LEWISHAM SCAM-CAM

John Paul Morgan

-v- Transport for London ("the Authority")

Tuesday, 19th June, 2007 at 12.00pm

DRIVERS BEWARE.... A Penalty charge notice issued by Transport for London (Contravention code 31, Entering and stopping in a box junction when prohibited) contains two pictures which allegedly show a vehicle stopped in the box - mine. In the 12 seconds it was allegedly there, the light from its headlights could have been to the moon and back nine times - but it was afternoon and they were off.

So could this be why TfL has variously demanded fines somewhere between £50-£150?

With little memory of events, I decided to revisit the scene. This time, just to make certain, I went on foot. After a few minutes I realised that I was not the only driver being legally mugged (no other word for it really) but one of many caught by a Transport for London's 'scam-cam'.

Did you know that 95% of foreign vehicles are not pursued for a traffic offence? (The reason why many of them happily sit in a yellow junction box I suppose.)

And, contrary to why the yellow box junction was sited there in the first place, traffic has slowed?

A Transport for London (TfL) study has revealed, far from easing congestion, camera-regulated yellow boxes are reducing the flow of traffic - severely. Since their inception in 2004, 100,000 drivers have been fined £100 each. The camera box junctions were intended to reduce congestion. However, the penalty for crossing the line without a way out has made many drivers too cautious. The average number of cars passing through camera junctions every hour fell by 150, or four per cent. Cars blocking traffic fell by 23 per cent. Jeroen Weimar of TfL told the Times. "We are concerned by the results because the justification for the cameras was that they would improve traffic flow." TfL said that it would continue monitoring and attempt to improve traffic flow, removing cameras if necessary.

It remains to be seen if this has any baring on the camera-covered yellow box junction at Goldsmith's College.

Watch this space....

Comments

James O'Brien: LBC presenter secret buy-to-let millionaire - Exclusive update

The Ayatollah of the Airwaves, James O’Brien, is still raging at the radio ether. His current demons: pensioner investors and... buy-to-let. “It’s not the politics of envy to say they need their wings clipped,” he declared last week. In fact, if you hit the numbers and can’t get through it’s probably because he’s still banging on about landlords and second-home ownership. Time to take a peek then at the former landlord-turned-gamekeeper’s own dirty “deeds“. A BIGRETORT EXCLUSIVE In 2014 AD, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby held a head-to-head with presenter James O’Brien; who isn’t usually lost for words let's face it. But whilst His Grace fielded phone-calls from LBC devotees, sat at the other end of the wireless alongside him was not the station's usual attack dog - instead, in somewhat subdued genuflection, was old motor mouth himself. Choirboy O'Brie...

Lewisham Council POCA Prosecution: Job Ad Reveals Mandate To 'Maximise Income'

From Borough of Sanctuary to dystopian world — Lewisham Council places landmark restaurant on the POCA grill. THE BIG RETORT… Some days, when I pass the grimy windows at Laurence House in Catford, I swear I can hear the sound of someone desperately singing from the floors above: “You’ve gotta pick a POCA or two, boys…” Lewisham once styled itself a Borough of Sanctuary. But today it feels more like a borough for bounty hunters — where local businesses and good neighbours aren’t nurtured, but criminalised for profit. The game is called POCA . In plain English, the Proceeds of Crime Act works like this: after a criminal conviction is secured, a prosecuting authority can ask the court to treat unexplained money or assets as “criminal benefit” unless proved otherwise. The trawl through the person’s past can prove costly, both mentally and financially, as it stretches back six years from when proceedings commence . The court then sets a “benefit” figure and an amount ...

Convicted: How Councils prosecute for profit

What’s happening in Labour-run Lewisham today has left me thinking. I once believed in the ideals of the Labour party: justice, fairness, and accountability – but, not now. These are just the empty sloganeering of an elite few in Lewisham's town hall and Parliament. In truth, Lewisham is not a borough of sanctuary but a place for Pocaneering . Ordinary residents—entrepreneurs, good Samaritans, and hardworking immigrants—are being treated not as part of the community, but as financial targets . All in the name of planning enforcement. All under the guise of legality. And all tied to the toxic incentives of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) . The sand and cement storefront scandal – Criminalised Let’s begin with local DIY shop owner Kevin Bottomley, reported here under KJ Building Supplies and our successful campaign Save KJs. He was selling small quantities of sand and cement from his shop's driveway – the kind of side hustle long part of Lewisham life, helping neighbours avo...

THE BIG RETORT

Total Pageviews

Search This Blog