Park Right: The easy way to avoid parking tickets. Guide discussion

joelrichardevans

I'd like to see some changes in the law on parking to make it fairer (Martin, are you listening?):

- Single yellow lines and "controlled zones". Who can reasonably be expected to remember the exact parking times on a sign they passed 5mins ago? Particularly as they were probably turning into a side street (and trying to avoid running over suicidal pedestrians) at the same time... Councils should be legally obliged to put up signs next to all single yellow lines telling people of the restrictions.

- Bank holidays. Signs should be standardised across the country - either if parking restrictions don't apply on bank holidays, the signs should explicitly say so or if parking restrictions do apply on bank holidays, signs should explicitly say so. As long as it's consistent across the UK, it doesn't matter which - but when I visit your town on Easter Monday to spend my money in your shops, I shouldn't have to check your council website before I can properly understand your parking signs.

- If you park in a parking bay at 3pm, buy a 2 hour ticket from the machine, but after after 4pm that road becomes a clearway: A) There should be a big fat sign on the ticket machine warning you of the clearway restrictions and The machine should be intelligent enough to not issue you a 2 hour ticket*

Unfortunately, as councils directly profit from parking ticket revenues, we can't rely on them to have our best interests at heart - so some form of legislation, or at least central government guidelines, are the only way forward imo.

* Yes, Nottingham City Council, I'm talking about you! Can I have my car back now please?

Lugh_Chronain

I can't personally verify whether the data on this site is up to date but try carparks4u.com.

Yogibear

The_Gerbil wrote: »

What are the rules for dropping and picking up passengers where there are double yellows with double blips. I don't think the guide covers it?

And same question when there are also traffic wardens glaring at you giving the impression that they can't believe you would do that.

Mike

Mike if you see double lines for example in a bus stop you can pick up drop off as long as it`s outside the restricted hours if you couldnt buses wouldnt be allowed too either,as for the eejit who seems to think unloading a packet of crisps is unloading thats the kind of people who ruin it for others,and yes I was a Police Traffic warden in Edinburgh for 20 years:eek: this stuff about disabled drivers being allowed to stop on double reds is not allowed the only vehicle that can stop are Royal Mail vans,stopping on a double red is an instant ticket at any time,single red lines check the signs parking on a single yellow line outwith the restrictions it used to be 10mins a car and a van 15 be you must be carrying heavy goods ie shopping counts the laws in England may be different another thing a paved area usually operates 24/7 but the signs will tell you this

Yogibear

mandyk wrote: »

My son receive two parking tickets for parking his car inappopriately.
He did not move his care during the period of parking but when returning to his car he had been given 2 tickets for the one parking offence. Is this allowed?

yes but edinburgh the meters had an excess charge if you outstayed the initial charge ,1 ticket excess charge then if it was still there over the 2 hours you got the fixed penalty,of course if your road fund license was out of date thats another ticket. so technically you could get three:eek: [3]

mandyk_3

kwaks wrote: »

@blackpatch, if the lines are broken by a grating etc then they are still enforceable, as long as their intention is still deemed clear.

@mandyk, yes you can recieve multiple tickets, usually within seperate 24 hr periods, so in theory could be ticketed at 11:59 pm and 00:01am

@alexkerr, by not addressing your appeal point the council actually handed you a reason for the ticket to be cancelled, you should have taken that to adjudication and you would have won on that point alone.

Thanks for the reply Kwaks. :cool:

John_Pierpoint

GBB wrote: »

I've got off with fines before by not accepting the ticket. Rather than argue the toss with someone who is going to give me a ticket no matter what I say, I just drive off before they put the ticket on the car. I've not had a ticket having done this yet.
Also, I believe that if the road markings are incorrect (such as the lines not being barred at the end of the restriction) then you can challenge the fine and get off the penalty.
Hope this is of use.

You used to be able to get away (quite correctly in my opinion) by driving off before the warden could get to your windscreen/windscreen wiper.
There was one time, when unloading a van into the top story of a building with a mate, when we returned to the van to find a warden poking about with his tablet.
- You go and chat him up.
"Be reasonable mate what is going up here"
- You have had your three minutes (I should know I've been standing next to this meter waiting it to click over for at least five minutes - I've got my bonus to consider).

Woosh - I was in the van and away, leaving my mate and two sack barrows standing on the corner with a bemused warden.
(we then spent 20 minutes of cat and mouse on our mobile 'phones while the meter attendant waited for me to come back:D).

[It is physically impossible to unload a van load of parcels in 20 minutes unless you can open the building's front door and throw them in!]

I don't know if it is a London thing, but now they dress the wardens as mini policemen on scooters (Westminster) and as soon as your wheels stop turning, he photographs you - That is sufficient evidence and there is no point in driving off again - particularly galling when you are reading the notice that says No parking from 8:00 AM - 10:30 PM (20 minutes loading permitted from 8:00 10:00 am and it is now 10:30)

So in London don't even stop until you know the score.

dicegeorge wrote: »

perhaps add a note
that parking on pavements
can be dangrous for blind people walking into you car,
and for push chairs,
and can damage pavements making them dangerous for blind people

We locally have a corner where a cycle track/pavement goes straight on and the roadway turns right. At this point there is a dropped curb serving the bike lane and the garage of a house.

The garage is full of rubbish so the house owner has taken to parking his (wife's?) car on the drive way and when he arrives home he parks his hi-top works van on the pavement/cycle lane.

There is an old boy on one of those battery powered scooter things who uses the bike lane and crosses the road at this point.
(Sitting his invalid vehicle there is no way he can see round or through the van before trying to cross the road.)

So I wrote a letter to the local old bill suggesting that a quiet word was needed with the home owner. [The Mary Parker Follett solution is to widen the pull off so that both van and car can be parked in the front garden of the semi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Parker_Follett ].

Getting no reply, I sent a follow up letter, and got a reply in effect saying I was trouble maker and could p*ss *ff.
So I am waiting for someone to die to make my point.

cheapskate101 wrote: »

I'd like to know exactly what is a 'bulky item' - becasue there is no exact weight requirement for loading.

I read it somewhere that a postage stamp can be deemed a loading item - as clearly you are loading this stamp onto your car.

I'm not saying that this is the law but if anyone gets caught for popping into a shop for a bag of crisps , it may be a defence to say you were loading the crisps.

I think there is a long established land mark case that delivering a fountain pen, however valuable, did not count - though the security van that breaks the paving stones in our local shopping area to get to the bank, is allowed to break all the rules - I wonder who is paying for the reinforcing of the "piazza"?

Amber_47

A long time ignored fact is there are many disabled drivers who need to park their cars.
While provision is made on Red Routes etc. for the 'off-loading' of wheelchairs it is expected the car can be moved elsewhere after this procedure is complete.
The problem is those of us who drive can't move our car after getting out as we generally are the only driver.
Why has society chosen to condemn us more than others as we cannot use the nearest 'drop-off point' and have to cruise the streets for many hours trying to find a disabled parking space close to our intended destination?
The run up to Christmas brings even greater problems as well as January sales making many small towns and city centres 'no go' areas simply because we can't get out of our cars.
Please spare a thought when abusing disabled bays or carrying a disabled passenger and think 'Can I reasonably park elsewhere?' In every case a disabled driver can only park in one place... a marked disabled parking bay.

dalsude

In the section The ten top parking 'did you knows?', under "What if I'm disabled" it says
"You can get what is known as a Blue Badge. This allows you to park for free in parking meter and pay-and-display bays."

Unfortunately this isn't always true as it varies by council. I got stung by Westminster City Council because I didn't know that (I do now!).

My advice - ALWAYS check the signs, even if you have to go looking for one.

emmitdb

Greetings,

Taken from the Guide on this site.
Double yellow lines.

What they mean. You cannot park on one at any time, regardless of whether there are signs or not.
Any exceptions? Sometimes, you are permitted to stop temporarily when loading or unloading goods (see below).

The above is strictly speaking incorrect because it is incomplete.
If the double yellow lines are NOT accompanied by nearby signs affixed to say, lampposts then the above statement is true because the double yellow lines are in force 24/7
HOWEVER,
In tourist area's (to quote Devon, Cornwall, etc) you will find double yellow lines in profusion BUT an accompanying sign may say (for instance 1st April -30th September) In those circs. it is perfectly acceptable to park on double yellows providing it is outside the given dates. I've had all sorts of funny looks given to me when out in winter and parking, sometimes right next to a pay and display car park that the emmits are furiously loading.
Stay Safe

siondaf

I was given a parking ticket yesterday for parking next to a 'kerb drop' - not a driveway access, but a pedestrian pavement access one. First of all I was unaware that this parking restriction existed in relation to pavement access.

Secondly on the other side of the street there were double yellow lines across the kerb drop to clearly indicate that no parking was allowed, however on my side there were no yellow lines. If there were double yellows I wouldnt have parked there!

My question is, do I have grounds to appeal due to lack of road markings and that this was not a driveway access kerb drop??

Thanks