Parking Ticket Appeals discussion

RickyHerts

I live in a cul de sac and our local council introduced Resident's Parking (against our wishes) a few years ago. We have to purchase our permits which as we are in a G band I object to most strongly. We can park 2 cars off the road in our drive way. I arrived home late one evening to find a car parked across my drive way. I parked outside my house planning to move the car first thing in the morning. When I woke up at 9:00am there was already a ticket on the car. I have been appealing against this on the ground that my driveway was blocked and that I was parked outside my own house. I am not getting anywhere. I am now at the "Notice to Owner" stage and have just a couple more days to present my case. Any suggestions please?

campfreddy

RickyHerts wrote: »

When I woke up at 9:00am there was already a ticket on the car. I have been appealing against this on the ground that my driveway was blocked and that I was parked outside my own house.

I hate to say it but it doesn't look good. Why did you not get up earlier before the permit restrictions came into force to move your car? Sadly the council do not discriminate against whether your car is outside your house or not - if it is parked illegally then you get a ticket.

Solutions to this problem are:
-if you don't have double yellow lines outside your house in front of your drive, put a request into the council for them. If there are double yellow lines already, then no one should park over your driveway entrance and if they do you can call the police to have the vehicle removed.

- if there is a single yellow line across your drive and they parked on it legally (ie outside the CPZ times), then you won't be able to get it towed away.

- if you can't get into your drive, you need to either park somewhere that is legal or move your car before the restrictions come into force. Perhaps use your permit to park in one of the bays.

- take pictures of the car parked across your drive in case you need evidence.

I say this with sympathy as this has also happened to me too - I lived in an area where the CPZ started at 8am and although I had lived in the area for six years, I mistakenly thought it started at 8.30am and one day had my vehicle towed - I'd just been really lucky for years. I was parked illegally and it was my responsibility to ensure that I knew when the CPZ started. Bummer I know...

Secondly, why are you bothered about permits when you have parking for two cars on your property? You don't have to buy a permit if you are not using the bays. And if you had a permit, why didn't you park your car in a permit bay when you couldn't get into your drive?

You may just have to put this down to experience and get up earlier to move your car if it happens again... Sorry but I can't see much grounds for an appeal here.

Fifipip08

Cinders2001 wrote: »

I appealed and lost!
I paid for a 1 hour parking ticket in a council run car park. Went into a very near by shop and had to wait ages in the queue for the assistant and 3 shoppers ahead of me to deal with various problems...... long story.....

Result was I got back to my car 6 minutes late with a man standing by the car window and ticket on screen.....

I appealed telling the whole story in full......and lost.

I had to pay £30 because of other peoples problems.

This is a common story - However the law states that it is the drivers responsability to take into account any unforseen delays when purchasing parking time. Sorry Cinders!!

Fifipip08

dougalosama wrote: »

Hi

Does anyone know what spacing is required for police no waiting traffic cones to be adequately positioned. I'm appealing a ticket when we attended an Air-display show at Portrush (N Ireland) 7 September. There was one cone the space of a church entrance behind my car (2 car lengths - west) and no visible cones at all in front (east) of my car - but we all got tickets. The official photo's support me, but they have dismissed my initial appeal, saying that there was another cone east - just that you can't see it in the photo (because it's so far away). I reckon the distance between the two cones must have been 10 car lengths plus. Not only did I never see a second cone, but if it was there further up the road surely they should not be spaced 50m apart??

Anyone know the guidelines on placing cones?

Cones are not a legal requirement as they can be moved - the area should be well signed...

Fifipip08

ctomo1978 wrote: »

I have just recieved my Notice To Owner (NTO).
I have already appealed and i'm also going through this process.
I although was a little naughty!!!!
I work in leicester for a recruitment company, i had arranged to meet someone at our office and take this person to work. i parked in a loading bay, took some files into the office and came back with the member of staff.
i was gone into the building for approx 10 mins.
when i came out i saw the traffic officer slaping a ticket on and taking final pictures. i walked up and said that i was only 10 mins and she said that the ticket had been made and that she could receed it, (fair enough, we all have a job to do and wasn't going to get annoyed)
i appealed to leciestershire city council and they said that they have changed the policies, they now look at your car for 5 mins, if no one returns then they start the process of issuing the ticket, as they deem this a suitable amount of time to be loading/unloading, now the observed time on the ticket is 08:21 and the final time is 08:27, at this point she then slapped the ticket on my car (as i looked at her smiling!!!!!) I have appealed on the grounds that
A) I was taking a box into the office (Unloading)
i was putting a member of staff into my car (Loading)
I'm going to fill in the NTO, but can anyone advise of what i should put regarding the following question?

i would like to ask, how long is deemed acceptable for loading and unloading?

A speedy response would be appriciated. many thanks to everyone.

Ummmm..

Unfortunately your passanger would not be deemed as goods!!!! So forget that bit...

Most loading bays have a time restriction on them i.e 20mins no return in 1 hour. Most drivers read this to mean that they have 20 minutes to drop off whatever it is they are dropping off...

Basically the rules for loading bays are: Loading and unloading must be seen as a continuous process. A CEO will observe the parked vehicle for 5 minutes, if there is no clear evidence of loading and unloading taking place during that observation period then a PCN will be issued. It is then the responsability of the driver to provide proof to the local authority that they were loading/unloading at the time the PCN was issued - this may be in the form of an internal delivery doc or a receipt for the goods been unloaded.

IF the CEO see's the driver during the 5 minute observation and establishes that loading/unloading is indeed taking place they will inform the driver that they have 20 minutes to complete... does this make it clearer??

Barbjnr

Can anyone please help me? I received a parking ticket and my car was towed away over 12 months ago. I did pay my ticket and retrieved my car from the compound at the time. I also took photographs of the street were the incident happened. However I am embarrassed to say I didnt appeal at the time and wondered if I could appeal some 12 months after the event or is there a deadline for appeals? Thank you in advance.

ctomo1978

Fifipip08 wrote: »

Ummmm..

IF the CEO see's the driver during the 5 minute observation and establishes that loading/unloading is indeed taking place they will inform the driver that they have 20 minutes to complete... does this make it clearer??

yes it does make it clearer, thank you very much, would a leter from the manager help my case as the documents were sensitive, but there was no need for a signature, i took them the day before and returned them the following day due to unforseen curcumstances.

or should i admit defeat and pay it, which would really annoy me.

Also, if i fill in the NTO, would they then give me another 14 days to pay at the reduced rate??

thanks for any replys.

EDIT: when i returned to the vehicle i was told that i was already too late as the ticket had been issued, should she then have taken the ticket and told me i have 20 minutes.

campfreddy

Barbjnr - pretty sure you only have 28 days to appeal.

Sorry.

appealnow1

campfreddy wrote: »

Me - I'd write to the polic complaint commission http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/index/complaints.htm and tell them everything about the ticket and the response. Secondly I would contact your local police station and make a complaint about the officer who threatened you after she helped you.

I would also contact the council who probably also control that parking area and ask if the PCN is registered with them. They may also have some advice about this.

You are entitled to appeal (and win) if you have broken down.

And don't be intimidated by police - in my time, I've pulled over a police car for having a broken tail light, and I also written to complain when I got pulled over by the police because I wouldn't let a police car cut into a line of traffic I had been sitting in for 20 minutes because undertook in a slip lane. He wasn't using his blues and twos so I saw no reason why I should let him it. He refused to look at my license and attempted to intimidate me (I was taller than him which didn't help matters much........I'm a girl). He then tried to tell me that I did a dangerous move by cutting him up (traffic was moving at under 5pmh) to which I told him I knew because I rode a motorbike through town every day. He didn't get anywhere with me so gave up. I still complained about him.

I don't know what to tell my son about police - I am sure I shouldn't be telling him to be wary of them.............. this isn't the 1950s anymore

Dear Barbjnr.
What an astonishing story.
Every public authority has a common duty to act fairly and stating "Mitigation will not be considered by the issuing authority and correspondance not entered into." is a clear breach of that duty.

In your position I would contest the matter. I cannot believe that the police will allow this to go forward and suffer the enivitable poor publicity.

mutley0205

Back in February of this year I was apparently ticketed by a fine from TFL for parking in a Red Route. I've been appealing this fine for a several months, after receiving a letter from TFL wanting 180 pound for this fine. My problem is that there was NO ticket on my car when I returned to it and I received NO second notice.

Would anybody be able to tell me how I go about appealing this fine in the correct way. It keeps going backwards and forwards and I don't seem to be getting anywhere.