Police Are Fining And Publicly Shaming People For Bad Parking As They Launch New Operation

Credit: Twitter/@SohoRoadWMP

Police in Birmingham have started a crackdown on improper parking, with officers focusing on some of the worst instances on Soho Road.

On June 1, officers began a "special operation" to crack down on unauthorized parking. On that day, 37 fixed penalty notices were issued as a result of the operation.

Additionally, they publicly shamed the drivers who left their vehicles in such appalling condition by posting pictures of the vehicles they had penalized for improper parking.

Credit: Twitter/@SohoRoadWMP

Soho Road Police announced on social media that they had listened to locals' complaints about the terrible condition of the parking in their neighborhood.

According to the police, drivers who had been caught parking illegally had told their officers that they knew what they were doing was improper but "carried on and did it anyway."

They announced the crackdown with numerous images to demonstrate how horrible it was, hoping to put an end to what they called a "culture of bad parking."

Credit: Twitter/@SohoRoadWMP

The picture of the day's worst parked car showed it straddling the kerb and footpath where it was essentially obstructing everyone.

They even gave it a dubious honor.

Other examples included a car completely parked on the pavement directly at a zebra crossing and a picture of a car and a van completely perched on the sidewalk.

On social media, police indicated that the owners of the cars shown in their thread may anticipate hearing from them soon to get their fines.

They said: "Illegal parking has a profound effect on other road users, creating dangerous situations & putting lives at risk.”

"STOP NOW."

"We listened to your concerns about the awful parking you’ve been suffering across the neighborhood & we acted. We are so grateful for your feedback and support," Soho Road Police explained in a Twitter thread.”

"We start by enforcement against the driver, if they’re around we engage them, explaining what’s wrong and hope that encourages better-driving practices in the future as we’ve proven that this culture of bad parking.”

"Feedback from all of the drivers we spoke to today was that they knew they were committing offenses, but carried on & did it anyway!”

"This is yet more evidence that this is a cultural issue of ignoring the rules of the road and cannot be resolved by Encouragement and Education alone."

People who observed the social media activities expressed their desire for their own police agencies to take similar action.