This petition is laughable!

Well the title says it all. We were actually told this as we handed over our petition. We did end up getting our petition recognised and our now waiting for the reply. More on this in a bit…

I had waited to attend this residents meeting all week. I had so much to say about the way I was treated and the way my fellow residents felt. So myself, my grandson Nicky and granddaughter Louisa attended the residents meeting on the 15/11/06. My fellow residents wished me good luck and off we went. When we arrived at the meeting, parking was on the agenda and thankfully was near the top of the list. We sat down in the front row and waited for the parking issues to be discussed.

Finally it was nearly our turn. As the THCH parking rules was about to be discussed, the Anne (The THCH chairlady) turned to me and said, “You’re here to discuss the parking aren’t you? I had never seen this lady before but she definitely had heard about me. She gave a short description of the current status of the car parking rules and asked people for their opinions.

We were the first to speak and with this my Grandson (who takes up the story) stated, “Your car parking rules got my Nan clamped amd this caused her misery and distress. I explained that this was unnecessary as she was parked on THCH private land, displaying a valid parking permit. I went on to explain that there was no need for this and that the clamping of residents should stop. We were told that no clampers would operate without clamping and that clamping has cleaned our estates of abandoned cars. I highlighted that this does keep out outsiders but asked them what was the need for my Nan to be clamped while she was showing a valid parking permit? We was told that these are the rules but the THCH was discussing imposing a 2 week grace period on their land, for vehicles who’s Tax Disc had ran out. I made a point that my Nan was governed by the DVLA and did not need to be clamped by her housing association as well. I explained that sending out reminder notices instead of clamping was fairer to the community.


With this my Gran spoke and highlighted that there was also other problems. She informed the chair people that their car management company (ISTM) was over zealous in applying clamps. As soon a clamper arrives into a resident’s car park they clamp the car in the visitors bays strait away. This had caused problems when visitors had gone into people’s houses to pick up a visitors scratch card. The chair lady stated that ISTM must give 10 mins grace for people not showing a valid permit. When she said this the guy next to me started ranting that this was a load of rubbish. He had problems like us with these clampers and stated that they were taking away family cars. He said he had never seen a clamper wait 10mins and that all the clampers want is money. He started ranting and complaining so much that the chair people requested he calm down or leave. This subject was certainly causing a storm!

Another this we highlighted was that we believed their should be no clamping anyway because the residents were not properly consulted with regards to the car parking rules when the THCH took over. That was because the people we had spoke to, who had attended previous THCH meetings, had not heard of the clamping of residents being talked about specifically. To substantiate this claim we had previously requested all the THCH minutes of meetings upon handover to themselves from the old council. None of their documentation showed anything about parking being discussed with the residents and I told them this. We was informed that reminder leaflets had been delivered to all residents informing of clamping but this did not answer our question. Again we asked where was the discussions about parking and clamping of residents themselfs? A fellow resident who had attended previous residents meetings, stuck up for me and stated that I had a point and that parking had not been discussed. The chair people said nothing and we stated that we want a proper discussion with the clamping of residents being stopped.


Back to our agenda and I asked the chair people what we had to do to get the rules changed. Anne said rather smugly that, as a lone voice there was not a lot.
With this I pulled our petition and explained, “no actually we are not a lone voice as we have started a petition. We handed over our petition but this was rejected and held up in the air as laughable. This happened because we only had 2 THCH residents’ signatures out of the 150 who had signed. Well my Nan and me were gob smacked. I told them that my 81-year-old Gran “had taken to the streets to find out peoples feelings on a subject that was causing misery and distress. That was not laughable.” Opon handing over my petition I had explained that I had knocked on 25 THCH residents doors but I had accidentally had left these in my folder. I then took them out and explained that I actually had many signatures from THCH residents. I handed them over explaining that of the 26 residents I had spoken to, 25 had signed the petition. I explained that this petition showed that most people agreed that the rules needed changing.

I handed the petition to Anne and a second chairlady accepted this petition and explained that it would be forwarded to David Eatwell within THCH who was dealing with parking. She then gave me reassurances that our petition would get a personal reply from David Eatwell himself. With this Anne wanted to continue with the rest of the meeting. I said thanks and that “We will not stop until the clamping is stopped”

So all in all not a bad battle! We went in there to get our voices heard and got our point across. We showed that with the backing of the people we want these car parking rules changed. This needs to happen as these clampers are causing untold misery and distress within our East End community. If it not us residents being clamped, its our family and friends. IS Traffic management have been told to give 10mins grace before they clamp in a visitors bay. They never seem to observe this and as happened with me, are rude as well. I am an 81-year-old great grandmother but I will keep fighting this until this madness and harassment stops.

We will wait now for the response from David Eatwell of the THCH. In the meanwhile I will not be resting, I will be out there gaining more support.
Check back to find out what his reply was to our petition

(Please send replys, comments to Theodora_loizou@hotmail.co.uk)


(Petition Text below)

DEAR THCH, A PETITION FOR CHANGE

I am signing this petition because I am unhappy with your car parking rules & enforcement procedure and want it changed. We would like to see the rules changed and residents of THCH not to be clamped or fined at all when parked on THCH land. A fairer policy should be adopted with regards to helping vulnerable or sick people in our community who are most affected by your clampers.


Name……………………………… Adress…………………………………………………
Name………………………………...Adress…………………………………………………