WALTHAM FOREST: Fleet of CCTV 'spy cars' to be doubled
8:00am Saturday 21st February 2009 in News
CCTV enforcement car in Waltham Forest
CCTV enforcement cars will become a more common site on Waltham Forest's roads next year - as the council is to double the size of its fleet.
The number of vehicles, which are used to catch people committing moving traffic offences such as driving in bus lanes and stopping in box junctions, will increase to six.
The cars are controversial for many motorists, who claim that the vehciles are used merely to increase revenue by catching them out and do not improve road safety.
George Panteli, 52, of Harold Road, succeeded in getting a controversial yellow box junction, in Burghley Road, Leytonstone, removed last year because it did not meet Government guidelines.
Mr Panteli said: "The use of these smart cars is a 100 per cent money-making scheme.
"They sit and take pictures of motorists in traffic who can't help but encroach into a box, while ignoring those that actually drive dangerously."
Cllr Matt Davis, Conservative council group leader, described the move as "another example of the council oppressing the people of Waltham Forest."
Comments(14)
Morris Hickey
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9:12am Sat 21 Feb 09
Hogwasher
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11:08am Sat 21 Feb 09
Touchwood
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10:06pm Sat 21 Feb 09
Redfox
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10:08pm Sat 21 Feb 09
The one at Forest Road/Standard Junction is especially a thorough bloody danger as I must weave out into the main stream after crossing the junction only 60 yards back.
It wouldn't be so bad if the council gestapo actually turned their camera around and photographed the 3 Forest Road residents who only feet away park up across the pavement illegally because they don't have a dropped kerb.
Can Bob Belam answer why they don't record that?
Touchwood
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11:38pm Sat 21 Feb 09
Redfox wrote:Lets face it, anyone who does this type of job has to be lacking in the common sense department!!
Oh Joy - no I can expect even more of these prats parking up facing oncoming traffic in BLOCKING MY CYCLE LANES! The one at Forest Road/Standard Junction is especially a thorough bloody danger as I must weave out into the main stream after crossing the junction only 60 yards back. It wouldn't be so bad if the council gestapo actually turned their camera around and photographed the 3 Forest Road residents who only feet away park up across the pavement illegally because they don't have a dropped kerb. Can Bob Belam answer why they don't record that?
Hogwasher
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12:11pm Sun 22 Feb 09
Touchwood wrote:Not so. It seems very sensible if you don't have what it takes to earn a living elsewhere to join the 'security' and surveillance industry and rip-off your fellow citizens. They have got themselves a nice little number at the public's expense hiding unaccountably behind the coat-tails of the authoritarian clique in our local government.
Redfox wrote: Oh Joy - no I can expect even more of these prats parking up facing oncoming traffic in BLOCKING MY CYCLE LANES! The one at Forest Road/Standard Junction is especially a thorough bloody danger as I must weave out into the main stream after crossing the junction only 60 yards back. It wouldn't be so bad if the council gestapo actually turned their camera around and photographed the 3 Forest Road residents who only feet away park up across the pavement illegally because they don't have a dropped kerb. Can Bob Belam answer why they don't record that?Lets face it, anyone who does this type of job has to be lacking in the common sense department!!
mdj
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1:46pm Sun 22 Feb 09
LBWF's attitude to the law seems one-sided: they send uniformed people - never British, had you noticed? - to give us hell, but don't even apologise when caught out breaking it themselves. For 4 years police were enforcing a no-alcohol zone in Leytonstone which wasn't legally set up by the Council? Have the Met been compensated for their waste of time? Have the people unlawfully stopped and possibly deprived of property been compensated? have the motorists unlawfully mugged of money in the Burghley Rd trap had their money returned in full? Please tell us, Mr Belam. I'd also be grateful if you could unblock the drain outside my house, which has been full of gunk since last June, and the Council promised to empty as a priority last November.
Claridger
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10:19am Mon 23 Feb 09
enna
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1:20pm Mon 23 Feb 09
Claridger wrote:Well I sat behind a car at the green man for nearly 15 mins recently because they couldn't get all the way through the yellow box junction without stopping, thus meaning they would have got a ticket as the lovely spy car was sitting there. Is it fair for anybody to get a ticket to keep traffic moving? The majority of drivers do not intentionally block the junction but are forced to move onto it, the phasing of the lights further on have a big part to play with this and also making part of Leytonstone high road one way. Where I live I have seen people getting tickets for parking with their wheels on the kerb, fair enough as they are breaking the law but when you see this car doing exactly the same, you do have to start wondering it one rule for us and another for them when it comes to money
These cars are a cost effective way of enforcing traffic regulations locally. Traffic permanently blocks the yellow box junction at the Green Man Leytonstone and so on. It keeps drivers on their toes and is cost effective.
Claridger
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2:46pm Mon 23 Feb 09
How are they FORCED onto it? Pushed on by the vehicle behind?
If you read the Highway Code, it clearly states that you do not enter until you have a space to go to?
enna
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3:06pm Mon 23 Feb 09
Claridger wrote:Some feel forced onto it by other drivers who push up really close behind and then start beeping, also by other drivers who are in the wrong lane and want to swap. I will take you advice now and not move into it until I can get all the way across and I will cause traffic choas and maybe even an accident, maybe I should leave an extra half hour earlier to reach my destination.
QUOTE: 'The majority of drivers do not intentionally block the junction but are forced to move onto it' How are they FORCED onto it? Pushed on by the vehicle behind? If you read the Highway Code, it clearly states that you do not enter until you have a space to go to?
Hugh Jed
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4:09am Tue 24 Feb 09
Hogwasher
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1:38pm Tue 24 Feb 09
Hugh Jed wrote:Not your fault. We have been spun at, lie to, propagandised at and generally fed a load of guff by the council for so long, you can't be blamed for mistaking a potentially good idea for the one that the council actually implements. Just remember this on election day.
When I first saw these cars I thought our money is being spent on something useful for once, a step towards combating anti social behavior on the streets. Lol, what a muppet.
bar stool preacher
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5:44pm Wed 25 Feb 09
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