Don’t worry, we are not returning to the summer of rage where van drivers were unleashing violence, but an incident did happen recently.
It was more calm though. Some would say even diplomatic on the van drivers behalf, who witnessed something happening that caused him to stop his van and question someone that was supposed to be in authority.
The authority of a traffic warden that is…someone who is handed a badge by the government with the message of “protect our roads from illegal parking. Punish anyone that doesn’t obey.”
So every morning these traffic wardens set off from their house and apartments and then patrol the streets and roads of the UK looking for violations
Sometimes they arrive in packs, and then split up to prowl the streets individually. They can give out more tickets that way.
Other times, traffic wardens are given their own vehicles…just like in this particular incident, where the traffic warden was riding a scooter.
So what happened is that the van driver noticed the traffic warden was parking on a double yellow line, something which is illegal of course, and then when he pulled up alongside to point our this fact he was met with a response that left him in shock…
“It’s okay, it’s only for 5 minutes,” said the traffic warden, referring to the fact that parking on double yellow lines is cool as long as you are not there for a long time.
Well, in actual fact this isn’t okay at all, and when a member of the public or a van driver tries to use this excuse they are almost always met with a “sorry, got to give you a ticket.”
In this particular incident the van driver was not satisfied with the traffic wardens response and no doubt all out rage might very well have been on his mind for a second, but then he decided to simply question him instead.
“Oh so you’re allowed to park on a double yellow for five minutes,” said the van driver, referring to the fact that the UK public are not allowed to but traffic wardens are.
“There is nowhere else to park though,” replied the traffic warden, almost as if it excused him from breaking the very law he was hired to protect.
Talk about double standards over these double yellow lines, it’s almost as if these traffic wardens really do think they are above the law.
I’m sure the van driver wanted to get out of the van and make the warden see a bit of sense, but on this day he decided to accept the fact that it was better to stay in the van and get on with his job.
A brief confrontation yes, but not the kind of confrontations that we have been hearing about over the last few months. A return to the summer of rage this isn’t, although who knows how long van drivers are going to remain so diplomatic.
The one thing I do know is that all van drivers in the UK should visit this website to compare van insurance. You get cheap quotes so you can save money, and then at least you have some extra change in your pocket.