It’s back and better than ever. We’ve revived our text message alert system for traffic wardens on Stonecot Hill which was discontinued a few months ago when Twitter stopped sending text messages to mobile phones.

Now the Twitter text message service is back on for O2 and Vodaphone customers and we’ve revamped the alert system to make it much faster and more reliable than before.

The new system also monitors Transport for London’s CCTV camera at the junction of Stonecot Hill and Hill Top which also issues parking tickets (though bizarrely TfL claims to have no idea how many).

If you’re already a Twitter member, just follow @stonecotparking and enable text message alerts for that account. If you’re not, here’s how you get going:

1. Join Twitter

Go to the signup page and create yourself an account.

2. Connect your mobile phone to your Twitter account

Now you’re signed up and logged in, go to the Devices page in your account settings and let Twitter know your phone number. You can leave the “device updates” setting Off as you’ll just be enabling text messages coming from a single account (@stonecotparking).

3. Follow @stonecotparking

Go to @stonecotparking’s page and click the big Follow button at the top. You should see a green tick and the word “Following”.

4. Turn on device updates for @stonecotparking

Click the circular mobile phone icon next to where it says “Following”. It should turn green, meaning you’ll get text message alerts whenever there’s a new update from @stonecotparking.

That’s it. While we can’t guarantee this system to be 100% reliable, when there are wardens about or the CCTV camera is working you’ll probably get a text message to let you know.

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We’ve launched a new way for you to keep an eye on the traffic wardens and TfL towaway trucks and stay up to date with the latest news about local parking.

Stonecot Parking is a news feed on the Twitter website where we’ll be posting short updates when wardens are spotted or there’s any other parking news.

Twitter is designed for short, instant messages and there are many ways you can read these updates:

• On the web
• Get updates delivered to you by email by entering your address into the form below, but please note that emails are sent only once per day so if you want real-time updates please choose another way of subscribing.
Enter your email address:

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• Subscribe to the RSS feed in your feed reader. There’s one built in to Internet Explorer 7 or you could try Google Reader
• If you join Twitter you can follow Stonecot Parking on your own Twitter page and opt to receive text message updates to your mobile phone. “Following” just means you’re subscribed to that feed within Twitter. Click the big button underneath the Stonecot Parking icon to follow once you’re signed in.
• Various instant messenger programs like AIM and Google Talk

We’ll do our best to keep this up to date but there’s no guarantee, so don’t blame us if you get ticketed or towed.

Transport for London has bought 21 new vehicle removal trucks and opened nine new car pounds to crack down on illegally-parked vehicles causing congestion and hazards on London’s Red Routes. That’s one truck for every 17 miles of Red Route.

Launching the scheme on 27 February, head of enforcement at TfL Patrick Troy said, “Our new [towaway] vehicles will help keep London’s busiest roads clear and the traffic moving.”

But the story on the ground has been very different. In the two weeks since the London Wide Removals Service started, TfL have tried to remove six vehicles from Stonecot Hill, none of which were obstructing traffic flow or causing a safety hazard. While all were technically breaking the law, they were safely away from the traffic on the main road in marked loading bays.

Now concern is growing over obstructions and hazards caused by TfL’s own removal vehicles.

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Transport for London’s consultation with local residents and businesses about parking on the A24 Red Route has been delayed until after the London mayoral and GLA elections on 1st May. The authority has a policy of not conducting politically-sensitive consultations close to an election so as to not influence or to be seen to be influencing the vote.

Over 2000 residents, traders and visitors to Stonecot Hill signed a petition in August 2007 asking for a review of local parking arrangements which were felt not to reflect the needs of local people.