Brickbat: Zealous Enforcement

In London, England, a man returned from vacation to find four parking tickets on his car after Croydon Council painted a disabled parking bay around his legally parked vehicle while he was away. The bay was created with no prior notice to residents, and contractors painted around the car to avoid delays. Even though the contractor left a note asking that no fines be issued, a parking attendant ticketed the vehicle on multiple days. The man, who did not want to be identified, shared CCTV footage of the workers on social media after facing online criticism. The council apologized and said it would cancel the tickets.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The council apologized and said it would cancel the tickets.

The NHS will surly cripple him soon enough anyway. Ha! Social commentary!

[mad.casual]

This depiction may give the wrong impression that there's nothing of interest to libertarians going on in England beyond painters and meter maids who are zealous and over-diligent to the point of diligently correcting their mistakes.

Really, "The man, who did not want to be identified... on social media after facing online criticism" sounds a lot like the "civil libertarianism" that several at this magazine called for.

[Longtobefree]

How is this a brickbat?

With all of (not so) Great Britain to choose from this is best you can do?

[mad.casual]

As indicated, IMO, the fact that somewhat behind the veil on social media the rest of Britain told the guy to shut up, grin, bear it, and pay the fine is far, far more insidious than the fact that meter maids and civil servants wrongly issued him citations and then "Oops, sorry, let me revoke them all for you... 1s... done."

It's almost more like a batbrick.