got a parking ticket outside my house, is it worth appealing against it?

Casual

A-ha - now this is my area!

Exemptions are intended under legislation to allow necessary activities to take place whilst controlling parking at the same time.

Loading and unloading is classified as an exemption under the Traffic Management Act 2004. And surprisingly, there is no time limit either - the exemption allows for 'as long as is reasonable'.

What to do
I would make representations to the council under the grounds that you were unloading (Exemption A - The Contravention did not occur). Can you enclose a receipt or invoice to show the fridge purchase?

And - if in the unlikely event that they refuse your representations then you still have another 14 days to pay the reduced penalty rate.

Hope that helps-
Catherine

Casual

And - I forgot to say - make sure you keep your letter brief, to the point and polite. There's no point whining or getting angry. Another common threat is 'I'm gonna take you to court for extortion' which only serves to rile the enforcement authority up.

Keep it polite and brief and you should be fine.

And if you're querying the CEO's (Traffic Warden) timings you could ask to see a copy of their notebook details as they have to log everything that they do.

stolt

Casual wrote: »

And - I forgot to say - make sure you keep your letter brief, to the point and polite. There's no point whining or getting angry. Another common threat is 'I'm gonna take you to court for extortion' which only serves to rile the enforcement authority up.

Keep it polite and brief and you should be fine.

And if you're querying the CEO's (Traffic Warden) timings you could ask to see a copy of their notebook details as they have to log everything that they do.

hi i wwrote a brief note, the fridge came from ebay but it was local to me and they sold it as a buy it now for me and ended the listing, as its second hand i dont really have a receipt as such, i have emails and also the sellers details, couldnt they sign something under oath if they have to for the council, or is that taking things a bit too far.

itsallaboutthemoney

go to pepipoo.com they helped me with a parking fine- ended up not paying thanks to their help. go to the forums section and post ur message there.

Keith

Casual wrote: »

Loading and unloading is classified as an exemption under the Traffic Management Act 2004. And surprisingly, there is no time limit either - the exemption allows for 'as long as is reasonable'.

But doesn't loading have to be constant, so if the OP was watched loading for say 4 minutes, but stood in the house long enough for the warden to then read his tax disc to issue the ticket he wasn't loading but putting the items where they should be.

If he was unloading the vehicle and taking the items to his home and then returned to the vehicle and drove off there would be no ticket as he would of seen the warden.

Wig

Keith wrote: »

But doesn't loading have to be constant, so if the OP was watched loading for say 4 minutes, but stood in the house long enough for the warden to then read his tax disc to issue the ticket he wasn't loading but putting the items where they should be.

If he was unloading the vehicle and taking the items to his home and then returned to the vehicle and drove off there would be no ticket as he would of seen the warden.

As the item is extremely heavy, the time taken to carry the fridge into the property and position it in a safe place could reasonably be said to take a while. It only remains to be decided where it is reasonable to end the journey of the fridge onto/into the property. Leaving it outside but nonetheless on the property would surely be unreasonable. leaving it just inside the door way in the hall way could also be said to be unreasonable as it would be blocking an escape route, so it would seem to be reasonable that the fridge could be carried to the room of its intended storage - the kitchen, once there, it would be reasonable to return to move the vehicle. I would say 7 minutes is extremely quick for unloading a fridge.

Keep us posted OP.

anewman

Great. The ultimate comeback for all parking tickets - "I was just unloading"

Wig

Forgot to tell OP to keep a record of the reference number for your appeal case, A lady on here recently deleted her reference and the council disputed that an appeal had ever been lodged, so she had to pay a lot.

Also I believe if an appeal is not decided within 28days the ticket can not be enforced. So that's another thing to keep in mind.

stolt

thanks for that useful for to know, i had a email confirmation that my appeal has been lodged so will keep that safe.

Casual

stolt wrote: »

hi i wwrote a brief note, the fridge came from ebay but it was local to me and they sold it as a buy it now for me and ended the listing, as its second hand i dont really have a receipt as such, i have emails and also the sellers details, couldnt they sign something under oath if they have to for the council, or is that taking things a bit too far.

At this stage (i.e. you're making representations) the majority of highway authorities would take email transactions as valid proof. It just helps back up your argument and they should cancel it. You're showing willing which is the crucial point. If they didn't accept it (and I don't know a council who would, unless you're a repeat offender) the Adjudicator would certainly rule in your favour given that you've:

made representations in a quick and expeditious time frame,
you've done all that can be expected to provide evidence,
your submissions were polite and fair.

Adjudicators would always rule in your favour - loading and unloading is a difficult one for authorities to disprove. As subsequent posters say, unloading can take as long as is reasonably expected. This could be fairly quick for grocery shopping but much longer for white goods and the like.

For example, a recent case was taken to appeal by a hopsital volunteer who received a PCN whilst unloading his 'cargo' - an elderly woman. He was gone for over 15 minutes as he was settling her into her house and making her a cup of tea. The Adjudicator ruled that this was reasonable - given the circumstances.