The photo above was taken at 5:40pm on Monday, March 27 and we understand the car parked on the double yellow lines had been there for around an hour. Quite often you see cars pull up and park at this point, as two others did last Monday albeit only for a few minutes, to collect a fish and chip order from Marino’s but generally they don’t stay long and the driver is usually in the immediate area so it’s probably safe to assume the driver of the car wasn’t a Marino’s customer.
At that time of the evening most of the car parks would normally have spaces so why park there at all?
Unfortunately, our local traffic wardens who were around on Friday when the photo below was taken were not around at the time but putting a ticket on the window of a parked car wouldn’t help the emergency services.
The chaos started when the lorry in the photo, sign written SUMA, couldn’t get past the illegally parked vehicle, but how did the lorry get there? It must have come through the Landgate, but what about the restriction signs? Should the lorry driver have complied, did the restrictions apply to this vehicle, if they did they seem to have been missed or ignored.
The jam lasted about 10 minutes, police were quickly on the scene and the car was moved onto the pavement, it’s not clear how this was achieved but it at least allowed the lorry to pass and continue on it’s journey.
Thankfully all ended well, but this scenario does raise questions and highlights issues which we are all aware of but perhaps need further consideration. Did the lorry driver not see the size restriction signs before entering Landgate or was the size of the lorry compliant? If the driver didn’t see them, are they clear enough, are they in the right location, are they large enough?
The car parked on double yellow lines was not just parked illegally but on a tight corner on a one-way street. What would have happened if the lorry had been a fire engine responding to an emergency or an ambulance responding to a 999 call?
The police officer who got involved and sorted things out would probably have spent his time more productively had he not been called out to assist. He has better things to do than rectifying a situation which should never have happened. What a waste of resources.
It wasn’t that long ago when Rye witnessed one of its worst fires in living memory, when the George Hotel suffered serious damage as a result of a devastating fire, a situation none of us want to witness again.
Clear signage and considerate parking would make a difference but if nothing changes it’s only a question of time before something serious happens.
Image Credits: Bob Harper , Nick Forman .
The lorry wouldn’t have been there if there was a rise/fall bollard under the Landgate arch, with strict control of vehicles entering. The example I know is Avignon, another walled town.
Also why didn’t the police officer either stick a notice on the car, or call the wardens to take action?
Hi,
A good photo, I live very close to this spot and can confirm that cars and delivery vans are regularly parked here ignoring the double yellow line. On occasions cars are left for hours
with all the obvious knock on effects mentioned. My neighbour has been known to have to climb over a car to get out of his house! We also regularly have large lorries trying to get by knocking over bollards and damaging pavements in the process, I sometimes wonder how they make it through the Landgate when it must be obvious to the driver that his lorry is unsuited to this road. I think action was taken in respect of the car driver when he eventually returned, the lorry driver contacted the police being unable to get through.
Sadly this will continue until Rye wakes up to the 21st century,and bans lorries from the Citadel.