Inadvertently parked on disabled space

loveprada

Life is stranger than fiction sometimes. There was one disabled spot in my road. One night I came home and did not realise that this had been increased to two disabled spots. I only saw the space that had been freshly painted and unfortunately, I parked in the other one. I got a ticket for this. I appealed and did not receive a formal response to my appeal and 4 weeks later instead I received a Notice to Owner for the full amount of £100. Meanwhile my borough have reacted to my appeal and one of the disabled parking spaces has been cleared out. Is the issuing borough not under the obligation to respond to an informal appeal if it says quite plainly on the ticket and on the automated email that the reduced fine will be held until I receive a response? This follows from events last year when there were 2 disabled spaces and one was always empty so I wrote and asked if it can be removed, which they did. They reinstated the space and that's when I got the ticket and have since removed it again. Does that make the space invalid when I was fined?

Applesherbet

Depending on how recently the new bay was put up, in relation to when you parked there, they might let you off if you write in explaining. Sometimes they will let you off if the restriction is new within one week to ten days of you parking there.
Dont worry if you have received the NtO without having a response to your first line appeal- just ring and be sure they received it. Even if it has gone to NtO, they will still look at it and can still cancel if they choose. If an appeal is not made within the 14 days then the amount will go up, but if you write in saying you did appeal and they havent responded, they will still consider your case as if it were first line. If you get a goodwilled person or can prove you wrote in and they just didnt receive it, often they will reinstate the discount, its worth asking.
If the bay was enforceable when you got the ticket, the fine is valid, even if they change the bay later.
Note- my experience is in teh north of england, im stating what happens up here.

loveprada

Thanks Applesherbet. I will write and call. I'm sure northerners are nicer. I live in London and it is just a cut throat money grabbing exercise for them, as you can imagine.

Orford

Be interesting to see the Traffic Management Order for your road. I very much doubt they will have changed it three times in as many weeks

loveprada

Orford I did check the Notices. The timing wasn't quite as you've put it. The second one was taken away in autumn 2008, reinstated in July and taken away a week or so ago. I also called the "Design Team" of my borough and apparently it is all correct. The best I can hope for is to pay the £50 instead of £100.

Orford

I did check the Notices

I also called the "Design Team" of my borough and apparently it is all correct.

I'm not sure whether this means you have actually viewed the TMO in person or just taken their word for it