Council suspended parking bay, issued ticket and removed vehicle while i was asleep!

misthaufen01

Hi All,

Bit of a funny one here. I live in Manchester City Centre. Bay parking in the centre is free between 6pm and 8am. I parked my vehicle after 6 pm last night, with the intention of driving to work at 7am this morning. I awoke this morning to find that all the bays on my street had been suspended due to roadworks, and my vehicle was gone. I spoke to a traffic warden, who spoke to control on his radio, and it turned out that my vehicle had been relocated to a street around the corner. This was a relief, until I saw the ticket they had given me! £70 (or £35 if paid within 14 days) for 'parking in a suspended bay'. When I parked, there were no signs of suspension in the street. The suspension had kicked in at midnight, when the council put up signs and cones in suspended bays. They then slapped a ticket on and removed the vehicle around 1am. The traffic warden told me that when this happens, they are supposed to void tickets issued to vehicles currently already parked in bays, as the rules changed when most people are asleep. He said that in this case, either they had made a mistake or had been informed to ignore the rules and issue tickets anyway (obviously, he told me this 'off the record' so I can't quote him on it).

Obviously this is not right, and I shouldn't have to pay. I was just wondering how I should appeal this ticket? I took pictures of my vehicle in its newly appointed place, with the PCN and the 'removed by the council' sign under the windscreen wiper. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

maninthestreet

Well, appeal it on the basis that, when you parked, the bay wasn't suspended and there were no notices warning of the impending suspension.

misthaufen01

Thanks for your reply.

The problem I can see is that I don't have any proof they put the signs up in the middle of the night, only that they moved the vehicle, which they will have a record of anyway. On this basis, I may run into trouble and have to pay out big time further down the line. Would it be worth the risk?

Coblcris

Take pictures of the suspension signs. The odds are extremely favourable that the signs are non-compliant and unauthorised.
Was this was an emergency suspension ? If not you also have a good appeal point on the absence of warning.
To which add the usual potential issues of non compliant paperwork from the council.

peter_the_piper

You were very lucky, they played by the rules and relocated it and not towed it. Most suspension notices are unlawful so may I suggest that you also put this onto pepipoo.com as they have somewhere the rules and regs that councils have to follow with the notices and which most ignore.
Photo the signs and copy/photo the pcn, both sides, and remove personal details. Host on tinypic and copy the url given. Paste the url into a post and remove the http:// bit. This will enable the experts to look at the pcn and see if there are any faults.

misthaufen01

Thanks for your replies guys.

I don't think the works are emergency as they're going on for six weeks, and they put up temporary traffic lights. It all seems planned, although there is nothing on the council website about what they're doing.

I was lucky they towed it. But they're very 'trigger happy' with their tow trucks around here - I've seen them take numerous cars from this street, so the fact they relocated me suggests they at least knew they were in the wrong.

I will heed the advice given and post to pepipoo to let them have a look

Hammyman

misthaufen01 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies guys.

I don't think the works are emergency as they're going on for six weeks, and they put up temporary traffic lights. It all seems planned, although there is nothing on the council website about what they're doing.

That doesn't mean it couldn't be emergency. We had an underground electricity cable go near us. Took a few weeks to fix it as it ended up needing a full repair job back to the substation and what looked like a patch job ended up over two streets.

misthaufen01

Ah right, well I'm still not sure what work they're doing but it's causing absolute havoc around here.

Although there is some good news. In spite of the fact that they have tried to stiff me for charges they shouldn't have dished out, it turns out that their signs are non regulatory, and they've messed up the dates on the PCN! I have a really strong case for appeal now.

The thread is on pepipoo. It contains lots of useful legal info, and may be of use to other people reading this also. (remove the spaces - can't post proper links here):


http : // forums . pepipoo . com / index . php ? showtopic = 51809

misthaufen01

In an unprecedented turn of events, Manchester City Council have actually accepted my appeal at the first stage and cancelled the ticket! I think it's a combination of knowing they were wrong to issue it and knowing the ticket was invalid (I sent them a scan).

Thanks to all for the advice guys. Just for reference, here is my appeal email I sent to them:



Dear Sir/ Madam

PCN: ********
Registration: **** ***

I received a parking ticket on 1st June 2010 at 1:54am on **** Street, Manchester for parking in a suspended bay. However, I believe the ticket was wrongly issued for the following reason:

• The bay was not suspended when I parked my vehicle in it, and there was no signage or any other form of notice of a pending parking suspension

As I'm sure you are aware, street parking is free in Manchester City Centre between 6pm and 8am. I parked my vehicle in a bay outside no. ** *** Street on the evening of May 31st, with the intention of moving the vehicle at 7am the following morning. The next morning when I arrived at the place I had left my vehicle, all of the parking bays had been suspended and my vehicle had been moved.

I spoke to a passing Civil Enforcement Officer, who spoke to a colleague on his radio, and informed me my vehicle had been repositioned to **** Street, which was just around the corner. When I arrived at my vehicle, I had a 'repositioned by the council' notice and a fine for £70, or £35 if paid within 14 days.

There was no signage in place when I parked my vehicle. The bays had been suspended in the middle of the night, without prior warning, and my vehicle ticketed and moved while I was asleep, just before 2am.

I quizzed the aforementioned Civil Enforcement Officer on why I had been fined. He informed me that the usual procedure for dealing with vehicles in bays before suspensions kick in is to issue a ticket, and then immediately void it. He said that in my case, the issuing office must have either 'made a mistake' or simply been informed to ignore this policy.

Please find attached photograph of my repositioned vehicle with notice of reposition and PCN attached. Please also find attached a scan of the PCN and the notice of reposition.

As there was no warning of suspension and it was the CEO who was in the wrong as opposed to me, this ticket should not have been issued to me. I trust this PCN will be rendered void.

Yours Faithfully,




And here is the response I received today:

Dear Mr *******,

Your case comes under the Traffic Management Act 2004 and The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) Representations and Appeals Regulations 2007

Penalty Charge Notice (parking ticket) number: ********
Date given: 01/06/2010 at 01:54
Place given: ***** Street
Vehicle registration: *******

Thank you for your email which we received on 2 June.
I have noted your comments and can confirm that the civil Enforcement officer should void the ticket in such cases and therefore as an error occurred your ticket has been cancelled with immediate effect.

Yours sincerely

taffy056

at least they showed some sense , a result for you