Sticky Ticket Fell Off Window - Received Penalty Charge!

TheCandayMan

Hello everyone,

I returned to my car, parked in a Merton Council run car park, to discover I had been issued a parking ticket.

My sticky ticket had fallen from the off side window of my car and found it stuck between the side of the driver's seat and the inside driver door panel.

I sent a message to Merton Council two days later via their website explaining what had happened but several weeks later received a letter flatly refusing to waver the fine stating...

'The Council therefore will not accept the subsequent production of a Pay & Display ticket as evidence that one was correctly displayed in the relevant vehicle at the time'.

I was absolutely gobsmacked! Sticky tickets fall from car windows all the time and I thought production of my ticket along with playback of their CCTV footage would prove my ticket had been purchased and actually attached to my car shortly after the time stated on the ticket.

How on earth can I be responsible for my ticket falling off my window due to heat/condensation etc? :mad:

I have until the 11th June to pay £30 which will then double thereafter. I have posted links to the sticky ticket, parking fine, three page reply from Merton Council and the parking fine cover respectively. (as a new user I cannot post links so have followed advice and removed the 'http://' from the beginning of my links).

I would be very grateful for any advice.




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Thanks

The Candy Man

Coblcris

Please post the reverse side of the PCN.

Fluttering ticket cases can go either way.

It may pay to check the Order for the car park.

andymc29

Surely the ticket shows the time it was bought, proving you had bought a ticket covering the time they fined you.
Take a photocopy and send it in.

Coupon-mad

andymc29 wrote: »

Surely the ticket shows the time it was bought, proving you had bought a ticket covering the time they fined you.
Take a photocopy and send it in.

But some Councils will say 'just because you have a ticket doesn't mean you displayed it'.

I would appeal again formally once you get the Notice to Owner, The Candayman. If you decide to continue to appeal, take advice from here and from pepipoo.com. If it goes to the adjudicator the most you'll pay is the full ticket cost (not discounted) and if you win then obviously you pay nothing.

As Coblcris says, have a look at the Parking Places Order (Traffic Order) for that car park. Check and see if it does define this particular level of penalty for 'not displaying' in that particular bay. Email the Council for the order (you don't have to say why you want to see this public document).

And do scan in and link a copy of the back of the PCN. The small print may look standard but it can be fatally flawed in your favour, dodgy PCNs are often a good appeal point.

king100

Coupon Mad

Just a quick question in regards to the stickiness of the ticket?

This may sound sad, but has anyone questioned the stickiness of parking tickets? As you can imagine the heat must build up in your car on a sunny day. And somehow change the stickiness of the parking ticket?

I personally wont use the sticky, i will put on dash and always check when all doors and windows are shut and is the correct way up, as some wardens cant read upside down.

Coupon-mad

Yeah, the stickiness of tickets has been questioned before in appeals I have seen submitted on pepipoo. And pepipoo backed appeals usually win.:D

If it were me I would include in my appeal the point about the lack of stickiness of the ticket making it unfit for purpose under SOGA. But that's just me, I'm quite pedantic!
:rotfl:.

Takoda

Happened to us at seaside a couple of years back. Went straight to Police Station with penalty notice and my ticket. They said send in a photocopy of ticket to Council with covering letter saying I'd spoken to them.

Did exactly that. Never heard anything more.

NOW I roll up a sock or something and put it under the ticket.

These suggestions probably won't help you now but it might help you if it happens again.

Bob_the_Saver

You bought a sticky ticket that was faulty (ie. not fit for purpose).

TheCandayMan

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for all your comments, they are all very encouraging. I was going to just pay the fine and have done with it but now I'm going to challenge this penalty charge and nothing to do with the money, it's the bloody principle. I've done nothing wrong! :mad:

Anyway as requested here is the link to the reverse of my penalty charge.

As mentioned before due to being a new user I cannot add urls so I have removed the http:// from the link below.


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And thank you all once again for your help and advice.

The Candy Man

Coblcris

The reverse side of the PCN seems compliant to me.

Coupon-mad

I couldn't see anything wrong with the PCN wording either, but do appeal formally, TheCandayman.

I vaguely recalled reading a Parking Adjudicators' Annual Report which went into detail about sticky tickets, so I've searched and found it here:

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/egov_downloads/Complete_JC_Report_2006.pdf

Reading the comments on there headed 'the requirement continuously to display', 'sticky tickets' and - further down - 'the Council's discretion to cancel the PCN' I think you have two lines of argument.

The first thing will be to view a copy of the Parking Places Order for that car park and see what the Order says about whether you have to just 'display' or whether the onus is on the motorist to continuously display. Read first, what the link above says about that under 'the requirement continuously to display'. I skim-read it and it's clear that cases have turned upon the wording of individual Orders.

You can see 'your' Order just by asking in person or emailing - you don't have to say why you want to see this as it's a public document and they have to make it available without undue delay.

Your second line of argument is the stickiness of the ticket was inadequate, making it not fit for purpose. You paid for it, you produced a copy of that ticket at informal appeal, but the lack of stickiness caused it to fall down (through no fault of your own). If you read the 'sticky tickets' part of the link, you'll see that if the Council don't address an appeal calling into question the suitability of the sticky glue used then adjudicators have found in motorists' favour.

Keep the actual ticket and send them a copy only. IMHO they don't need to see the actual ticket to reply about the adequacy of the glue used as it will be standard for all tickets from that machine.

HTH