This parking sign was queried in a Facebook post from where I took up the discussion.

I got a lot of different views about this sign.

To a non driver, it seems to be like a cryptic puzzle. You need to apply a certain logic to decipher it.

For all Tower Hamlets residents who are used to our parking zone classifications, the sign C1 is clear. It means controlled parking zone 1.

Visitors are not so lucky.

The sign C1 means nothing to a stranger at ll. It confuses the sign.

The yellow sign takes precedence over all other messages.

The sign is in three parts.The top sign only deal with one day in the week, the Friday. It shows a very small No Waiting sign

The hours 08:30 – 12:30 and 2:30 – 5:30

The Parking permitted sign is 2 rows down, showing that the hours missing on the top row, namely 12:30 – 2:30 are permitted for parking

The middle part of the sign deal with all other weekdays, Monday to Thursday and additionally carries a C1 symbol.

Only Tower Hamlets resident drivers or regular visitors or law enforcement would know the meaning of the C1. C1 is a parking zone.

If you are a permit holder for C1 you may park here

Monday – Thursday 8:30 am – 5:30 pm.

Reading this needs a bit of working out how those hours and days come together.

The Friday parts should have been grouped together. The Monday to Thursday sections should be at the bottom for clarity.

Apparently the yellow part has to be on top.

For all other people who are not native may have problems reading this correctly and end up with a fine.

We should be more user friendly. Easy to understand signs take the stress away. People don’t need to stop and think to understand it. They don’t even need to get out of their car to decipher this.

There are more serious driver-related ASB problems in the borough. We can’t argue away that clear road signage might make driving less stressful for people.

As I started, I saw this sign on Facebook. A post asked what this sign means. Without that post, I would not have become aware it is a problem for some.