BAD BARON BETTS

             

                                                                                                                                                           

                                                                         

     

      

BAD BARON BETTS

Bad Baron Betts: he thought he was great

The height of his joy was to scold and berate

But his blue picture-signs, he realised too late:

They don’t mean a thing if there’s no “ONLY” plate.

Bad Baron Betts thought it oh such a breeze

He fined Newbury motorists with consummate ease

But the law says you can’t hide road signs behind trees

And then demand money without so much as ‘please’.

Bad Baron Betts’ had a faithful retainer

Paint words at each end of the bridge – a no brainer.

At the Wharf end: in view – they couldn’t be plainer

But approached from

Park Way

: they are well round the corner.

Bad Baron Betts managed two signs with red on

Unlit and unnoticed – just poles with a head on

No “No Entry” sign anywhere, with deep dread on;

Ensuring most drivers were blissfully led on.

Bad Baron Betts: he thought he was great

The height of his joy was to scold and berate

But his blue picture-signs, he realised too late:

They don’t mean a thing if there’s no “ONLY” plate.

        

HIGHWAY ROBBERY BUS ONLY STREET

If the image below is clear enough, you will see that the Council claim my finable offence was committed on "PARKWAY BRIDGE NEWBURY". There is no Parkway Bridge. The bridge they are attempting to define was called "the American Bridge" and this was replaced by the current structure with no name. At one end it attaches to the Wharf, forming part of Wharf Road that joins Park Way some distance from the bridge. "parkway" is the name of the new development.
THERE ARE NO NAME PLATES ON THE BRIDGE. I hold the view (derived from web data regarding court cases) that no properly run court will permit a Council to proceed against a motorist, if the place of the alleged offence is vague. I suspect ALL the PCNs (Penalty Charge Notice) are void. Further: the West Berks Council have asserted that a fine paid is, de facto, a fine payable; I think they will be proved wrong by virtue of the haphazard signage and its half-cocked state, over the months of entrapment.

Finally: once WBC realised they would have to take me to court, their truculence evaporated and they withdrew the threat. They do not want their serial failure (with a hint of opportunism)
aired in court.

CHALLENGE TO WEST BERKSHIRE COUNCIL

“VISIT PARKWAY – ENJOY THE NEWBURY ENTRAPMENT EXPERIENCE”

I have now carried out an exhaustive investigation into the Park Way – Wharf Road (canal bridge) Entrapment Zone, spurred on by rudeness, complacency and sheer ineptitude (with a hint of opportunism) emanating West Berkshire Council.
In short: the signage, as installed or absent, could have been ‘organised’ by monkeys left over from typing the works of Shakespeare.

I challenge any and all of the named individuals who have crossed my path, to meet me face to face, so that I may understand (and pass on that understanding) what manner of men we rely on to manage our Newbury environs. In particular, I would respond to Councillor Betts by saying: “If those who purport to manage our roads, do so with their ‘eyes shut’ and their minds switched off, while 500 yards of crass error hangs like a wind-blown plastic bag on Newbury’s Jewelled Crown of "Parkway", it is only simple Justice that all fines garnered through this fiasco, should be paid back, personally, by those individuals directly responsible. If being out of pocket teaches them to ‘drive’ their desks more carefully in future: so much the better.” And let’s have no cheap apologies or lame excuses.

NEW JERUSALEM – OLD COUNCIL CHICANERY

Welcome. I make the assumption that any who visit this blog have been entrapped or incensed – or both – by West Berkshire’s ‘Nice Little Earner’ that is the ‘Bus Gate’ on the canal bridge on the edge of Newbury (Wharf Road – Park Way, close to "Parkway" shopping mall).

Please feel free to tell your story and its outcome. They must not keep a penny in fines, nor a ‘shred’ of personal data.