Parking Ticket Appeal

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Hi,

I have recieved a notice to owner form from my local council for not properly displaying a ticket.

I assume everything has been done appropriately by the council & they have shown me evidence photos etc.

The one thing they have failed to do is take pictured of my whole dashboard.

Their pictures show 70% of my dashboard (which inlcudes a couple of old pay & display tickets) but most importantly DO NOT SHOW THE PURCHASED VALID TICKET I had in the remaining portion on full display!!

Immediately after recieving the parking ticket (10 mins) I went to the Council House with purchased pay & display ticket in hand, made them copy it & sign it & lodged appeal.

What are my chances of the appeal going my way?

The valid display ticket was roadside not kerbside, so the only arguement they may have in law is that the other side of the dashbard couldnt be pictured due to Health & Safety rules about the warden stepping into the road to take it.

This is pretty much my defence & also the original valid ticket "
Thank you for enclosing pictures showing I had out of date tickets on the
mid part of my dashboard. I collect old tickets & place them in the centre
void so they dont get lost (because on some occassions I claim the VAT back
as they are business related). This picture proves nothing other than I have
paid for parking before in Stratford.
My ticket was placed & displayed, as always, on the drivers side on the
dashboard. The reason I put valid tickets there is that is MUCH easier for a
warden to view in that position rather than in the centre of the dashboard!
I have reviewed your pictures online, as advised by your office & you will
see that this is an area of the dashboard is the one area NONE of your
pictures have covered with any measure of detail what so ever. However,
there is one that also pictures the BODY SHOP sign that if you zoom in you
can clearly see a white object on the side of the dashboard I place my
tickets. Unfortunately when I zoom in on your pictures it becomes blurred on
my PC, this is either due to my PCs resolution, which is low, or an out of
focus part of the picture.
I also am not happy at all that the reply to the appeal has been dealt with
in such a way. Sending me a reject letter & one picture showing
approximately a quarter of my dashboard is in itself pointless.
Your letter states " I have enclosed the photograph that clearly shows that
the pay & display ticket was not on display but a previous expired ticket",
this no way near an accurate statement to make given the picture you sent.
Its even suspect if you applied it to all the pictures on your website when
you only cover about 70% of the dashboard.
I am also not aware of any law permitting penalty charge notices being
issued for having out of date tickets, a pack of ciggies, a bottle of water,
a role of tape & some lose change on your dashboard which is the only thing
thats proved.
As stated previously, the ticket was on the dashboard.
I find it bizarre that a warden can take 6 or 7 pictures digitally & not
cover the whole dashboard, especially as they are cheap to produce & not
anymore time consuming to upload . No pictures have been taken from the
drivers side angle, no pictures have been taken of the final 3rd of the
dashboard & no pictures have been taken viewing down on the drivers consol.
Unless there are suitable pictures of the drivers 3rd of the dashboard that
you can forward me, which you have not disclosed on your website, please
take this as a further formal appeal.
I also suggest that should you not be able to provide suitable pictures you
immediately cancel the penalty notice. There is NO evidence that the ticket
was not displayed as above but there IS hard evidence that a valid ticket
did exist when it was hand delivered to your offices not 20-30 minutes
later, I would have dropped it in sooner but I couldnt find a parking
space!!"


Views welcome. Although experience of dodgy warden pictures better. THANKS ALL.

Crabman

Welcome to MSE :beer:

Could you scan and upload all the NtO and original PCN (details here)?

Obviously blank out personal details such as name, address, registration number, PCN number.

peter_the_piper

I'm afraid its becoming more common for this sort of deception to occur. On the balance of probabilities most law abiding citizens would assume the council were in the right and just pay up. There have been cases where photo's of different parking signs have "Accidentally" been used for a different road.
Do as Crabman suggests and the experts will help you.

pogofish

I've had a few of these.

Simply get a photocopy, digital image or scan of the valid ticket & attach it to a letter saying something along the lines of:

"Here is a copy of the displayed ticket that your officer appears to have missed. If you need to inspect the original, I will be happy to present it at any future hearing"

Job done!

Neil_B

Stratford? Which Stratford exactly?

If it's the one I think you mean then the CEO number will be interesting for comparison to other cases I know of. Can you tell us it please.

You also seem to have a rejection letter. We need to see that as well. I'd be interested to hear who wrote that please.
-

TheBogsDollocks

So long as you still have the original ticket and it was valid at the time the PCN was issued then going on what you say their case is very weak.

You don't seem to need much help here as you appear to understand the situation perfectly. Just continue with your argument.

The only other thing I'd do is ask for copies of all photos taken and a copy of the CEO's log book entry. If they have no pictures of that part of the dashboard and the log book makes no specific comment about which part of the dashboard was observed, I would say you cannot lose this at adjudication as the evidence is not conclusive against you.

1984ReturnsForReal_2

Just got this overturned upon lodging an appeal after the Notice to Owner.

Thank God they saw sense otherwise I really would of lost my temper at the appeal hearing.