I got a parking ticket! But it doesn't make me a criminal, even though I need to be punished.

I am not a criminal. The parking arrangements in these parts have been 'de-criminalised'. Phew thats a relief. But hang on, the local Council still demands the sum of £50 from me as the registered keeper of a car that was seen parked in a free parking bay with two of it's tyres straddling a painted mark on the road.

A 'Civil Enforcement Officer' punished me for my non-crime.

You see if the local 'authority' can dictate to you and I within a few inches (or should that be a few more centimetres) where we are allowed to park (free of charge) on the side of the Highway then I am afraid they are getting us used to simply taking their orders without question.

My initial thoughts were that 'but this is England, a place where the rule of law is exercised in a gentle and sensible way, a place where only necessary laws are enforced in a way that only the unreasonable would object.

Anyway it ended with me calling the CEO a 'Taxman in a daft hat'. He just walked off with a confused look on his face, the kind that suggested to me that he didn't know what the word 'daft' actually meant. Oh well I suppose I will have to fight the penalty charge even though I have not broken any law and never entered into any contract with the local 'authority'.