Spy car to patrol north Essex in 2013 (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)
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Spy car to patrol north Essex in 2013
8:00pm Monday 8th October 2012 in News
A CCTV car in Southend
A CONTROVERSIAL “spy car” will be patrolling north Essex’s streets next year.
Councillors have agreed to find a private company willing to provide and run a CCTV car for 12 months in return for half the value of any fines issued and paid.
The North Essex Parking Partnership believes the car, which will be fitted with cameras and automatic number plate recognition systems, will allow it to tackle dangerous parking outside schools more effectively.
But one opponent described the move as a “big brother tactic”, while fears have been raised the car could become a “cash cow” for the council and the private partner.
Comments(19)
parentis
says...
12:14am Tue 9 Oct 12
Boris wrote:Hear! hear! record the cyclists on the pavement and nick them to.
Why should this be controversial?
If dangerous idiot parkers turn into a cash cow for the council, then that is good news. it should help them to continue with some of the important services which have been cut recently.
Joker50
says...
8:20am Tue 9 Oct 12
Hampton23
says...
9:21am Tue 9 Oct 12
Dingbat60
says...
9:22am Tue 9 Oct 12
parentis wrote:And so say all of us!!
Boris wrote: Why should this be controversial? If dangerous idiot parkers turn into a cash cow for the council, then that is good news. it should help them to continue with some of the important services which have been cut recently.Hear! hear! record the cyclists on the pavement and nick them to.
Say It As It Is OK?
says...
9:47am Tue 9 Oct 12
Dingbat60 wrote:Not all of us!
parentis wrote:And so say all of us!!
Boris wrote: Why should this be controversial? If dangerous idiot parkers turn into a cash cow for the council, then that is good news. it should help them to continue with some of the important services which have been cut recently.Hear! hear! record the cyclists on the pavement and nick them to.
I can see some merit in this but as soon as the word "partnership" is used there is clearly a big risk that the prime objective is to generate income, eg; it becomes a "cash cow" with rigid application. When that happens any reason just goes out of the door!
romantic
says...
2:30pm Tue 9 Oct 12
With this kind of car, you won´t even know about it until days later when a ticket turns up in the post. These cars have been used elsewhere, and people have ended up being ticketed while sitting waiting for traffic lights.
I´m all for kids walking to school, not being dropped off in the car, but at the same time, there does seem to be a certain unfairness about being caught without even knowing about it.
Hampton23 says the decent law-abiding citizen has nothing to fear from what is, in effect, more automated surveillance. That might be true now, but what if the state decides in 10 years that being a union member is outside the law? Or being a member of UKIP?
25414nora
says...
6:21pm Tue 9 Oct 12
As I recall a child was run over and had to be taken by air ambulance to hospital. For years and years parents have been using the car to take, and collect their children. Occasionally there would be a purge, and wardens would ticket one or two motorists, but generally parents would very soon go back to their bad habbits, and clog up the school approach roads, not just endangering the kids, but causing huge inconvenience to local residents.. It's going to be difficult for parents, especially concearn for 'child safety' and walking to school in bad weather will be an absolute pain..
Farmhouse France
says...
9:24am Wed 10 Oct 12
Hampton23 wrote:Totally agree.
Its the same old bleating about human rights,cash cows etc..I for one am very pro cctv ,dna database,if you live your life as a decent law abiding citizen then you have'nt got to worry about big brother putting his friendly protective arm around us.only the scourge of society need be afraid.
wardyt
says...
1:30pm Wed 10 Oct 12
parentis wrote:This is not a story about cyclists, so don't try and turn it into one!
Boris wrote: Why should this be controversial? If dangerous idiot parkers turn into a cash cow for the council, then that is good news. it should help them to continue with some of the important services which have been cut recently.Hear! hear! record the cyclists on the pavement and nick them to.
RB, Lexden
says...
3:10pm Wed 10 Oct 12
£8 million "in the past year after being caught by Smart cars fitted with CCTV
cameras."According to The
Independent : "Research found that
more than 50 CCTV Smart cars were patrolling 31 council areas and raised the equivalent of £322,789 for each town hall."
Were all these motorists parked outside schools?.
It is understandable that an organisation as inept and clueless as Colchester Borough Council needs to raise as much money as possible - especially
with a VAF to prop up and subsidise;
an £80 million black hole in the Town
Hall pension fund and three employees each earning more than £100,000 a year - but I do wish they would try to live within their means,as we all have to do.Then perhaps they would not need to rely so much on motorists as cash cows.
alfie2007
says...
4:02pm Wed 10 Oct 12
Reginald47
says...
4:03pm Wed 10 Oct 12
wellnow
says...
8:23am Thu 11 Oct 12
TheCaptain
says...
12:25pm Thu 11 Oct 12
Reginald47 wrote:Not to mention RB that you only get fined if you break the law.
RB Lexden - anti-Colchester Council as you always are, you need to at least get your facts right. Not a single penny of the money collected in on-street parking penalty fines goes to Colchester Borough Council so as usual you are talking nonsense. The money goes to Essex County Council via the North Essex Parking Partnership. Another myth explodes inconveniently for some.
theequaliser1
says...
1:05pm Fri 12 Oct 12
This stupid system is just another ruse to mess the tax payer around with criminalizing us over the issue and ownership of our cars. The Blue Blood Richies or Lionels as they are affectionately known, will curdling in their Mercs outside the private schools on lexden road when the Great White cam cars come passing their way.
I cannot see how the hooray henrys allowed that law to be passed. Beggars Belief. I suppose the best thing for all of us to do is carry some spray party string around with us, the cans have the range of about 20 feet in shot. :-(......
theequaliser1
says...
1:07pm Fri 12 Oct 12
Boris wrote:Typical quote from this poster.
Why should this be controversial?
If dangerous idiot parkers turn into a cash cow for the council, then that is good news. it should help them to continue with some of the important services which have been cut recently.
CJ1989
says...
6:49pm Sat 13 Oct 12
theequaliser1 wrote:How does it criminalise people over car ownership? You're only going to get fined if you're parked illegally. Park correctly and there's nothing anyone can do, surely?
May be they would like to hang around outside dedham news agents where they sell ice creams in the summer time and photo their own staff getting ice creams. Thats one cornetto!!!!For Them?
This stupid system is just another ruse to mess the tax payer around with criminalizing us over the issue and ownership of our cars. The Blue Blood Richies or Lionels as they are affectionately known, will curdling in their Mercs outside the private schools on lexden road when the Great White cam cars come passing their way.
I cannot see how the hooray henrys allowed that law to be passed. Beggars Belief. I suppose the best thing for all of us to do is carry some spray party string around with us, the cans have the range of about 20 feet in shot. :-(......
I'm not sure how you managed to shoehorn some disdain for merc owners and private schools into your post, what does 'will curdling in their Mercs' mean? And how does it relate to the issue of the CCTV car?
jacklumber1
says...
11:33am Mon 15 Oct 12
Boris says...
11:59pm Mon 8 Oct 12
If dangerous idiot parkers turn into a cash cow for the council, then that is good news. it should help them to continue with some of the important services which have been cut recently.