[RH77]

First, I want to congratulate Arragonis on the 500th Daily Annoyance post!

I wouldn't take a place from someone with a genuine disability who needed it - I use them only when the car park is mostly empty. I still have to walk past the fat bloke parked up at the door in the idling 4x4 with the window open, smoking. And of course the people who view being fat and lazy as a disability.

I didn't think you would take a legit spot if it's needed. The true crime is how people here (and likely there) can easily get a disabled plate or hang-tag (or inherit one before it expires) for anything, really. Despite the annoyance, I find a pull-through spot and coast-in with the engine-off.

What these places do have is patrols or ANPR (number plate recognition - basically they can read and OCR your plate automatically) cameras. If you break some "rule" (such as staying too long) these people will apply to the DVLA for the name and address of the registered keeper of the car (for a fee) and will send the keeper something which looks like an official parking ticket but is actually an invoice because they say you have entered into a contract by parking there and that includes a penalty for infringement.

We definitely have some differing laws. If this were the case, I could charge anyone who parks in my driveway because they entered into a contract (including the phone/cable company). Anyway, I hope the patrols there are actually the Police and not private. Here, if private agencies enforce these "rules", property owners would have to go through a lengthy process of civil suits, court costs, and attorney fees to sue for the above (which are much more costly than the offence). The easy solution is to have the vehicle towed by a private company for any non-law "infraction", and the vehicle owner would on the other end of the legal battle and/or pay the tow company. Clamping is rare -- private tow companies just impound the car and charge a fee to get it back. If it's a Fire Lane or Handicap Spot, then the Police is all over it -- otherwise, people can park their Hummer in 3 spots and it flies. Charging areas are generally privately operated, so towing applies.

Civil Liberties carry quite a bit of weight here -- the biggest exception has been Red Light Cameras (from which some also calculate speed and have ticketed drivers) -- some now are being removed from some jurisdictions. But, speed cameras are rare -- similar to what you mentioned -- the car doesn't break the law -- the driver does (but clear pictures of the driver links the crime). Nevertheless, considerable fraud like by reducing yellow-light time has created outrage. I read recently that many cameras are being dismantled (probably because the private contract on operation ran out and the municipality allocated funds elsewhere).

At least, that's how I think it goes here. Anyway, I'm just lucky I didn't break any (known) laws when driving from Edinburgh-Glasgow then through the countryside to Inverness and down to St. Andrews and back to Ed. Definitely one of my top 3 drives (Alaska and the Canadian Rockies include the tie for 1st). We consistently encountered beautiful scenery and very friendly people time after time in Scotland.

RH77