CW 16
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Fined, for driving around a car park A BAFFLED motorist has been fined for leaving a Derby car park after driving around a car park for 11 minutes because he couldn’t find a space suitable to let his sick wife out. Frustrated David Shooter, 65, eventually gave up and drove to another park. But he was stunned to receive a £60 fine by post because he hadn’t bought a ticket at the packed Siddals Road car park. The retired headteacher, from Checkley, Staffordshire, has criticised the owners, Euro Car Parks, for its “miserly” attitude after rejecting his appeal. He said: “I was there for only 11 minutes, and I have had to pay £60 for the privilege. I didn’t even park up in a space, so I thought I had good grounds to appeal. “But they threw it out and wrote back saying that if I did not pay the fine in a set number of days, they would start court proceedings against me.” Mr Shooter added: “I didn’t want the hassle of going through all that,
so I paid up. But what a miserly attitude.” His wife suffers illhealth and Mr Shooter wasn’t able to find a space in the car park that would enable her to walk easily to Derby Theatre, where they were heading. “We drove around for a while looking for a space that wasn’t in a pothole or a puddle,” he said. “We were having no luck so I stopped the car briefly. “But I noticed that if we parked there, it meant my wife would have to climb steps to get to the theatre, which she was unable to do because of health complications. I looked at my sat nav and found an alternative park, so we left. “But it transpires that the owners of Siddals Road car park have cameras that film cars coming in and leaving.” Mr Shooter said ruefully: “The performance we went to see was thoroughly enjoyable, but if I’d known how much it was going to cost me, I might have thought twice about driving to Derby to see it.”
2nd December - 8th December 2016
B A RC E L O N A City Council has put its 85,000-pigeon population on a version of the Pill… and more than 150 animal welfare groups are celebrating!
These new controls will replace the controversial rounding-up and killing of pigeons, which are threatening to take over the historic centre, leaving their droppings on monuments, listed buildings and tourists. Barcelona officials have been receiving expert advice over contraceptive methods, which could cut numbers by as much as 80% within four to five years. The drug actually inhibits the formation of eggs in birds. Pigeons are a staple of Barcelona’s Plaça de Catalunya, where scores of cafes, theatres and historical architecture are being damaged by bird droppings. The first step will be to count the number of pigeons, a huge task which is being undertaken this month and next. Meanwhile, the Council has
Pigeons go on the Pill!
confirmed that culling will be suspended, to avoid interfering with the results. From next April, some 40 special feeding-dispensers will be installed in Barcelona districts, each containing contraceptive food. The first results will be analysed at the end of 2017. A Council spokesman said: “We will be using nicarbazin, which acts first on the younger birds. We predict there will be a 20% reduction in the pigeon population
in the first year, and between 70-80% in four to five years.” The authority believes the method will allow them to abandon culling permanently, and experts from Barcelona are adding their advice. Animal-rights groups are delighted with the decision because 152 organisations had earlier protested about the “unethical” method of catching the pigeons in nets, and then killing them. Barcelona, Spain’s
second most populous city after Madrid, is famed for its beautiful architecture, and is a tourist hotspot. And a concerned Commission for the Protection of Animals had led the fight for change for months. The use of the Pill for pigeons has been operating successfully for more than 15 years throughout Europe, especially in several Catalan municipalities, and in Alicante and Valencia.