Council making up their own rules for on street parking for blue badge holders

Coblcris

I agree with Mobilise..

howey78

If you appeal we will cancel the first ticket and issue a warning instead but if you park again we will not cancel subsequent tickets"


This is totally incorrect, they are in the wrong and if they did not cancel subsequent tickets, they would be cancelled by the Tribunal (Npas I think). They do not like the way councils try and fill their coffers with invalid ticket issuing, many councils don't even bother once it reaches that stage. The % of appeals won is very high.

If you challenge (appeal) the ticket and get fobbed of by the council, if you still can't get anywhere with them, the next stage is the tribunal which should be on the "notice to owner" which would be sent out or on the rejection letter from the council involved.

Whatever you do don't pay as you will find it very hard to get your money back, always appeal. Your "2 weeks" discount period stops and will continue once you receive a reply, as long as you appeal within the first two weeks.

Councils think they can do what they like but they can't, also check the wording on the PCN if it isn't correct (to the proper standard) this will also be thrown out straight away.

I was a Civil Enforcement Officer (traffic warden )for a year (a nice one :P) bills needed paying kids needed feeding, so glad im not anymore :P

Hope this helps people.
Thanks
Howey78

Coblcris

NPAS became extinct quite some time ago, the same day that the TMA became active - March 31st. It is Now the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and PATROL.

howey78

Yeah TPT doh.. couldn't think of it at the time, it used to be NPAS.
Cheers.

Neil_B

howey78 wrote: »

If you appeal we will cancel the first ticket and issue a warning instead but if you park again we will not cancel subsequent tickets"


This is totally incorrect, they are in the wrong

Well no, not necessarily. They may be in the right.

If they are and choose to use discretion to 'educate' then it is one of those rare instances of a Council being 'reasonable'.

---

It has been an interesting thread. The OP used a title that, for me, said it all.

''making up their own rules''. Yes, and that is exactly what they are ALLOWED to do!

Blanket national BB rules apply everywhere (slightly different for Scotland). In addition each Council may add its own exemptions. This is where the confusion arises.
An example would be that some allow free parking to various rules of their own in off-street car parks. This is otherwise NOT allowed in national rules.

For the case in point the OP cites the policies of other Councils ---- entirely irrelevant as I have explained above. As the national rules do not mention time limited parking bays then various interpretations are interpretations of 'nothing'.

The answer in this case has always been in the TRO, as someone suggested be checked.
The OP appeared to misunderstand this 'there are no recent ones'. A TRO does not have to be recent, just inforce at the time. It strikes me that Trafford and M/C have recently realised that they had previously failed to enforce their own restrictions --- and are now doing so, with some consideration and leniency.

It would be interesting to see what the TRO says -- and would have been in the first place.

morrisoscar

Neil_B wrote: »

It would be interesting to see what the TRO says -- and would have been in the first place.

Thanks,
Local MP now involved, I will ask Trafford Council for a copy of the TRO for the road in question. Spoke to the Department for Transport today, the reason for leaving out free on street parking bays from the national guide lines was to simplify them, it was apparemtly at the time their understanding that all councils already allowed Blue Badge holders to park without restriction in on street free to park limited time parking spaces unless there was a sign in place stating otherwise.:o

Received my PCN waiver notice today confirming that only the first ticket will be cancelled. The letter also contains the paragraph.
The Blue Badge regulations allow Badge users to park on street in certain places other drivers may not and with exemption of time limits placed on other users in on-street Pay & Display or parking meter bays unless signs state otherwise. There is no exemption from time restrictions placed on free parking bays unless otherwise stated.

So, geometrically opposed arguments used in the same paragraph to justify their interpretation of the rules. So much for a consistant approach to parking regulations(the aim of the guide lines)
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Neil_B

morrisoscar wrote: »

Spoke to the Department for Transport today, the reason for leaving out free on street parking bays from the national guide lines was to simplify them, it was apparemtly at the time their understanding that all councils already allowed Blue Badge holders to park without restriction in on street free to park limited time parking spaces unless there was a sign in place stating otherwise.:o

That's interesting. Sounds like DfT, normally pretty good, have cocked up?

'Oh yeah, well we were supposed to write some rules but we thought someone else had done it' --- ????

Now the Councils are taking advantage of the DfT omission maybe?

Anyone know if BB rules are enshrined in legislation somewhere --- or is that something else they forgot to bother with?
-

Coblcris

There is a TSO document entitled "The Blue Badge Scheme Local Authority Guidance
(England)" from which the following text comes.

The disabled persons’ parking badge scheme came into operation on 1 December 1971
by means of Regulations made under Section 21 of the Chronically Sick and Disabled
Persons Act 1970 (Badges for display on motor vehicles used by disabled persons).
Th e Scheme as it currently stands is governed by the following Regulations:
the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) Regulations 2000
(SI 2000/682);
the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment)
Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/1507);
the Local Authorities’ Traffi c Orders (Exemptions for Disabled Persons)
(England) Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/683);
the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment)
Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2531);
the Disabled Persons (Badges for Motor Vehicles) (England) (Amendment No. 2)
Regulations 2007 (SI 2007/2600).
Other relevant legislation:
Section 21A (Recognition of badges issued outside Great Britain) of the
Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970
Section 117 (Wrongful use of disabled person’s badge) and 142(1)(General
interpretation of Act) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (provides powers
to tackle parking related abuse of the Scheme).
All of the above Statutory Instruments (and some of the Acts) can be viewed on the
website of the Office of Public Sector Information at www.opsi.gov.uk.

The same document also contains the following pertinent text

"Badge holders may park free of charge and without
time limit at parking meters on-street and in ‘payand-
display’ on-street parking unless there is a
sign specifying a time limit for holders of disabled
parking badges, or a ban, e.g. on loading, in force
(check local signs for information)."

morrisoscar

Neil_B wrote: »

Now the Councils are taking advantage of the DfT omission maybe?
-

I think that’s exactly what they’re doing; income generation is a big thing with councils these days.:exclamati

Coblcris

I refer readers to post number 18. There is no DfT omission, to the contrary they are quite clear.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/transportforyou/access/bluebadge/pubs/general/bluebadgejan08?page=27#a1054