their behavior to comply with the cameras”.
I love the way they call it “our” neighbourhood, as if they own it…
I remember not too long ago when I loved driving through London!
Drivers were assertive and drove briskly, but were not aggressive.
And you had the distinct feeling that the “police” were actual Police, dealing with actual
crimes.
I really had the feeling that — unlike in towns — they were not interested at all in harassing innocent Motorists.
Not so anymore. London is a dystopian nightmare now, just like the rest of Southern England.
Of course, these fines are not speeding fines, and are administered by the council and not by the police.
So — just as with parking tickets and “ULEZ” charges — they can only get the registered keepers name from the DVLA, and not from the National Insurance Database, as the police can.
…Which means that those Motorists who didn’t register their vehicle in their own name, and to their home address, wouldn’t have received any fine.
Make of that what you will :-)
All the best,
Adam