Can I get fined for this? (Temporary no left turn)

JeM

I was driving along the main road to get petrol this morning, and when I came to the junction to turn left, which is the main entrance to a massive Morrison's supermarket, and the way in which everyone usually goes in, it was apparently closed, there was a no left turn sign, saying from 6th Feb (today) actually on the corner of the junction, not 100 or 200 yards before it. I'm pretty sure it would have done more harm than good if I would have tried to get out of the left hand lane into the middle whilst right at the lights. I was following a few other cars, who were still turning left, so I assumed the sign must be old or refer to the next left turn or something. Following them in, there wasn't a load of bollards or fences or anything, it wasn't even obstructed, all that was there was what I presume was an angry resident shaking his head and saying "no left turn".

Now what confuses me, is that you can still come out of that road onto the main road, and you can still drive straight across the main road into it, but for some reason you now can't turn left. It is the main way into a supermarket, and there were no signs directing you to a diversion so that people might still get to the supermarket. People were still turning left into it as I came back down the supposedly closed road.

Am I likely to get fined for this, would there be some ANPR cameras about anywhere? I'm paranoid and annoyed now, because I may get fined for the stupid mistake of following other people

Coupon-mad

Depends if it was a Council sign on the main road (and whether they had a camera looking at it too). Maybe it's a private sign put up by Morrisons in which case you will get diddly squat in the way of any 'fine' of course, as no private company can penalise anyone.

If you get a fake PCN from a private company then ignore it.

If you get a real PCN from the Council then post a picture of both sides of it on pepipoo and win your appeal (most people do):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

No point worrying about it either way.

JeM

Thanks for the swift reply.
I've no idea if it was a private or council one, there was however a van over the road with "Siemens Traffic Management" on it, and a bloke fiddling around with something on the pavement near a tall pole with a camera looking thing on it, but I think they just deal with traffic lights and various traffic control technology.

A fake PCN is likely to be one from some random company, whereas a real one is likely to be from the council? Also exactly what do pepipoo do and how do they help with PCNs?

Coupon-mad

Pepipoo is a forum like this one only specialising in advising people what points of appeal there are to any Council PCN (on the forum link I gave you).

There are also separate forums on there for fake 'PCNs' from private companies (which you should just ignore as per our advice on here) and another pepipoo forum for speeding/police penalty ticket advice.

The only tickets to take seriously would be from a Council, TFL, Police or (rarely) a Train Operator car park penalty direct from a TOC like Northern Rail.

In your case if you do get a Council PCN then appeal it, but first post a pic of both sides of it on pepipoo. Have a look at some threads there now, you'll see.

JeM

Ah, okay thanks a lot!
Next time I'm round there I'll have a look and see if I can see any cameras. I don't think there are any, save perhaps the usual ones on top of traffic lights. I'm thinking if theres no cameras about I should be allright?

Coupon-mad

Yep, no Council cameras then they cannot send a CCTV PCN (but don't forget about the little spy cars that drive around taking sneaky pics!).

Anyway don't worry either way.

JeM

Well I just went back to the junction, and they now have a sign in the proper place, a good 200 or so yards from the actual junction, as well as cordening off the left hand lane before the junction, forcing people to go into the middle lane and making it painfully obvious that you can't turn left. I wish they'd had done this 12 hours earlier
I'm still not entirely sure why, the signs say "No Left Turn. Pedestrians Crossing", which seems silly when people can still turn right into the road and go straight on into the road.
Also the only camera, apart from maybe ones on traffic lights, I could see was the one where the Siemens man was earlier, one of those fancy swivelly ones which I assume monitors the traffic flow, to keep the lights working or something? And hopefully not for ANPR

give_them_FA

Think youre a teenzy weenzy bit paranoid there JeM, why is the turn being blocked, there ought to be a sign to tell you who to call? If it's just a utility company no-ones going to enforce it

JeM

Yeah, I know I'm being paranoid, but being a young driver I want to avoid points, and don't want to waste any money either
No idea if its council or utilities or anything, no number or information, just some signs which weren't there this morning and now say "No left turn. Pedestrains Crossing"

give_them_FA

Stand to be corrected but never heard of camera enforcement of this, even if it were enforceable which could well not be. Councils do parking and bus lanes, police speed and traffic lights but it's difficult to set up cameras for much else.

Coupon-mad

You can get a Council CCTV-issued PCN for 'not proceeding in the direction indicated by a blue arrow' or words to that effect.

But again, it's nothing terrible to worry about, and is decriminalised in almost every county in the UK (hence why Councils issue tickets and not Police for most contraventions now). You get no points on your licence JeM if you get a Council 'moving traffic' or parking ticket, just go to pepipoo if ever you get one. Sounds like they were just setting up the restriction when you went through so it wasn't fully signed at that point in time, which would be a point of appeal if you did get a postal PCN.

Almost every poster on pepipoo can gets their Council PCN cancelled in the end. And remember that private tickets are a SCAM.