An ex policeman got a fine for driving in a bus lane and wants advice on what to do. Excruciata gives her usual questionable advice.
Hello my lovelies. I have been busy picking my outfits for the coming season which is so difficult. Trying to find out what the other ladies are wearing to the various events by stealthy means takes up so much time. With all this preparation going on it was actually a pleasant distraction to ponder the plight of Graham Bartlett.
Graham wrote to me seeking advice. He received a penalty notice for driving his car in a bus lane. As with everyone who receives these penalties, it was not his fault. The dastardly council had put the camera at the beginning of the bus lane along with a warning notice saying it was a bus lane and no cars permitted. How very dare they!
Graham feels especially aggrieved as he only went in to the bus lane slightly as a community minded gesture. The bus lane starts immediately after a road junction that he was trying to get out of. As the road he was joining had a lot of traffic on it, the side road he was coming out of usually becomes congested as well. Graham’s kind hearted gesture of cutting through the bus lane to relieve the congestion in the joining road did not get him the medal he deserves.
Unsurprisingly Graham is not happy. Imagine his chagrin when he opened the letter expecting to see an invitation to a medal award ceremony and instead saw a penalty charge notice. As a former policeman he is aware that he has broken the law even though morally he was being a good citizen and only broke the law a little bit
Graham asks what he should do. Well my lovely, you are absolutely right. As you have moral authority you should take action. For too long the pencil necks in the council offices have lauded it over their betters. Go down to them now council offices and demand to see the traffic officer and tell them in no uncertain times that they are wrong.
If that does not work then write a long rambling article for a local newspaper. Pad it out with a tedious account of all the other camera locations on bus lane in the city. Hopefully you will find one that does not have a camera to justify your righteous indignation and how you have been victimised.
While this article was only published today due to delays caused by testing various scone recipes, I had sent Graham my advice a couple of weeks ago. I am glad to say he took my advice and churned out an amazingly lame whine.
