Richard Lack's Blog

Tunbridge Wells parking pinheads

As one who regularly parks at High Brooms station in the mornings, I feel some sympathy for residents in the area who experience difficulty at the expense of us lazy selfish commuters. I live next to a park in Tunbridge Wells and often find it a problem to pull up outside my home. When this happens I remind myself during the two minute stroll back from the car that the park has been there for over a hundred years, and like High Brooms station, it is a public amenity requiring access by car owners. It should not come as a surprise to me that people continue to use something that was there long before I bought my house.

Next time I go house hunting I might prioritise off-road parking, but until then I’m content to share parking spaces on the public roads with other people who have an equal right to be there. Unfortunately Sally Morrow of Clifton Road wishes to resort to resident parking permits to solve her problem. This is a shame because it confers ownership of the public roads on householders who do not own parking spaces. The only winner in this scenario will be the Borough Council who will be able to charge residents indefinitely for something that would have been free to them if only they could learn to be unselfish. Instead of carping at commuters who struggle to pay daily parking at Tunbridge Wells station, why don’t we ask what could be done to extend the station car park at High Brooms, or better still, to remove the miles of double yellow lines which proliferate? While we’re at it – perhaps we should ask ourselves whether we really need that second or even third car outside our house. Perhaps the kids could walk to school? What happens to your resident parking bay when you are out at work for 8 hrs a day?

Tunbridge Wells is a commuter town and should provide adequate parking around its stations for everyone. I frequently drive into London when I can’t find a space around High Brooms – even with the congestion charge I find this cheaper, easier and more convenient. But the sight and smell of another 5,000 polluting cars like mine each morning could be avoided if we all learned to share.

Blame the Government for high Petrol prices

In 2003 The UK government took 57.6p in tax on every litre of unleaded (74.2% of the pump price), while companies like Esso and Shell operate on a paper thin margin of just 6%. That's gross margin - not net. To work out how much is in it for them you have to deduct the cost of paying the petrol station, getting the fuel to the UK, additives and credit card charges etc. Let me put it like this - if they ran their business at break even the cost of fuel would still be 78p/l. No wonder they've branched out into selling dead flowers.

This document does a good job of explaining that the UK has the lowest supply price vs. the highest taxes in Europe.

In real terms a barrel of oil (158 litres) cost nearly $60 at the time of the Gulf War and $80 in the 1970's oil crisis. While $40 seems like a lot in absolute terms - the truth is that oil's been insulated very well from inflation over the past few decades meaning that it gets cheaper every year. This has been mercifully reflected in the price at the pump. While 82.9p/litre sounds a lot - petrol is cheaper than ever when adjusted for inflation

This coupled with a general increase in fuel economy has helped to bring down the relative costs of motoring. What the Treasury does using the Fuel Tax Escalator every year is to sneak back the difference between inflation and the inflation proof cost of oil, adding a bit on top for good measure. That formula works well for the Treasury as it causes only negligible pain for the consumer since few of us know how much tax comes out of a litre of petrol. What the taxpayer should be asking is - why isn't petrol getting cheaper? This graph shows very nicely what has happened with world oil prices since 1947. You'll see that there's a lot of volatility but no long term general upward trend as you would expect for other consumables over the same period.

I can illustrate this easily by saying that oil cost $14 a barrel in 1952. If it rose according to the Retail Price Index it would be 22 times more expensive today - a whopping $308 a barrel. If you think that's insane then look at the cost of bread or beer or butter.

One other thing to bear in mind is that Western economies are now far less reliant on oil. The US for example uses only half as much oil per unit of GDP as it did 30 years ago. The share of oil commodity imports in OECD countries shrunk from 13% in the 60's to just 4% in the 90's. This is chiefly due to a move towards service based economies and the effect of efficiency focussed taxation.

I'm not convinced that the global bully petrol companies are acting as any kind of an -opoly. The fact that their prices are broadly the same doesn't evidence the existence of a cartel at all. This isn't price fixing; it's healthy discounting according to local market forces. Filling stations are crucially aware that they need to stay competitive to within 3 or four miles. There are plenty of oil companies besides the big three and nothing to suggest that this industry is any more top-heavy than say supermarkets.

There are 2 main reasons why petrol prices are going up:
1: The Chancellor increases tax and that has to be passed on by law
2: Commodity traders factor in a risk premium for the war and terrorism and increase the price of oil. The oil co's need to pass these increases on to stop them going out of business and maintain profits.

Frankly if you believe that the government has a responsibility to tax people out of their cars with a rate of 400% on vehicle fuel then you have to agree that it has a corresponding responsibility to ignore calls for lower taxes from frustrated motorists like myself.

An alternative argument states that the British motorist contributes £45Bn a year to the Exchequer and receives only £2Bn back in road improvements and extensions. With no viable alternative being found in the joke that is public transport - our average driver is caught between and a rock and a very hard place to get to.

Abusive Parking Wardens - Tunbridge Wells

Dear Sir/Madam,

Further to my phone conversation with the parking controller this morning I am making a written complaint regarding an incident which occurred at 10:55am on Wednesday 5th May at the junction of London Rd and Tunbridge Wells Old High Street outside Crown Appliances.

I had parked my vehicle on the kerb for 5 minutes whilst intending to load a newly purchased vacuum cleaner into the car. It is my understanding that it is legal to park in such a manner, provided it is safe to do so and that other vehicles are not inconvenienced. In this instance it was the only safe or convenient place to park my vehicle and did not in my opinion interfere with the flow of traffic turning into the High Street.

Having walked into the shop I glanced out and saw TW108 stood at my vehicle and making notes. I made clear to him that I was simply loading my vehicle and would be on my way. He replied that the car was illegally parked and that I could have done a better job parking.

At this stage I stepped back into my vehicle and politely offered to move it. As I closed the door of my vehicle TW108 was heard to say: "I don't give a shit if someone comes round that corner and smashes up your fucking car". Taken aback - I asked TW108 to repeat what he had said - thinking that I might be mistaken. He repeated the above words verbatim at which point I took his badge number and made clear to him that I would not tolerate being spoken to in this manner.

I would be grateful if you could explain this incident to me and reprimand the staff member concerned. I can think of no reason on earth why I should be subject to verbal abuse by a public servant - especially considering that I had cooperated with the gentleman and not raised my voice or provoked him into this outburst.

Kind Regards

Clamping

I had a brainwave as I left the car for 5 mins at Tunbridge Wells station this morning, not knowing if the clamping van would get to it before I could grab a pint of milk.



It works like this:



The reason that private companies and individuals are able to clamp you, charge you for release, tow your car away and potentially even sell it is because they displayed a prominent notice in the vicinity of the area where you parked. This notice tells you that by parking there you consent to paying a fine and having your vehicle clamped. It's perfectly legal for them to do this and your don't have a leg to stand on in the majority of cases because you've given your implied consent to be being clamped. Under civil law you are subject to the terms of the agreement.



In similar fashion, I've just put a notice on both my cars worded:



"Any person clamping, removing or issuing a penalty ticket on this vehicle consents to being charged by the owner the sum of £100 or an amount equal to all penalty fees, whichever is the greater amount. You also consent to having any clamping equipment forcibly removed and impounded until a release fee of £70 is paid. Storage will be charged at £15 daily."



Anyone care to suggest how that would stand up to closer legal scutiny? I'm off to buy some bolt cutters!!

Congestion Charging: Open letter to Capita and TfL

I'm sick and tired of getting Congestion charging fines because I forget to pay. There's no reason why this should happen using a bit of technology and some commonsense. Here's my letter to the powers that be. If you feel the same way then write in too:



Mr Richard Lack

XXXXXXXXXX Road

Tunbridge Wells

TN1 XXX



cc: Paul Pindar, Chief Executive, Capita

Peter Hendy, Director of Surface Transport, TfL



2nd January 2004



AUTOMATED PAYMENTS FROM DEBIT CARDS



Dear Sir/Madam,



I have canvassed support from very many people who regularly use the congestion zone. Our experience would be immeasurably easier if we had the option for our debit cards to be charged automatically whenever entering the zone. I understand that Capita currently offer the facility to buy a monthly ticket and then to claim a refund at the end of this period. Unfortunately, for those of us who are aware of it, this method is time consuming and expensive.



Many of us have paid out over £500 in fines since charging began. We accept that this is due to the fact that we occasionally forget to pay; but Capita should concede that it is precisely the absence of a method for automatic payment that results in normal people like ourselves being penalised unfairly and needlessly.



Given the technology currently being employed for payment by a variety of methods we are certain that a small change to the system will accommodate motorists who forget to pay by crosschecking a list of drivers who have previously authorised automatic payments against your daily list of outstanding unpaid vehicle registrations.



On a more cynical note I am prepared to contemplate that it serves Capita very well indeed if they fail to act on this straightforward matter. The revenues generated in fines are considerable, and largely dependent on drivers like us forgetting to pay.



We are all mindful that congestion charging is a public service and should be operated as such. It is not in the public service to be collecting fines where you could otherwise be collecting the lesser amount of the congestion charge by prior consent of the motorist.



The cause of the motorist has become a popular one with most of the national papers in recent years. Witness for instance the climb-down on ‘safety’ cameras and speed humps. We believe that most of the revenue which Capita receives is from fines and that the vast majority of those fines are from plain forgetful drivers. A workable suggestion has now been made for you to provide us with a better service. Unless you are able to offer an adequate justification for failing to rectify the situation within 14 days I will campaign in the national press for our proposal to be put into place; with all of the research into contractual agreements and adverse publicity and that this may confer.





Yours sincerely







Richard Lack