Man Fined For Stopping In Car In Bruton St

The Evening Standard has the story of Nick Tubbs who pulled over and stopped his car on double yellow lines in Bruton St to take a phonecall lasting less than two minutes. He was caught on CCTV and issued with a £120 charge from Westminster Council.

A Westminster spokesman told the Standard that "Drivers are not allowed to wait at this location during controlled hours unless they are loading and unloading, which this motorist was clearly not doing."

The council says Mr Tubbs caused an obstruction to the traffic and they seem to regard stopping as being the same as parking, citing this definition, "The word parking is defined as follows: 'To park, to stop or leave a vehicle in a specific location.'". My own opinion is that it seems a bit harsh, and I would consider a Red Route to be a place where no stopping is allowed, and double yellows to be a place where no parking is allows. Notice that TFL says "stopping" is not allowed on Red Routes. The fact they use the word stopping and not parking would imply to me that they see a difference, although Westminster council consider parking to mean stopping at all.

What do you think? Is Westminster council doing a good job in penalising those that interrupt the good flow of traffic or are they being an unfair an unreasonable? Use the comments box to share your views...