'My first reclaim: Unfair Parking Ticket' blog discussion

robpw2

go martin can you help us with ours , they have put a ticket on my partners car outside our home becuase apparently the road is no parking 8-6 everyday but there is no sign on the road, now i have pointed this out and they have sent a picture of a hedge with a sign being covered however this is at least a mile up the road and if you come from the other end of the road you would not notice this sign , do we still have to pay ...

IcklePickle_2

Do you think they forgot to remove the old sign? Hope they cancel your ticket, that's absurd.

Feel sorry for people who aren't savvy about this and will pay such a large fine

kimrawlinson

I have recently challenged Liverpool City Council following the issuing of a parking ticket when I was parked on private land. At first they refused to back down and I figured that they hoped I would crumble and pay the half price fine which they continued to offer. No chance but I had to take it all the way to the parking appeals tribunal service. My case remained consistent but they did not back down until required to present their case at appeal.
I was glad to be proved right but annoyed by my precious time wasted on this matter which could have been resolved sooner.
Parking fines are a nice little earner for Councils and perhaps it is this that influences their actions!!!

Moonchild

Errata wrote: »

Why is the signage unclear? It may be confusing but the signage itself is perfectly clear as your photo shows.

Some of you may be raising your eyes at this, but this is the type of thought process you normally need when challenging a parking ticket.

You need to be pedantic, you need to be clear, and often enough you are challenging technicalities which can come down to phrasing.

I recently had a parking ticket appeal go through (still waiting for outcome, but am confident) after I was given a £120 ticket for scratching the wrong dates on a visitors parking permit (i.e. i'd scratched Wednesday 20th October instead of Wednesday 21st October - or similar before you check the dates!).

However, the parking officer had given me the ticket for 'Not clearly displaying parking permit' instead of a different offence 'Not displaying correct parking permit'. (an incorrect parking permit had been clearly displayed, as it showed on their own photos!).

As a result the PCN will be cancelled as they cannot reterospectively change the offence.

So, be pedantic, look at the way things are phrased, take photo's and speak to people who know what they are on about. I got fabulous help from another forum that we're not allowed to name, but I hope MSE's Appeals Forums has as much success in 2009!

Prune77

This is giving me hope!! Last November I parked on a single yellow line in Nottingham City centre; there are always cars parked on this line in the evening but this was in the afternoon. I searched up and down the street for restriction times but there was absolutely nothing. Not only did I receive a parking ticket but I was towed away 25 minutes after I parked - a total of £140.00 to get my car back! I have appealed on the grounds of there being no indication of restrictions (I have since learned that there is signage three streets away indicating a tow-away zone) and also on the grounds of the council ignoring the governments guidelines stating that towing away should be reserved for repeated offenders and not as a way of gaining revenue. I rang just before Christmas to check that they had received the appeal as I had not heard anything and there is a backlog of at least a month - that will be longer now due to Christmas and New Year, no doubt - so all I can do it wait and hope!

janiebquick

A few years ago (when the police were responsible for parking control where we live), my husband was given a parking ticket for parking in a disabled bay at 7 30 in the morning. Only, the adjacent sign clearly stated that restrictions only applied from 8 30 in the morning. He complained to the local police and was gobsmacked when the officer who issued the ticket telephoned to apologise!!

TimeLord86

This is really useful stuff to know!

I have heard (not sure to the validity of this) that parking officers will issue tickets, knowing full well that the ticket they write is not valid for the times, or areas. They do this under a pretense of fear, in that people will pay the fine, because they are too nervous to challenge / unsure of the existing parking restrictions, and don't want a CCJ or black mark against their criminal record. It's all to do with quota's, and if parking officers don't meet their quota of giving out tickets, whether valid or not, for that week / month, then it will not reflect wisely in their employers eyes.

I say challenge everything!

[Deleted User]

FAO Martin:

What I'd like to know is, as you were "observed" at 6.33pm, did you ACTUALLY park between 6.30pm and 6.32pm, or did you sneakily get there a couple of minutes early, and just not get caught?

lucky_hels

hi martin.
hope you can help me. I parked in a services car park 2weeks ago for 3 hours 42 minutes and caught on camera.
the photo does noe show me in the car park but on the road outside.
ive been fined £80 and £50 if I pay within the week. is this fair.

lucky_hels

hi martin.hope you can help me.I parked in a services car park 2 weeks ago for 3 hours 42 minutes and caught on camera.the photo does not show me in the car park but the car on the road outside.
Ive been fined £80 and £50 if I pay within the week.