On November 22 I was fined by the Northern Local Tribunal for parking my vehicle by the side of a plot of land at the beginning of Wardija Road, Burmarrad. The Infringement Notice cited “Parking by a roundabout or Traffic Island”. Incidentally this is neither a roundabout nor a traffic island.

My pleas to the person presiding over the hearing were utterly futile. I produced photographs to show what constitutes a roundabout or a traffic island, both of which have white lines around them and white markings indicating approach in the case of a traffic island. There are no such markings around this plot of land.

On one side of this plot of land one can see double yellow lines indicating that parking is not allowed on that side. One does not find double yellow lines by a roundabout or a traffic island. Therefore it is to be assumed that it is just a plot of land with trees, a room, a reservoir and sign postings of a nearby clinic. Drivers park over there without imagining they are breaking regulations.

Like me there must have been other drivers who were fined; it is easy for the community officer (warden) to issue infringement notices to drivers to be fined.

Unless proper markings or sign postings identifying this plot of land as a traffic island are laid out without delay, drivers will continue to be unjustly fined.