Wesley's World

Here's one of those little niggles which annoy me daily.

I respect the police. I value their service to us and I admire the folks who willingly do that difficult work for us in the face of drunken abuse and personal danger.

But when they park illegally on non-emergency calls - as they so often do in Bedford, then I think it sends the wrong message entirely.

If our parking laws make sense (and I do wonder sometimes) then we should all stick to them. The police should not (and in law do not) have special immunity from the law to enhance their own personal convenience. Yet in Bedford, police cars routinely park here - it's outside Bedford's magistrates' courts. They'll be giving evidence. That's OK, but this location is five minutes walk from Bedford police station. They also routinely park illegally on the road just outside that policestation (which is very near to a roundabout - and is double-yellowed with those NO LOADING lines too). It says to me that our police hold themselves above the law, albeit in a fairly trivial way. It tells me that they don't think the parking laws are more important than saving a few minutes or walking a short way. Wrong answer.

I asked a traffic warden if they have any instructions regarding illegal police parking. He was vey cagey, but admitted that he has never - and would never - issue a ticket for a police vegicle.

Addressing the predictable objections to this post:-

1. Get a life. Yeah I'm working on it. Thanks for your contribution.

2. Police may be on an emergency - would you want to wait for them to save you while they find a place to park? No more than I'd like to rely on your reading skills. As it says, I'm addressing NON-EMERGENCIES here.

3. There's nothing dangerous about parking there. I might agree. So why itsn't it a legal parking space? Let's make sensible laws, and then follow them sensibly - all of us - the time.