Help: Unfair Parking Ticket I Think.

JaspaC

I visited town very recently, to pop into the bank, so I parked the car in a pay and display car park nearby. When in the bank they said they needed me to stay and chat about my loan application so I said I would have to just nip out to the car park to get a longer ticket in order to stay. (I did arrive back before the first ticket had ran out, and then just put the new ticket next to the other one on the dash).

When I later got back (again before the second ticket ran out) I saw a parking warden hovering around my car with a little hand held computer, I assumed she was just doing the routine checks but when I got there she said "You've got a ticket" I asked why and she said it was because I had bought two tickets in one day, a practice she called 'meter feeding' I had no idea this wasn't allowed I really cannot see why this would be a problem.

I tried to explain this to her but she did not show any sympathy and was very abrupt.
She said to me that the rules were clearly stated next to the ticket machines and at the entrance to the car park (I have now checked and can see them next to the machines but no rules at the entrance whatsoever.).
She started walking around the car very quickly typing details into her computer. I simply told her that I was in a rush and had to go (which to be fair I was). Got in the car and started the engine. Her words were "If you don't wait for me to issue a ticket the fine gets doubled" I waited a little but eventually through anger and upset I just decided to leave, so I slowly pulled out (she was standing behind as I pulled out forward.) but at this point she quickly came to the front and passed (though it was more like a throw) the ticket through my window to me (it wasn't in a little plastic sleeve or anything). And then quickly stepped in front of the car and took a photo of me and the car whilst it was half out of the space!).

There is lots of CCTV in the car park.

As soon as I had got out and parked somewhere else I went back and got lots of photos.
The thing that really angers me is that I hadn't outstayed a ticket, I was genuinely trying to do the right thing and buy even more parking time from the council and yet I now have to pay £50 which, as a student with very little money is a big hit. I cant see any reason why the council would have such a clause other that to ticket people and make more money, its disusing. You can buy parking tickets for longer periods that when I was there. I bought a 30min ticket and then a 1 hour ticket, But you can get tickets up to 24 hours.

The parking warden was very rude and cocky just making me feel very angry and upset. I have to say it was not a pleasant experience.

I do wonder weather her computer would have told her that I had bought 2 tickets or whether she only knew because both were on display (bearing in mind that the machine asks you for your reg number). If they have clever expensive little hand held computers then why couldn't the parking meter machine just have told me that I had already had a ticket and thus couldn't buy another one. Instead of just letting me buy one and then fining me?

From the photos I took you can see that some of the signs contradict each other, like 'no return within one hour' and 'no return within 3 hours'.

i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/parkingticket2.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/parkingticket1.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/parkingticket3.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/parkingticket4.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1172.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1171.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1170.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1169.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1168.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1167.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1166.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1165.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1164.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1163.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1162.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1161.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1160.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1159.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1158.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1157.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1156.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1155.jpg
i117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/DSCF1154.jpg




Lots of the photos are not specific to the situation but are genral pics of the car park, I wasnt sure what you might need.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

advent1122

I can see what the car park means.
If you stay for UPTO
1/2 hour = 20p
1 hour = 50p
2 hours £1.50.
So you can pay for an hour, nip back in 55 minutes and pay for 1/2 hour and it will cost you 70p instead of £1.50.
Bit of a silly pricing policy but hey ho - maybe they make the money with fines.

dacouch

Sounds like a car parl designd for short stays

muckybutt

erm pointing out the obvious but your links dont work !

greenface

I could save lots and lots of time by pointing out the one or two important and relevant photos in that bunch but i think you should all waste about 5 minutes of your lives too
Hard done to for sure good luck

gaz_jones

If you use this link then you can see thumbnails of each picture.

http://s117.photobucket.com/albums/o63/jammyC/


E2A: you can also take a little snoop through is other photo's :rotfl:

advent1122

greenface wrote: »

I could save lots and lots of time by pointing out the one or two important and relevant photos in that bunch but i think you should all waste about 5 minutes of your lives too
Hard done to for sure good luck

English please.

Unity

Your best bet is to try: http://www.pepipoo.com/ - they were great when I got an unlawful ticket and really helped me to sort it out.

Good luck.

JaspaC

I have contested the parking ticket (which I got in October), I have followed the full legal process and was awarded the right not to have to pay the ticket today by the independent adjudicator!

I Just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone on here who helped, your contributions were much appreciated and I couldn't have done it without you.

THANKYOU!

AlexisV

Well done!

Did you have a personal hearing? Did the council send anyone?

JaspaC

I requested one but then the council backed out a few weeks before the hearing.