Note to the Brits: this is what happens when you don’t have a codified (ie. written) Bill of Rights:

A rural village shopkeeper has been threatened with arrest after warning customers of approaching traffic officials, it has emerged.
Alma Floyd, 60, was driven to despair by ‘over-zealous’ Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) ticketing shoppers for parking outside her store. The family-run grocery has no car park but shoppers have used the six metre-wide pavement without incident for over 60 years. Alma says the parking crackdown has caused a slump in trade and could spell financial ruin for her Highnam’s Dairy in Cheddar, Somerset. So she has been keeping an eye out for passing PCSOs and alerts her customers whenever they appear.
But last week a local Sergeant visited the store and warned her she risked prosecution if she continued to interfere with PCSOs “in their line of duty”.

You see, here in the much-maligned U.S. of A., we have this little thing called “freedom of speech”, codified in the First Amendment, which says that we can say what we want to each other—and that would include warning people of the Plod’s appearance.
Indeed, even flashing your lights at oncoming cars to warn them of a speed trap has been classified as a “freedom of speech” matter—and people can’t be fined for doing so.
Going back to our hapless shopkeepers: parking is a huge problem in some of these little English villages, most of which were built long before cars—hell, long before carts—and so there’s no provision for places to park. And yes, when people park on the sidewalks (actually, usually with just one side on the sidewalk), is can make things a bit inconvenient. But it’s an inconvenience which most Brits shrug off—I mean, when you have to get your groceries, you have to park somewhere.
The solution, of course, is for the local village council to supply parking space—either in parking garages or -lots—but then there are the notorious British zoning ordinances, which basically forbid anyone to build anything, especially in picturesque villages like Cheddar, which happen to be the places which need the structures the most.
So: unyielding zoning authority on the one hand, and unyielding traffic enforcement on the other. And the ordinary Brits are the ones caught between the rock and the hard place. It’s what happens when you cede too much power to government, without much power of recall.

Agreed.

The closest city to where I live, the city of Newark, Ohio, has suceeded in screwing up its parking downtown. They eliminated the old relatively efficient parking meter system, and replaced it with 2 time slots: 12 hour and 3 hour. If you park in a 12 hour spot you can't park in another one for the rest of the day, same with the 3 hour spots. It has succeeded in driving 2 of the few businesses downtown out of business.

pfffffffffffffffffffffffft

Originally Posted by 5.56X45mm

Note to the Brits: this is what happens when you don’t have a codified (ie. written) Bill of Rights:

A rural village shopkeeper has been threatened with arrest after warning customers of approaching traffic officials, it has emerged.
Alma Floyd, 60, was driven to despair by ‘over-zealous’ Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) ticketing shoppers for parking outside her store. The family-run grocery has no car park but shoppers have used the six metre-wide pavement without incident for over 60 years. Alma says the parking crackdown has caused a slump in trade and could spell financial ruin for her Highnam’s Dairy in Cheddar, Somerset. So she has been keeping an eye out for passing PCSOs and alerts her customers whenever they appear.
But last week a local Sergeant visited the store and warned her she risked prosecution if she continued to interfere with PCSOs “in their line of duty”.

You see, here in the much-maligned U.S. of A., we have this little thing called “freedom of speech”, codified in the First Amendment, which says that we can say what we want to each other—and that would include warning people of the Plod’s appearance.
Indeed, even flashing your lights at oncoming cars to warn them of a speed trap has been classified as a “freedom of speech” matter—and people can’t be fined for doing so.
Going back to our hapless shopkeepers: parking is a huge problem in some of these little English villages, most of which were built long before cars—hell, long before carts—and so there’s no provision for places to park. And yes, when people park on the sidewalks (actually, usually with just one side on the sidewalk), is can make things a bit inconvenient. But it’s an inconvenience which most Brits shrug off—I mean, when you have to get your groceries, you have to park somewhere.
The solution, of course, is for the local village council to supply parking space—either in parking garages or -lots—but then there are the notorious British zoning ordinances, which basically forbid anyone to build anything, especially in picturesque villages like Cheddar, which happen to be the places which need the structures the most.
So: unyielding zoning authority on the one hand, and unyielding traffic enforcement on the other. And the ordinary Brits are the ones caught between the rock and the hard place. It’s what happens when you cede too much power to government, without much power of recall.

I think you have misread the argument, free speech has nothing to do with this case at all.
She was being warned about interfering with authorities not "warning" others about the approach of the authorities.

Or to put in US terms I am within my rights to flash my lights to slow down a speeding car but I would be arrested for stopping you from giving a ticket to a driver you had stopped for speeding.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...et/7421097.stm

5.56. There is no doubt that the only offences here dealt with with zero tolerance is those of parking and related matters.

Why - because all these motoring matters are chased to raise money . As our roads become safer and motorists get street wise , the restrictions are tightened and the authorities get more and more desperate - taking away more spaces and increasing parking fees. One of our dirtiest hospitals raised $30,000,000 from its car park fees this year, from it's patients and their families.

We certainly have ceded far too much power to our government and they in turn have cede too much to the E.U. Now our government wants more and more. I could inundate the forum with daily examples, but I refrain for fear of boring the pants of everyone. just let me say that it is unbelievable - we are sorely tested. The French would have had the cobbles up long ago, God bless 'em.

I think I'll vote for Chas & Dave and the Rockney movement. They are the boys for me. ( Wiki and google for more).He-he.