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Dixie
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 21:55 
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Daily Mail

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Drivers face fine for leaving engines running while parked... because it harms environment

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 8:50 PM on 02nd March 2010

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Leaving your car engine running could land you a fine under a controversial pollution crackdown.

A council has instructed traffic wardens to issue £20 penalty notices to drivers who keep their engines on while parked – and the charge could double to £40 if not paid promptly.

But the attempt to 'improve air quality' by North Lincolnshire Council has been condemned as a 'money-making scam'.

Anyone 'found to have left their engine running without reason' could be punished by traffic officers.

But the council says drivers will first be asked to switch off and penalised only if they refuse to co-operate.

A spokesman said the council would 'consider circumstances' where it may be appropriate to sit with the engine idling, such as to defrost an icy windscreen.

Len Foster, the Labour-run council's cabinet member for neighbourhood and environment, said: 'The council has a responsibility to work to improve air quality.

'Of course the officers will use their common sense when issuing the notices, but I would hope the possibility of receiving a fine will work as a warning.'

Nigel Humphries, from the Association of British Drivers, said: 'It's just an absolutely ridiculous money-making scam.

'What business is it of the council whether we leave our engines running?'

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jomukuk
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 22:31 
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So while you're sitting there with your engine stopped..........will you get a parking fine ?

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56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing
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botach
PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2010 22:54 
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'Of course the officers will use their common sense when issuing the notices.'


With things like "how many of these till I get an award for productivity" on the agenda for the use of common sense :shock: :shock:

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dcbwhaley
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 09:30 
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Vehicles parked with their engines running are a bloody nuisance, especially big commercial vehicles. The noise is very annoying. When I was on holiday last summer there was a pub with a really nice beer garden which was completely ruined by the buses that stood at the nearby bus stop for ten or fifteen with their engines running.

Why are the drivers of big, diesel engined vehicles so reluctant to stop them?

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malcolmw
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 09:55 
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The sure fire way to get them to turn off their engines is to send round a circular insisting that, in compliance with law, engines must be switched off before mobile phones are used. :)

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Dusty
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 09:59 
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Quote:
Why are the drivers of big, diesel engined vehicles so reluctant to stop them?


In no particular order...

Heating/air conditioning

Electrical systems (such as tail lifts) that may be in use even though the vehicle is stationary

Caution (Its one thing having a flat battery/stuck starter at the depot, but youd feel a right prat with a non-starting Bus/HGV halfway through your day just cos you switched the engine off for 10 minuits. You cant just call AA relay you know!)

Etc

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ed_m
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:19 
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isn't this already an offence in sweden ?
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jomukuk
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:21 
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You really do not want a bus/truck starting the engine outside your pub/workplace....really you don't.
Especially the ones that are more than a few years old.......

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56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing
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Dusty
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:28 
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jomukuk wrote:
You really do not want a bus/truck starting the engine outside your pub/workplace....really you don't.
Especially the ones that are more than a few years old.......



I can remeber some years ago seeing on one of those "Camcorder clips" programs a short vid of about 20 people push starting and old coach.

Now THAT was funny! :rotfl:

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teabelly
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 10:54 
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I bet fitting stop/start technology to buses would improve air quality no end. Stinking things spend ages even at stops with the engine running!

The buses round here are ancient and most of them unroadworthy. Unfortunately the inspector responsible checking them was too chicken to pull the main bus company over the coals and get all their dangerous vehicles off the road. He just stopped a few of them. Would have been chaos as there would have been less than half the buses around as that many wouldn't pass muster.
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Johnnytheboy
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:57 
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All my staff have to run their engines for about ten minutes in the winter to warm the van before they load their day's plants.

But of course if they told an "enfocement officer" that, I'm sure he or she wouldn't just go ahead and issue a penalty that we'd then have to spend ages appealing against...

[/cynical]
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Mole
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 13:55 
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Why do they "have to"?
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Johnnytheboy
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 19:51 
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Because indoor plants need to be kept warm in transit...
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SafeSpeedv2
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 20:26 
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The disparity that we are coming to throughout the Country is alarming.
Are their loads of new signs and warnings when you enter the towns and places that have these kind on pointless fines ? How are motorists meant to know that this location has some new system/ scheme?
If noise is a problem then those issues need to be addressed.
(Local environment perhaps barriers (inc shrubs etc) and I wonder if soundproofing might help reduce engine noise too - apart from the exhaust output etc solutions ?)
Where is there evidence that this is even necessary never mind take all the way to ad lib ability to on the spot fines.
About time the on the spot fines are removed and all need to be placed in front of a magistrate !
If we pay to use the roads why are we being charged to park a car. Why not have it free Countrywide ?

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PeterE
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 20:29 
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What are the circumstances under which council officials envisage using this power? Apart from the aforementioned buses and commercial vehicles, I don't see many cars (which is what the article refers to) sitting around stationary with engines idling.

And unless it occurs in particular hotspots how are the officials going to locate the offending vehicles anyway?

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graball
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 20:36 
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i remember reading about 18 months ago about a council ( i think it was sussex way) planning to send " officers" out on the roads (walking presumably) to fine people, in traffic queues, who didn't switch their engines off if they didn't move for a period of time. No doubt the people who actually owned cars pointed out the ridiculousness of this situation.

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.
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malcolmw
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 21:52 
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There were some bridge works carried out near here a while back and this involved traffic queueing in a narrow street. There was a polite sign put up saying something like "Please consider the residents and turn off your engines while waiting."

This is all that is needed, a bit of consideration and sense - not laws.

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SafeSpeedv2
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 22:58 
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Am I not right in thinking that every time we use the starter we use more fuel that in idle anyway ?

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PeterE
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 23:41 
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SafeSpeedv2 wrote:
Am I not right in thinking that every time we use the starter we use more fuel that in idle anyway ?

Obviously depends how long you're idling.

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Dusty
PostPosted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 23:47 
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It occurs to me that one might be able to make a case that a driver who is "On the highway" (as opposed to being parked) with the engine not running might well be "not In full controll of the vehicle"

:scratchchin:

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