Questioning the signage

Reading Tony Roi’s query about the eastern entrance/exit to station car park reminded me of my own experience of falling foul of the signage early in 2019. As many Rye residents will be aware it is very tempting to use the station car park as a short cut, especially when there is a long queue of traffic waiting at the junction of Rope Walk with Cinque Ports Street.

One day in January 2019, being in a hurry I gave into the temptation and took a right turn into the car park. I was not late for my appointment and I congratulated myself for a shrewd decision while all those other law abiding fools waited.

So imagine my horror when a few weeks later I received a Fixed Penalty Notice for contravening a road sign. A £100 fine and three points on my licence, or the unknown outcome of contesting it in court. Not such a shrewd move after all.

I brooded over this for a few days. Watching cars making the same move in ignorance of the danger. Oh, it is so unfair. Why me, and not them? Then I started thinking – surely this is a car park sign, and not on the highway, and therefore not subject to traffic regulations. So a spark of an idea developed. I contacted the Fixed Penalty Office (FPO) and asked for more time to investigate the offence and surprisingly they agreed.

Checking out “the law”

First a review of traffic legislation:
• No Entry signs are normally not installed on their own. They are supported by supplementary signs eg no right/left Turn;
• It is recommended that there is a clear line of sight to the sign for approaching traffic;
• To be legally placed, a sign has to be supported by a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) issued by the Highways Authority;
• East Sussex County Council (ESCC) are the Highways Authority for local roads in Rye;
• The burden of proof lies with the traffic offender to show that signs are not legally place.

I checked the position of the signs:
• They are on private land, that is, within the car park and not the highway;
• Sight lines when approaching from the Grove are obscured by the level crossing and other railway infrastructure;
• There are no supplementary signs on the highway.

Checking out everybody else

I thought I had a case and the next step was to contact ESCC and other interested parties:

• ESCC – no details of a TRO held, but try the car park owners.
• Network Rail – they are the owners – no again, but it is Southern Rail who lease the car park.
• Southern Rail – ‘no’ once again.

By this time the FPO was getting impatient so I gave them my findings thinking it was a clear cut case. A few weeks later my confidence was once again shattered. The British Transport Police had been advised by ESCC that there was a TRO in place. After all my effort I had got nowhere. I dutifully paid my fine and submitted my licence for endorsement.

Once again I took to brooding. Typical of the council to give me incorrect information. How dare they! Well, if they can give the information to the police they can jolly well give it to me.

But now time to complain

I wrote. I chased. I chased again. Nothing. Next a complaint – which resulted in a response and action. A very efficient Peter Walker in the customer services team got on to the case. And guess what? There was no TRO for the No Entry signs. The police had made an enquiry and had misinterpreted the response. Ah-ha.

A complaint to the British Transport Police resulted some months later, with a refund of the fine and the penalty points being reversed. It took almost a year but, in the end, I got there. British justice at last.

Now before you all think it is open season, I would warn you that using the car park as a cut through is still a breach of the car park bye-laws with a fine of £90. And perhaps the powers that be are even now putting in place a TRO So this is one driver who will not be taking that chance in future. I will just savour my victory.

Image Credits: John Minter .