A complaint batted right back at them
A mate of mine stopped briefly to pop into another friends house. When he returned to his car just a couple of minutes later, a traffic warden was writing out a ticket.

"Come off it," he said, "I was only stopped for two minutes!"

"Ah but sir, if a fire-engine had to come up here, it wouldn't have been able to get through, would it?"

He'd picked the wrong person to complain to: "That's bollocks, I DRIVE a fire engine, and we wouldn't come this way. Now fuck off."
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Tue 7 Sep 2010, 10:56, 9 replies)

If you were literally stopped for 2 minutes
he can't write a ticket. He has to "observe" a car for a certain period, usually 5 or 10 mins - depending on the local restrictions.

He'll start writing the ticket before the time's up, but it wont be valid cos you weren't parked "illegally" for the duration given.
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Tue 7 Sep 2010, 12:56, closed)

Mmmm
I’m not saying that this isn’t true, and I have no specialist knowledge on the subject, but the above has the smell of the typical bollocks that barrack room lawyers spout up and down this great nation.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Tue 7 Sep 2010, 13:29, closed)

yeah, I'm pretty sure you can go to prison for that

(The Cat Hater punch a cow for the planet, Tue 7 Sep 2010, 13:31, closed)

Actually...
...it is true, cos I got a parking ticket recently (which was perfectly valid and I paid it cos it was entirely my fault) and I checked all this in case I could wriggle out of it.

However, while there are observation times listed for each type of parking offense, quite often that observation time is zero - for instance when your parking ticket has expired or parked for longer than allowed.

At least for my town: www.bournemouth.gov.uk/Library/PDF/Living/Transport/Parking/tmadiscretionpolicyv4docJune%2008.pdf
(NoveltyCondomHead Clanks Wams., Tue 7 Sep 2010, 13:58, closed)

I've checked it before when trying to wriggle out of a ticket
^^^ observation times from and to on the ticket have to be at least those for the offense committed for the council.

Have a google for "minimum observation period". Obviously, it depends on the offense, as NoveltyCondomHead says...
(MrOli is ugly, but in the morning you will be sober, Tue 7 Sep 2010, 16:39, closed)

I did have a quik look
as far as I could tell the observation times are discretionary, and a ticket is still legally enforceable with zero observation.
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Tue 7 Sep 2010, 21:00, closed)

You should have
stoved his head in and shit in his hat. Traffic Wardens are just cunts.
(mymilkshakebringsallthemongstotheyard poison hearts, poison minds - joining hate, Tue 7 Sep 2010, 17:01, closed)

What if the fire was actually up that way?

( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Tue 7 Sep 2010, 19:26, closed)

To settle some of the debates...
It IS true. The time may not have been 2 minutes; it was a short period of time the exact value of which is lost in the anals of time.

He really was (indeed is) a firefighter. The particular road was around a square, with other access points - which would have been used in preference to where he was stopped.

Oh, and he'd stopped to buy massive drugs, of course. It wasn't a Honda Accord -- it might have been a Bond Bug though!
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Wed 8 Sep 2010, 17:17, closed)