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Become an artist. I read this in the local paper earlier.
Quote:
Parking ticket collector unveils his 'fine art' collection Oct 5 2007
By Hugo Daniel
MOST people will do anything in their power to avoid a parking ticket.
But Robert Gould goes out of his way to collect them - and has been hit with fines in all 33 London boroughs.
The eccentric painter and decorator, from Old Town, Croydon, spent five months deliberately parking on double yellow lines.
He dreamt up the idea for an "art project" and it has seen him rack up a hefty £2,740 of fines.
But remarkably he has so far avoided paying a single penny, by writing a string of begging letters and simply ignoring demands for payment.
He said: "This is my contribution to British history.
"It's not about getting one over traffic wardens. It's an art project to bring the boroughs of London together.I know it's a bit off the wall, but people really like it."
All of the tickets are now in A4 frames on a wall in his living room and will be displayed at an exhibition in Brixton next February.
The project had its ups and downs, with Robert's first car, a Rover bought for just £60, being stolen halfway through.
He kicked off the project in Fairview Road, Norbury, leaving the Rover on a single yellow line.
It only took an hour-and-a-half for Croydon's eagle-eyed parking attendants to pounce.
But other boroughs' wardens were even quicker off the mark.
Robert said: "The easiest ticket I got was for Westminster, in Baker Street.
"I got out of the car and got a coffee in McDonald's. It took about five minutes."
Other boroughs, though, proved far more lax.
Robert explained: "Haringey was nearly impossible - it took two days. I parked on a double yellow line and no warden turned up.
"I had to go back the next day and still had to wait an hour-and-a-half.
"It's not always easy to get a ticket, believe it or not. There were times I had to provoke a reaction in traffic wardens and had to follow them to get one."
In the hope of turning the footage into a documentary, Robert would film his cars being hit with fines.
He explained: "I'd park the car and stand in the distance and watch. I've got some great footage of traffic wardens putting tickets on."
Robert revealed that Croydon's parking ticket didn't compare well to some of the others in his collection.
He said: "The Croydon ticket is quite a boring one. Some are very colourful and interesting.
"Islington is my favourite -it's very decorative and has a crown on it."
The project ended back in Croydon with Robert parking on a double yellow lines and waiting for his car to be towed away.
As far as he knows, the car was impounded and crushed.
He said: "I filmed the car being taken away at the end of the project. I parked it the other side of the Milan Bar in the High Street and filmed it being taken away.
"It was a lovely bit of footage."
* Robert's tickets will be displayed at the Ritzy cinema, in Brixton, in February for a month.
He is also looking for other spaces to exhibit them. If you have somewhere to display them call him on 07765 435 943.
* Have you done anything as wacky as Robert? If so call the newsdesk on 020 8763 6666.
And he's yet to pay a penny ...
PERHAPS the most remarkable thing about Robert's project is he has managed to avoid paying any of his fines.
And having escaped a bill of nearly £3,000, he is happy to share his secrets with beleaguered drivers across the capital.
He explained: "If you do not pay you get a letter saying you failed to pay. I sent a standard letter to all of them.
"It said: 'I was working in the area and doing some filming about social depravation issues. Unfortunately, I got a ticket, please could you waive the fee, because due to unforeseen circumstances there has been a liquidation of my company, I have sold off the car and have not got the money for it'.
"Quite a few did not even contact me again and about 10 said: 'Due to the circumstances, we will waive the fee'.
"About 12 of them sent a letter saying it was too late for an appeal and you have got to pay the fine.
"I just sent another letter and explained it all again. I expected a deluge of replies but only one letter came through and I threw it in the bin and have not heard anything."
Even if some boroughs do continue to pursue the fines, he believes he will be able to avoid them.
He said: "If I was put on the spot and went to court I would explain what I was doing.
"As far as each borough is concerned, it was one ticket. They did not know there was a network of tickets.
"The way I have avoided paying the fines is down to my cunning and experience. I have been able to avoid the legalities and I'm quite happy about that to be honest.
"If the police came and questioned me I would not be worried about it. I think people will see the funny side."
Never got one myself, but one of my mates ignored a parking ticket and ende up being forced to pay much more then the original ticket in a half year's time or so. My advice- pay it
I got a £50 parking fine earlier in the year from picking my dad up form work. There had always been a parking bay there, but a few days previously they had removed it, though all the lines hadn't completely gone.
It would have gone up to £100, I was a bit miffed but could not be bothered with appealing.
Have you ever ignored a parking ticket? 
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