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Grant
Darwin NT

A mickey mouse, goofy, donald duck, and pluto sign...

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Due to my residents parking permit expiring while I was on the Isle of Wight and Croydon Councils change of policy, ie. if you live in a block of 9 or more flats you no longer qualify for a permit.

I have had to rent a bay in a nearby block of flats

It is done via an online company who act for the person who has a space to rent.

Once the deal is agreed the online company sends you the landlords details and you contact them to work out the details, like exactly where the bay is and anything else you need to know.

I had trouble contacting the landlord, I left 2 phone messages and and e-mail on over Tuesday and Wednesday and did not get a reply.

I have booked the bay from today. The flats are called Whitstable Place

After my second e-mail I got a reply yesterday afternoon,

This is what the e-mail said:

Hi Bernie


I have let security know regarding your parking.


When you come into whitstable bay you will see bats immediately on your right where you can park in any bay or take a left when you get to whitstable place and park in that lot.



OK so it seems it was all fine, however I started to get negative vibes, don't know why. Perhaps the fact he says "Whitstable Bay" instead of "Place" and put "bats" for "bays".

So this morning I took the car to do the weekly shop and afterwards parked in a space on the right.

After my walk, I remember a couple of things still in the car from my trip back last week, so I went to the car.

To find I had a £100 parking ticket for "Parking in a residents bay without displaying a residents parking permit"

Well I was annoyed, I sent the landlord an email asking if he would get the ticket cancelled, his reply was illuminating:

Hi Bernie


I absolutely will. The residence is private property and should not be ticketed.


I have reached out to to them know you can park there.



So it seems he is totally unaware that the car park is controlled by a company called UK Parking Control Ltd and you need a permit to park.

So I have contacted the online company and cancelled the whole deal as A) I have paid to park and cannot and B) I cannot trust this guy to get things sorted correctly.

I had to pay a one moth security deposit of £75, plus the rent of £75 plus a "setting up fee" of £15 so I am currently £165 out of pocket with a £100 fine outstanding and I still have nowhere to park!!

Hopefully I will get my money back, but I wonder.

By law the landlord should know as the parking control contract for the land must be with him. Unless the cowboys are trying it on again....

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

You might have got a Penalty Charge Notice, but you haven't got a fine - and you won't, ever. The worst it can be will be a civil debt as the result of a County Court Judgement, if it ever goes that far.

Just in case it does, I suggest you take your camera for a walk to Whitstable Place and photograph the signs - especially from the point of view of a driver entering the spaces (but do turn round and look behind you, too). Many of these parking notices are thrown out as unenforceable because of bad signage - if you turn up in court, you're 95% of the way to winning, because the chances are that they won't.

The difficult part will be getting any money back from the dating agency. Do you have any evidence that the person they introduced you to actually lives in the flats and is entitled to a parking place? If the agency can't provide proof that they checked that, you might try suing them in the county or small claims court.

Do you have any evidence that the person they introduced you to actually lives in the flats and is entitled to a parking place?

I have just suggested this very thing to the company, as his knowledge of the car park rules were zero.

Also not sure how he intends to get my ticket cancelled as he didn't ask me for any details.

I am beginning to wonder if it is in fact some sort of scam. Depending on how quickly he gets the money.

Thank you for the suggestions, I will take a few pictures, I have to say I did not notice the signs when I drove in, as I suppose I wasn't expecting any.

I did see them after I got the ticket but didn't hang around, just drove out, least I get another ticket.

Do you have any evidence that the person they introduced you to actually lives in the flats and is entitled to a parking place?

I have just suggested this very thing to the company, as his knowledge of the car park rules were zero.

Also not sure how he intends to get my ticket cancelled as he didn't ask me for any details.

I am beginning to wonder if it is in fact some sort of scam. Depending on how quickly he gets the money.

Thank you for the suggestions, I will take a few pictures, I have to say I did not notice the signs when I drove in, as I suppose I wasn't expecting any.

I did see them after I got the ticket but didn't hang around, just drove out, least I get another ticket.

Once bitten, twice shy, good luck Bernie, photos carry more weight, than mere testimony in My experience, I beat a ticket that way once.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

O.J. Simpson freed from Nevada prison after 9 years.
My personal opinion? He was absolutely guilty of killing his wife Nicole and Ronald Goldman.
He WAS found guilty in the civil lawsuit, and still owes some 65 million dollars awarded in that judgement.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Ask most parents of young children and they will tell you the mention of bottoms, poo or farts incites fits of incomprehensible giggles among their offspring.
So it is no surprise that remote outback toilets have captured the imaginations of Quinn Huber, 10, and his brother Theo, 9, during a trip around Australia.

Outback toilets inspire Daily Bog Blog on boys' trip around Australia.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Playmobil traffic cone 'in man's lung for 40 years'

Doctors removed a toy traffic cone from a patient's lung - 40 years after he inhaled it by accident.

The 47-year-old man, from Preston, was referred to a respiratory clinic after having a cough for over a year.

Medics suspected the patient - a long-term smoker - had a tumour when scans showed something on his lung.

However, when they removed the mass they discovered it was the "long lost Playmobil traffic cone" he had received on his seventh birthday.

A report in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said the postman told doctors he "regularly played with and even swallowed" the toy pieces during his childhood.

But, on one occasion, he believes he inhaled a tiny plastic traffic cone.

He did not report any ill-effects for decades, doctors said, until the persistent cough which caused him to seek medical advice.

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Playmobil traffic cone 'in man's lung for 40 years'

That's very bizarre.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

The Sheeps' political and cultural independence
was restored after the production
of this motion picture.

Run Free Ewe Wilde Beasts!

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

They were all beauties......75 of them.
List of all James Bond girls.......

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

That's a pretty exclusive club alright.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Just bought tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld here in January. The thing that drives me crazy is the "service fees" they tack onto tickets. $16.50 in "service fees"? Whatever. I'd rather they include that sort of thing in the face price of the ticket. The extra fee thing makes me feel ripped off.

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

Just bought tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld here in January. The thing that drives me crazy is the "service fees" they tack onto tickets. $16.50 in "service fees"? Whatever. I'd rather they include that sort of thing in the face price of the ticket. The extra fee thing makes me feel ripped off.

Earlier this year (or maybe late last year), it was made illegal for airlines/travel agencies to add fess on the end of buying a ticket.
Used to be you'd go step by step through the web site booking the desired flight with the desired options, coming to a total amount; then when you went to pay for it there would be a credit card surcharge, and some handling or other charges tacked on at the very end. Sometimes as much as a couple of hundred dollars in excess of the "Total" price you had before you went to pay for it.

And just in the last month or so they put a limit on the surcharge companies can charge on credit card transactions.
Some places would have from a 0.5% to 5% surcharge on top of their advertised price, depending on the Credit Card you used. Now, they are supposed to be limited to the lesser percentage. If one of the cards they handle has a 1% fee, and another has a 4% fee, they can only charge 1% I expect it will take a few prosecutions before that really takes effect.
Really, their prices should take in to account the merchant transaction cost. And for most places they do, it's just some places just like to sucker people in with a low price, then hit them up for the same amount (or more) as it would have cost if they went to a place that advertised their prices honestly.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Einstein says:

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Albert Einstein --- Wrote the following:

The human mind ... is not capable of grasping the Universe
We are like a little child entering a huge library
The walls are covered to the ceilings
with books in many different tongues
The child knows that someone
must have written these books
the Child does not know who or how
It does not understand the languages
in which they are written
But the child notes a definite plan
in the arrangement of the books
a mysterious order which it does not comprehend
but only dimly suspects

Einstein says:

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Always check here - bookmark it
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=10279

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Einstein says:

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Its up

The core switch of our host university's network failed yesterday evening, forcing us off-line. Services seem to be restored now.

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Kevin