Money Grabbing Council

Just over a year and half go, the local residents of Lenton elected two councillors to represent the interests of the district’s people. A year and a half later, I will bet my life savings that none of the predominantly student residents have any clue who they are.

If you’re wondering why this should bother us, you may be forgiven. We pay no council tax and our bins get collected. The streets are shabby, but let’s face it, we could be living in Dunkirk. Yet The Tab uncovers these ‘public figures’ who make the SU’s welfare rep look famous, are silently stealing our money.

The name of their game? Parking permits and fines.

Whilst every other resident in Nottingham gets a free parking permit we are being forced to pay £70. Not only that, but your permit pays for a year that you won’t even fill because your tenant agreement ends in the summer. Couple this with new restrictions on student housing a sudden theme from the council seems to be appearing.

The money grabbers don’t stop here though. Earlier this term, Tab editor Ben Kennedy paid £70, like most of us, for a parking permit and was given a permit reading ‘Zone A’. After seeing other ‘Zone A permits’ in cars on his girlfriend’s road, Ben thought nothing of parking on the road for the weekend. Yet, on the following Sunday, Ben returned to find that the money grabbing council has issued him with not one but two parking tickets.

Ben commented ‘the permit labelling is totally misleading. If I see other cars parked with ‘Zone A’ permits then of course I’m going to park there!’

He went on to say ‘if I had known I’d been issued with one ticket I would have moved my car! The two tickets are completely outrageous!’

In April of this year the council had this to say ‘Placing a charge on a student permit might encourage a student to think more carefully about if it is entirely necessary to have a car in Nottingham’.  Obviously they have never walked to Uni at 9 am or seen the queue’s for the 34 bus.

Ben’s misery doesn’t end here though. Recently his car has been vandalised along with others on two separate occasions. So the question begs, whilst they grab our money where does it all go? Certainly not towards protecting us.

Believe it or not, this isn’t their only money grabbing scheme.  On the day after bin collections, Laura Hutchinson’s house was fined £700 (£100 for each housemate) for leaving her bin on the pavement.

This random, unfair and unjust discrimination that a council of nobodies are taking against students seems to have no end – and the silent money grabbing continues

Have you been effected by an unfair fine from the council? Do you know your local councillor or what he or she stands for? Do you think its fair we have to pay parking permits and is it clear where we can or can’t park? 

All views are of the author. The Tab only seeks to provide a platform for debate.