New road signs in Amwell Street

• WE learned from the January 15 Tribune that Islington Council plans to plug the hole in its finances by extracting more money from motorists by increasing the number of PCN (penalty charge notices) issued, (Drivers set to plug £1.7m hole in Town Hall’s coffers).

We Islingtonians are, of course, full of sympathy for the council’s economic plight, but the way the council is going about one aspect of this job is verging on the dishonest.

I was tipped off by a friend a couple of months ago not to drive any more down Great Percy Street, on pain of getting a penalty notice.

But another friend who was driving through the area last week – and dutifully following the instructions of her GPS – was induced to drive down that street and got the £130 fine. Other streets in the area are similarly under the new cosh.

But consider: 20 yards from the turn-off from Amwell Street to Great Percy Street is a small yellow notice discreetly saying “No through Road via Great Percy Street to King’s Cross Road”.

When you reach the corner, Great Percy Street is not blocked off with bollards. It’s completely clear, with cars parked along both sides, and other cars going up and down it.

It looks like a normal street, and is visibly being used as a “through-road”. A not unreasonable conclusion by a non-resident might be that the yellow notice had been left up and forgotten, after some road works had been finished.

That sort of thing happens all the time. As if in tacit acceptance that the signage is inadequate, an A4 sheet has been tied to a lamp-post (which no motorist would ever see) darkly alluding to cameras.

And near the far end of the street – by which point any motorist would already have committed an offence – a confusing assemblage of additional signs includes one which reads “warning camera enforcement active”.

At the very least, signage should explain exactly who is allowed to drive down these roads, and it should also give a clear warning that fines would follow contraventions. Motorists would immediately adjust to the new rule.

Islington includes some of the most deprived areas in Britain, and for families on slender means, a parking fine is a disaster to be avoided if humanly possible.

The trouble is, a sign warning non-resident drivers that they will be fined in Great Percy Street would defeat the whole purpose of the exercise, which is to trick money out of drivers by fair means or foul.

As far as PCNs are concerned, the council’s view appears to be simple: the more the merrier.

MICHAEL CHURCH,
EC1