Parking Ticket Appeals discussion

peter_holland

On 5 setember 08 I was parked on private land of retail car park in Ipswich Suffolk for 25 mins to do some shopping , when I returned back to my car I notice PCN Ticket on my windscreen which states code 03 parking while shopping on these premises .. So I appeal against this ticket on the grounds that I was shopping on the retails parked .. They Parking Fines said that I had gone to football match... I have never been to football match and never will and yet I have now at to pay 40.00 and their will take me to court and will have to take time off work what with all that legal stuff etc.
So can I claim back the ticket that you state in your current newsletter dtd 12 November 2008..
Please could someone help me on this matter on private land issues.....:mad:
thanks for your time in reading this urgent matter ,,,

Aegis

dogsbody321 wrote: »

So, does anyone know what I have to do next? They have rejected my first appeal, how do I do a second one?

If that was your informal appeal, don't worry. My impression is that councils won't even give informal appeals the time of day, and will reject outright to try and get you to cough up. The second appeal comes when the time to pay the PCN has expired, at which point they will send you forms to fill in to start formal representations. These are explained on the forms, but come back here and to pepipoo to work out how best to write the appeal.

If that one fails (and again, this is likely due to the fact that it is the council who review your formal appeal, and they have a vested interest in rejecting you), you have an independent adjudicator, though I believe this depends on where you live. In London we have to go to the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service, and they actually ARE independent and will allow the vast majority of appeals, again showing that councils can't be trusted to run their own appeals service.

All in all, the appeals up to the adjudication level might as well be a sham. If you were going to court and had a jury that would be paid for finding you guilty, would you consider that a fair trial?

Campfreddy_2

One last thing before I go and get on with my life..... beware councils that change the offence against you.

I was appealing a PCN that was issued on my motorbike by a blind warden who didn't see the pay and display ticket in my second tax disc on the bike.

I appealed and appealed and then the case was going to court. At this point the charge against me was changed to "you didn't buy the parking ticket from the right machine". Now I'm pretty sure that is illegal - I mean you can't arrest someone for murder and then when that won't stick, change it to burglary (sorry, rubbish example).

fortunately I was lucky because I took photos of the two ticket machines which were broken to explain why I walked a long way to get a ticket and that it wasn't just for fun.

Best advice ever: before you leave your vehicle, just take a couple of quick shots of it and the area around. This means that if any signs are added while you are away, you have proof.

And a camera phone is perfect as it records the time and date.

I'm off to do some real work now......

dogsbody321

I'm not sure it's likely that I would win at all - yes, the lines were virtually invisible on approach to where I parked, but where I had actually parked the lines were visible - although to be fair to myself, I didn't look at where I was parking, I just saw that there were no lines, and there were cars already parked there.

Obviously, once I had gotten out of the vehicle I had parked over the lines and didn't give it another thought.

All the evidence pointed to the road NOT having parking restrictions.

EDIT: added a pic of the yellow lines. I'm sure no-one can disagree that at night, these would be difficult to notice. The road, incidently isn't lit, although there is a light from a RBL club in the road.

dogsbody321

Campfreddy wrote: »

Best advice ever: before you leave your vehicle, just take a couple of quick shots of it and the area around. This means that if any signs are added while you are away, you have proof.

That is good advice. ...but what the hell has this country become when even parking properly and legally is no defence against being fined, so much so that you have to take pictures to prove it?

What a joke.

peter_holland

Hi There,
This is not a council issued ,but a Private land issue , as my car was parked on retail park for shopping purposes!!!
This was a private company called Parking Fines in Preston and have only a PO Box no you cannot telephone them , also have website called Parking Fines co.uk/

Campfreddy_2

dogsbody321 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.

So, I don't send payment to them as they suggest. I send another letter?

Yeah - send another appeal letter. If you are not sure about the timing, call the council and quote your PCN number and they will be able to tell you how long you have to appeal.

Again, make sure you send it recorded/signed for - and check it was received. Some councils allow appeals via email.

Keep going - if you really feel that you deserve for the PCN to be cancelled, keep appealing til you get offered a court date.

Don't pay - if you pay then you have accepted the PCN and cannot appeal it any further.

If your appeal is rejected again and you decide to pay, the payment will not increase but will remain at the original cost (like £40) and won't double.

Speak to your local parking shop for help if you are worried you've run out of time.

Campfreddy_2

peter_holland wrote: »

On 5 setember 08 I was parked on private land of retail car park in Ipswich Suffolk for 25 mins to do some shopping , when I returned back to my car I notice PCN Ticket on my windscreen which states code 03 parking while shopping on these premises .. So I appeal against this ticket on the grounds that I was shopping on the retails parked .. They Parking Fines said that I had gone to football match... I have never been to football match and never will

Do you have any receipts from your shopping? Receipts often have a time and date on them so you could produce this evidence perhaps.

Secondly, write to the people who run the shops/retail park manager and state that if you are going get fined for using their shops, you will take your business (especially before xmas) somewhere else. Enclose a copy of the letter/PCN and ask them to cancel the ticket on your behalf - it might work and might make the people issuing the fines more accountable. With the credit crunch, shops cannot afford to turn away business.

dogsbody321

Their letter states:
"I will serve on the registered keeper a Notice to Owner, which will increase the charge to £70 but will enable formal representation to be made against the penalty charge."

I seem to remember reading that if the lines don't conform to the standard set, and even if they are clearly meant to stop you parking there, and even if you KNOW you are not meant to park there, the lines can still not be enforced.

In their pics, my car has clearly been reversed into the space (you can see the angle and the angle that the wheel was left turned at), yet the picture from behind shows an empty space and the lines that can be seen, not the lines in the picture above which were partially obscured by the car that I had parked in front of.

It seems unfair to fine someone for parking in a space that had it's lines virtually hidden. There was also a lot of sand blown across the road, yet that seems to have disappeared in the pictures as well.

dogsbody321

peter_holland wrote: »

Hi There,
This is not a council issued ,but a Private land issue , as my car was parked on retail park for shopping purposes!!!
This was a private company called Parking Fines in Preston and have only a PO Box no you cannot telephone them , also have website called Parking Fines co.uk/

With private fines, I have just ignored them. I didn't enter into a contract with them, and at best all they can do is send you an unenforcable invoice. It's up to them to prove that you did enter into a contract agreeing to pay them.