ok so am I right in thinking we are paying for a PARKING fee in a PARKING BAY?
so if I park my bike on private land (which I do) does this mean I do not have to pay?
Yes, we are paying for a parking bay.No, you do not have to pay. 
where is the private land? 
well I don’t think I’m in the paying band (yet) but it is in clerkenwell…
but lets be honest all the other boroughs and going to follow suit sooner or later
You don’t have to pay on private land unless it is an actual car park, and/or the owners of the land specifically charge you.
I used to work in Farrington and we parked on the square glass/lights area,
dont think there is anything similar near the Strand
from what I remember of the strand no there isn’t…
Westminster started to get very strict on this a few years back. I used to park on such an area every day, then one weekend I parked and got a ticket. I thought I was ok because we had permission from the landowner, but I lost the appeal. Something to do with if it’s not clearly separated from the public highway. And they justified it by saying it costs them millions and zillions and trillions of pounds every second to fix pavements where “heavy vehicles” (I was riding a 125 scoot) mount the pavement.
A bit late now, but not a valid judgement.
Somewhere exists a document, well in truth lots and lots of documents, showing who own what of (almost) all land in this country.
There is no legal need to demark your title boundary in this country, it’s just convention and the need to stop your livestock straying (in the City?) so it’s down to the Local Authority to prove that they have title to the land on behalf of the residents of the borough before they can enforce their rules.
Fixing things they don’t own aint proof of anything unless they can bring forward evidence of doing that for years and years together with having spent that time searching for the true owner.
By chance, I’ve just found a 30 metre long, unmade road in the middle of Plumstead that appears to have no owner. Just got to find out how to claim it as mine as it’s a potential nice little earner.
Parking has nothing to do with who owns the land. Traffic law is based on the concept of the highway which can be owned by anyone. The council almost never owns the highway, they don’t need to do undertake their rights and obligations. The highway is that bit of land which the public have free unrestricted access to, including alleyways running off the road etc.
But fenced or unfenced, it has an owner.
If the owner has no problem with a “stray” vehicle owner parking on the land, the local authority have no jurisdiction over that parking.
Agreed, boundaries can be an issue, and they get worse, year by year as markers get lost, but there is a limit to how far the local authority can stretch their remit.
As for ownership of highways lands, it damned complex, but for all practical purposes, the local authority do own the land unless someone can prove otherwise.
But I am afraid you are wrong. Ownership of the land is irrelevant - the council can fine you for parking on your own land if it constitutes the highway as this woman found -
Agreed, there are circumstances where I may be “wrong”. E.g. This bit of one of my posts.
Fixing things they don’t own aint proof of anything unless they can bring forward evidence of doing that for years and years together with having spent that time searching for the true owner.
But forecourt parking and lay-by parking are not quite synonymous.
Was there a mention of yellow line on the original post?
Normally along the side of buildings /edge of forecourts etc you will see a brass strip or a line of brass studs. These mark the boundary line, so you should be safe parking within this area.
To be honest most parking wardens dont seem to have any idea of the rules themselves!
It would be good if the “brass strips” still existed. In the City years ago the Corporation insisted on them to prevent boundary dispute, establish responsibility and so on.
For whatever reasons, these seem to be rapidly becoming things of the past.
Pity as they saved me parking tickets in Covent Garden and another in the City a few years back.
How do you train to be a traffic warden? If LB could sponsor me I could gain some inside knowledge and “cascade” it down to you fine citizens.
That’s the first time I’ve seen “train” and “traffic warden” in the same sentence.
“On occasion, you may face hostility from the public.” oh dear!
http://www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/helpwithyourcareer/jobprofiles/profiles/profile49/