Parking Ticket for Disabled Driver

oliveoil54

Hi
Have appealed to Carlisle Council, re ticket received whilst parking in disabled town centre parking spot. 1st time I have taken my 80 year old disabled Mother-in-Law into town using her disabled ticket. Put Disabled Parking Card & disc on dashboard in full view & returned well under 3 hour timescale on disc.

Ticket is a code 40 and states - not clearly displaying a valid disabled person's badge. But we were and the traffic little hitler must have been blind!

However have done a search online & as she put the disabled badge on the dashboard the wrong way round ie her photo & signature uppermost, and apparently this is wrong, it should have the wheelchair symbol side up. But she obviously didn't know this or hadn't remembered (she is 80 & very forgetful) & neither did I. I had a closer look to see if there are any instructions on the card to state which side should be used but all it states is that the badge should be displayed face up - no indication of which side is actuallt the "face up". There should be a warning clearly indicating on the badge itself, which way round it should be displayed!

This is obviously quite a common mistake as I noticed that two other cars on the same road had their Disable Badges displayed the wrong way round & they had all got Parking Tickets!

Must have made the Traffic Warden/Little Hitler's day - well up on his/her quota. Have they got nothing better to do than harrass the elderley & infirm?

Also whilst searching online there seemed to be loads of disabled people having exactly the same problem all over the country, they are not trying to abuse the system, just unaware of the correct procedure. If so many people are getting caught out this way - it is obvious that the labelling on the Disabled Badge is poor & therefore at fault.

Unfortunately this has really upset my Mother-in Law who feels responsible for getting me a ticket.

I accept that the badge may have been displayed the wrong way round through lack of knowledge.

What are our chances of having the ticket cancelled?

Also if they wont cancel it, is there anyway we can appeal further? I'm determined to make an issue of this as it seems so unjust! :mad:

Why should so many of the disabled elderley & infirm be penalised this way?

Any advice will be great.
Thank you

Nilrem

I would at least contact them and explain it was a mistake, they may cancel it as a one time thing.

Unfortunately the rules are fairly clear, and the badge itself has a notice to "display this side up" so you may be out of luck disputing it because of boht that notice, and the explanation of how to use it in the book that is issued with every badge:(

The reason is fairly simple, only one side of the badge has the serial number and expiry date*, and a heck of a lot of blue badges are stolen/faked/expired because they can save a fortune in parking fees, and the wardens have zero way of telling if it's faked from the other side.

Basically (and as a BB user myself for many years), I don't think it's unjust as a condition of using the badge given the advantages of it, and it's potential for misuse.
However I do think that maybe some leeway for a mistake should be allowed from time to time, but wouldn't like to bet on it.

I would also suggest your attitude "Must have made the Traffic Warden/Little Hitler's day" sucks, most traffic wardens I've had the pleasure of meeting have been great when it comes to blue badges, and have often been very helpful in pointing out where I could use them when I've been unsure of where to park (I've even had them point out places that whilst being legal to park, could result in damage from passing lorries etc).

Unfortunately, as I say BB's are abused a lot, so these "little hitlers" have to enforce the BB regs pretty much to the letter when in doubt, as I suspect for every one that is mistakenly put the wrong way up, several more are done so to hide the fact they are either stolen, or expired.
So they are actually helping ensure that the Disabled bays/parking areas are actually in use by those who fit the criteria, rather than people who've bought/stolen a badge to save some money.

I would love to see some improvement in the BB#s to both may it harder for fraudulent use, and easier to enforce, without making it harder for the users, but at the moment that seems a long way off (a simple 3d barcode in one corner on both sides might work**)

*IIRC the back side has the serial number, but it's smaller/harder to read (much less space for it due to the other information and picture).

**Easy to add to the badges (zero cost per badge effectively), robust enough to be easily readable with inexpensive equipment (they are used to allow everything from parcels to be tracked, to let mobile phones automatically go to webpages when pointed at say the side of a coke can), all it would require would be suitable app on the wardens PDA or issued mobile to check a DB for current badges and flag errors.

peter_the_piper

Pity they can't print the name and number on both sides so this can't happen.

savemoney

I feel for you but actually they are in the right you didnt comply with the blue badge.

I would appeal hopefully if you can demonstrate it was mealy a mistake they may back down

I am glad they are proactive in this because some people are taking this mick using other peoples BB or fraud. Unfortunately this can also occasionally punish those who mealy made a mistake

Dave_save

If the council won't cancel it, e mail your MP and tell him/her you're going to write to the local press as well. It's election year and they'll do anything for brownie points right now.

oliveoil54

Hi
Thanks for your replies, your support is really helpful.
Have emailed the challenge and so far the local council who are dealing with the appeal have been helpful and understanding. Will keep fingers crossed for a favourable outcome, have to wait for a formal reply in writing.

The instructions on the card just state that the card should be displayed so that the 'front' of the card is clearly visible, there is no indication on the card as to which is the front. My Mother-in-Law thought the front was her photo side. The number is also on the bottom right of this side of the card but is not as easily visible as the 'front' side with the badge logo on it.

My 80 yr old Mother-in-Law is convinced that she is personaly responsible for the ticket (no matter what we say to her), and is really upset about the whole thing, weve had to stop her from writing to her MP, hopefully she wont need to!

You have obviously been lucky in your experience with Traffic Wardens. But having searched into disabled parking on the internet, it appears to be extremely common that badge holders have been issued Parking Tickets for exactly the same reason as this one, predominently the elderley. One 93 year old came back to his car as the Warden was placing the ticket, the old gentlemen tried to show the warden that his card was in order, but the warden still issued the ticket. This is just one example of the many that I found.

I also emailed www.direct.gov.uk/disability-bluebadge to ask if there were any plans to re-isse the Badges with clearer instruction indicating which side is the correct one to display, especially considering the numbers of people who have been given tickets for such a simple error. It would be such an easy solution & there is plenty of space on the card for this instruction.

Will keep you advised of the outcome.

Coupon-mad

Well done to you so far, Oliveoil54! :T

If the Council reject your informal appeal they should contact you to say this. It's quite common for them to reject appeals by the way, don't let it put you off going further.

There are 3 stages to parking fine appeals, you are in the first stage. If they don't let you off now, separately to the rejection they will send you a 'Notice to Owner' which gives you another chance to appeal (formally).

Then if they reject that you can take the matter to the adjudicator. I would.

If you do get to the NTO stage please post up here a scan of the rejection letter, the NTO and the PCN (front & back but without ID details and car reg). Hopefully some here could then advise you about any other things to add to your appeal. Councils often make mistakes too...

oliveoil54

Jusrt shown my Mother-in-Law your replies - she thinks you are all fantastic!!!!

She is totaly determined to go the whole way, lets hope she doesnt have to! As she is still determined, because she thinks it's her error that she will pay up - but only if appsolutely necessary!

We both def feel that lots of disabled people who have had the same problem will be cheering us all the way!

But personaly despite the possible cost to myself or my determined Mother-in-Law, I feel that Nilrem has hit the nail on the head in that the Blue Badge system is at fault. Clear labelling or the required information being placed on both sides - so it doesnt matter which side is face up would def stop this problem for genuine blue badge holders. This is what we should be demanding the government should introduce asap!!!!!

Thank you Martin Lewis and the members of this wonderful site/forum you are WONDERFUL!!

Zoelikesjam

We stuffed up the other day and got a parking fine, I only got my BB a week or so ago, and we parked outside a hospital without displaying the clock. It hadnt even occured to us we needed it, as its not needed all the time. Came back to the car and a lovely yellow ticket was stuck to the front window. We could not fathom out how, and it wasnt untill OH called the BB helpline that they told him it was probably not displaying our clock. However, the thing that has thrown us is in the 'reason' for parking fine. The parking officer had put 'parked in un-auortharised area' The BB helpline advised us to apeal it and explain we only just recieved our badge and are still getting used to it. Has anyone else done this before? We have no problem paying the ticket its just frustrating!!!
Im glad your MIL is willing to take it all the way oliveoil, and i agree its not made clear enough on the badge, or in the booklet. It took me a while to realise which side was 'up' and only when i read 'the side with the wheelchair logo' Huge good luck vibes xxx

peter_the_piper

zoelikesjam wrote: »

We stuffed up the other day and got a parking fine, I only got my BB a week or so ago, and we parked outside a hospital without displaying the clock. It hadnt even occured to us we needed it, as its not needed all the time. Came back to the car and a lovely yellow ticket was stuck to the front window. We could not fathom out how, and it wasnt untill OH called the BB helpline that they told him it was probably not displaying our clock. However, the thing that has thrown us is in the 'reason' for parking fine. The parking officer had put 'parked in un-auortharised area' The BB helpline advised us to apeal it and explain we only just recieved our badge and are still getting used to it. Has anyone else done this before? We have no problem paying the ticket its just frustrating!!!
Im glad your MIL is willing to take it all the way oliveoil, and i agree its not made clear enough on the badge, or in the booklet. It took me a while to realise which side was 'up' and only when i read 'the side with the wheelchair logo' Huge good luck vibes xxx

Just who issued the "fine" ??? If its a private company then don't bother to do anything, certainly don't contact them. If its a council then let us know and we can take it from there.

kwaks

To the OP, as coupon mad says post up all the ticket details in the council do not cancel, you would be shocked at how often the tickets themselves do fot conform to the rules.

To zoelikesjam, as Peter says we need to know who issued the ticket, if not council or police (which by description of area parked I seriously doubt) then the course of action is to ignore everything.

Just so there is no doubt, ignore everything means just that, no contact whats so ever.