parking tickets/towing

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

my car got towed in a 3-5pm tow away zone. it cost 160 for towing and had a 50 dollar ticket, that comes out to 210 dollars, 2 hours spent locationg my car, and my bumper was damaged by the towing company, all because i lost track of time while studying at school and came an hour after 3. how are these prices elsewhere like in england? i think its a bit much.

[smallwavegrovellerchick]

That sucks. Isn't EVERYTHING expensive in the UK, even more so with the exchange rate? Hope you got to surf. Supposed to be a small south swell this Thurs/Fri.

[RJD]

I'd expect $210us to be half what it'd cost in the UK.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

That sucks. Isn't EVERYTHING expensive in the UK, even more so with the exchange rate? Hope you got to surf. Supposed to be a small south swell this Thurs/Fri.

where do you surf? i might go out to cliffs if its something.

I'd expect $210us to be half what it'd cost in the UK.

jesus. they can keep my car if they ever ask that much.

[pat42]

Depends on where you park.

A few months ago I picked up someone in my cab who's car had been clamped and then towed.
He had to pay:

£70 to release the clamp
£200 to release from the pound
£120 for the parking ticket (reduced to £60 if you pay within 14 days)
Plus £35 cab fare to his house and back to the pound because he had no I.D

About $830 US

If you get caught by a private contractor, that could be doubled

[Real Pol]

We don't get clamped or towed in Scaberdeen, but same prices as pat says for tickets. I got two tickets for leaving the car outside the parking warden office once...... I came really close to banging the door in, but all my argument would be was AAAAAAARRRRGH!

[.Jen.]

Over here its £30 for parking in a restricted zone, £50 for parking in a disabled bay without a badge, £60 for obstructing entrances and the like.

We dont get towed though, we get clamped, and it's £75 to get the boot taken off.

Luckily my work has a private garage, so if I'm going into town I park there - no paying to park or traffic wardens!!!

[long_man]

We don't get clamped or towed in Scaberdeen, but same prices as pat says for tickets. I got two tickets for leaving the car outside the parking warden office once...... I came really close to banging the door in, but all my argument would be was AAAAAAARRRRGH!

outside the parking warden office........

thats just looking for trouble......

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

over here they have to tow it or in some areas it causes traffic, which is why its a tow away zone only during rush hour

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

i thought maybe with the smaller cars though it might cost less.

[RJD]

Never,ever, seen variable pricing on fines/towing for the size of car.

In the UK if your cars parked on the road without road tax for a week the council can take it and crush it...

[Real Pol]

outside the parking warden office........

thats just looking for trouble......

That's why I had such a good argument! I felt like a bit of a tool.

[smallwavegrovellerchick]

That sucks. Isn't EVERYTHING expensive in the UK, even more so with the exchange rate? Hope you got to surf. Supposed to be a small south swell this Thurs/Fri.

where do you surf? i might go out to cliffs if its something.

I'd expect $210us to be half what it'd cost in the UK.

jesus. they can keep my car if they ever ask that much.

Used to surf Cliffs every day in the evenings, but it was getting too crowded so I started surfing with the lunchtime crew. Once the surf schools started coming out I stopped surfing out there althogether. Now I'll only go out if there are whipping winds to avoid the crowds. Plus I prefer windy DH. Gives the waves a little more oomph and most guys end up drifting toward Right Hands. Come to think of it, I think this picture was taken at Cliffs on a typical windswell day.

PS: do you really find Hawaii to be so terrible?

[SDCali]

Jeez, it cost about that much for us to recover a motorcycle that had been stolen, recovered and put in an impound yard, and this is with no ticket.
It was ticketed while it was missing by the same police department where it was reported stolen though, and that's how it ended up getting recovered.

[Hang11]

It's great where I live in NZ, costs $20 if you don't put any money in the meter, $40 if you park illegally - so that's about 8 or 16 quid in UK money.

When I lived in Brighton, because I was in the car all day, in and out of pubs for work, usually carrying a fair bit of cash, so needing to park outside, I got loads - I think it was 60 quid then went up to 90 quid after a week. My monthly tickets were between 700 and 1000 quid. Used to get a summons for court once a month to make me pay them off The bailiff even sent me a goodbye card when he retired, with the contact details for his replacement!

Traffic wardens and the people that make the laws to empower them are greedy pricks IMO.

[hawaiiSUCKSexceptsurf]

greedy pricks indeed