Today we have an installment of a small "reverse duck bite" - or a "Biteback".

In "Great" Britain, apparently parking and speeding violations have largely been delegated to private contractors. I have been hearing horror stories about how these contractors are abusing their franchise - by issuing undeserved tickets, "booting" legally parked cars; jacking a car up, painting a different color stripe, lowering the car and issuing a ticket; even booting a police car!

I was seeking to verify these actions when I came across a story in the "Oldham Advertiser" online newspaper. The above picture is from there (thanks Fair Use!)

It seems that this particular camera has been repeatedly vandalized. They suspect it's by the same person - because the method is the same - spraying opaque silver paint on the camera lens.

Before the silver paint incidents, Martin James O'Callaghan used an angle grinder to chop the entire thing down.

Here we have an interesting situation. There are hundreds of allegations of abuse, but what about proof? I would imagine the only proof would be to wait around and video and audio tape the whole thing. I wonder if that's being done?

Then, what is the fine to the contractor? In my opinion, a contractor that is caught violating its "trust" should be pinged so badly, that it would NEVER try it again. I mean, like a million dollars or something.

I'll bet, though, that if there are any fines, they're small, and rarely assessed. After all, we're talking mercantilism here.

It's nice to see the Brits fighting back. Even if only a little.