Council CCTV Cars

[Bayerd]

Apologies if this has been done before, I regularly see (around Manchester) those little Smart cars with the MCC logo on the side and camera peroscoping out of the roof parked at crossroads.

Given that the polis have vans to catch speedsters and DVLA have cars to catch the tax dodgers, what are the council looking for?

 

[deggers]

Apologies if this has been done before, I regularly see (around Manchester) those little Smart cars with the MCC logo on the side and camera peroscoping out of the roof parked at crossroads.

Given that the polis have vans to catch speedsters and DVLA have cars to catch the tax dodgers, what are the council looking for?

I was told it was to catch motoring offences such as eating at the wheel or using the phone but not sure if thats the case as thats not the councils remit- id like to know too (so i can make sure i'm not doing whatever theyre looking for when i drive past!

)

 

[Bayerd]

I was told it was to catch motoring offences such as eating at the wheel or using the phone but not sure if thats the case as thats not the councils remit- id like to know too (so i can make sure i'm not doing whatever theyre looking for when i drive past!

)

Exactly, motoring offences are covered by the police and the DVLA. What are they looking for?...

 

[gaz]

Parking offences are dealt with by the council, they are looking for those.

 

[slowmotion]

Round here, there is at least one Transit-sized one with a quite sinister camera rig. I can't remember the signage, but it is something faintly crypto-Big Brother like "Council Enforcement Team". I think they wander about looking for noisy parties, fair enough, but I just hate that word "Enforcement".

 

[Bayerd]

Parking offences are dealt with by the council, they are looking for those.

Yep, that makes sense if the camera has a decent range on it. They're often seen around the A62 area coming in and out of Manchester fairly close to an area that has a Post Office, bank and Job Centre. All with parked up, hazards blazing motors running on a regular basis.

 

[DrSquirrel]

I know in Nottingham they look for people using bus lanes and parking illegally amongst other things.. Someone I know was fined for driving down a bus only street from this, and my sister was fined for parking in a taxi bay whilst picking up one of her friends.

She was actually picking someone up?

I know traffic wardens need to witness cars parked for a certain amount of time before they can ticket them... people are also wise to this so this is why you see wardens sometimes hiding around corners etc (I don't blame them tbh).

I'm not sure if a taxi bay can be included like this, but if it is - surely the CCTV car would have to sit, watch the car for said amount of time...

 

[ufkacbln]

You naive lot - they are for persecuting motorists and ensuring that the poor little tykes are paying through the nose for innocent transgressions of the law.

By doing naughty things like fining drivers for using phones the Police are "failing to engage with th edrivers and thus hempering rlationships between the two groups.

Link

 

[stowie]

In my old life where I drove everywhere, I got fined a couple of times by these little cars.

Once for turning left at a no-left turn, another time for parking in the wrong place. Cost me £60 each time. One of the reasons I found a different mode of transport for local journeys.

The CCTV cars around my way are used for catching people driving in restricted roads at the wrong time, ignoring the no-turn signs, and going up one way streets the wrong way. I live in one of these streets. The number of people using them the wrong way is astonishing, especially if the main road is congested.

There was such an outcry about these cars locally that the council now publishes the sites they monitor using them. They still catch plenty of cars. They do sometimes park in inconvenient places for cyclists though.

 

[pshore]

Apologies if this has been done before, I regularly see (around Manchester) those little Smart cars with the MCC logo on the side and camera peroscoping out of the roof parked at crossroads.

Given that the polis have vans to catch speedsters and DVLA have cars to catch the tax dodgers, what are the council looking for?

BBC News story here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7994449.stm

New CCTV cars to catch drivers using their mobile phones or being otherwise distracted at the wheel are being piloted by Greater Manchester Police.

The small Smart cars, which have a 12ft (3.6m) mast with a camera attached, are parked at junctions to monitor traffic.

 

[tjsc1]

There is one that I see 'every day' opposite a 'No Left Turn', they just sit there all day, every day and its a 'Camden Council' car in London. They must earn a fortune and there is always two people in the little smart car!!, must cover there wages.

 

[Davidc]

Perhaps they're watching for undeclared partners going into houses where there's a council tax reduction for single occupancy?

Looking for litter dropping?

Drinking alcohol in a no drinking zone?

No - don't be silly David, they're just a part of the 'enemy forces' in the War On Motorists - ask any Mail reader or Tory transport minister!

(More or less what Cunobelin says in post #9)

 

[tjsc1]

They are nothing but money machines!!

 

[Steve H]

The Smart cars in Manchester are primarily parked alongside bus lanes. Must work pretty well because the bus lanes are always clear even during peak times.

 

[ufkacbln]

Perhaps they're watching for undeclared partners going into houses where there's a council tax reduction for single occupancy?

Off topic..

Many years ago we were visited by a couple of gentlemen who wanted to speak to my father privately about his "girlfriend"

It was news to hm (and my mother) that he had been recorded cohabiting with a young lady in another local town, staying overnight and delivering shopping etc.

This was in contravention of her benefits claims and they wanted to know how he was going to support her.

What had in fact happened was that we had traded in our car when we upgraded and it was being used by one of the garage employees - my father was still the registered owner