Dear LPG,

I have a story to tell which may affect all the readers of your words that are still drivers, and it starts with something that happened a long time ago.  My friend told me that she parked her car in a Lewisham street but spotted a space which happened to be on the opposite side of the road as she was driving.  There were no other moving vehicles at the time and it was known to be a fairly quite road so she steered her car over to the wrong side of the road and parked it.  She then went off to a party but when she returned someone had put a bit of a dent in the front offside corner of the car. 

Many drivers do it, and I have in my time, but there are a few very good reasons for not parking like that.   I have been reading about a relatively new law which, even if nothing happens to your car when it is found parked back to front, could cost.  

Apparently a policeman or street parking attendant now has the power to report such a car parked in this way at night and that report could cost the owner as much as £1000.00. .  It is all to do with the rear reflector lights and the visual confusion that drivers of oncoming vehicles can experience when passing it at night.

I have found lots of online references to this and I have passed on the online pages so that LPG can add them to the bottom of this post.

So if, when you are searching for that all elusive parking spot, you find it as you look over your right shoulder do yourself a favour.  Drive up the road, turn around and make sure it is on the left before you park there. 

… and back to my friend all those years ago…

There was no law back then but when she approached her insurance company they would not pay out even though everything else about the way that her car was parked was fine.

TS, Dulwich

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