The correct way to contest parking ticket?

Despairing83

Hi,

I have used this site before to help me claim back £1000 in credit card charges and hope you can help me again.

My guest parked outside my house in wimbledon, using the visitor permit I have. We returned to the car to find it has been issued with an £100 parking ticket. On phoning them up they stated it was because there was no permit in the car. I argued this poin with them, they checked the photo and funnily enough you can see a white square in the windscreen exactly where I said it would be. However the person on the phone claimed that in the photo you cant read its a permit....(what else would it be i wonder?) I checked the car myself and you can see clearly the permit number etc. Unfortunately i couldnt take my own photographic proof as the car holder was on a flying visit.

I have been told to write and ask for it contesting. Is there a template letter for this or correct phrasing I should use. As you can imagine Im fuming about this and I know telling them exactly what I think of them will get me nowhere.

Neil_B

To quote a great advisor from another forum ''templates are the work of the devil''.

For such a case just a simple common sense statement is enough to start with for the informal challenge.

It is, however, always finding as many angles as possible to use in any appeal.
You have not shown the PCN, dates nor even stated what contravention description has been used (relevant in this case)

You should also be checking road markings and signage for compliance.

Despairing83

Thank you,

So basically a letter stating all the facts, what rule was broke (alledgely), dates etc, brief summary of the phone call and the name of the person i spoke to at the council regarding the ticket. Also state the car was correctly parked in a permit area (including information of what it states on the sign), for which my permit is valid and emphasis that the permit was visable in the car and can be seen in the photos...(even though they "cant make it out, that the white permit sized square is a permit")

Neil_B

Well sort of some of that yeah but you are kinda missing my points.

Maybe others will explain better.

Coupon-mad

Despairing83 wrote: »

Thank you,

So basically a letter stating all the facts, what rule was broke (alledgely), dates etc, brief summary of the phone call and the name of the person i spoke to at the council regarding the ticket. Also state the car was correctly parked in a permit area (including information of what it states on the sign), for which my permit is valid and emphasis that the permit was visable in the car and can be seen in the photos...(even though they "cant make it out, that the white permit sized square is a permit")

Yes that will do as your informal appeal - but by all accounts, they usually seem to turn these down anyway. As Neil says, you would be well advised to also do more groundwork while waiting for their reply. Many appeals or adjudicator referrals are agreed due to technical mistakes that the Council have made, instead of what you may think of as the 'real' reason for the appeal.

If you can, post here asap for the experts' opinions:

- scans of the whole front and all the back 'blurb' of the PCN (with car & ID details, but not dates, blanked out)

- photos of the bay lines and end lines, plus measurements i.e. length/width of bay

- a photo of the signage at the bay

- a scan of the Visitor's Permit if you have it (is it in date?)


You can host pics on tinypic as shown in this sticky:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1690399

HTH