Parking ticket

Ivenofinmoney

Give the nature of most responses on this thread, I expect I will get flamed on this, but worth a try....

Last night I was issued a ticket in our local town centre £60 (reduced to £30 if paid in 14 days) I was parked on the edge of a double yellow line area, to dive in to the takeaway to grab our saturday night scoff.

I wasn't parked directly outside the takeaway as it's on quite a busy corner, and I would consider that dangerous parking. I was parked about a 1/4 into parking bay / double yellows, which as far as I can tell are there to keep an area clear for busses to pull in during the day (no busses run in that street at that time of night).

I am however considering appealing, the area is designated as a loading area before 9am and after 6pm, from what I have read there is no restriction on the size of goods for loading, therefore I feel I may have some grounds for appeal.

Has anyone ever tried this angle and been successfull ?? If I make an appeall, on these grounds do I automatically forefit my right to reduced payment ? presumably If it went to court, I can't be stung for any more other than £60 + reasonable costs ?? (i.e. I can't be liable for a greater fine purely on the grounds of whishing to defend myself ??)

Stonk

If you appeal, you will be waiving the chance to pay the reduced fine of £30, and you'll end up paying either nothing or the full £60. There are a couple of levels you'll go through before it gets to a court, though, and during these it cannot rise above £60. The first is described on the ticket - which they will almost certainly reject. After that, the second is to take it to adjudication. The Adjudicator's decision is final and you'd better accept it. If you ignore the decision, or ignore the ticket altogether, you may be taken to court and then the charges will begin increasing.

Someone once tried arguing that the offering of reduced fines was unfair, under Human Rights Legislation, I believe. Something like "the threat of an increased fine encourages the innocent to effectively plead guilty". I'm not sure how they got on. My belief, though not strong, is that they had a good point.

Catch_A_Fire

Stonk wrote:

If you appeal, you will be waiving the chance to pay the reduced fine of £30, and you'll end up paying either nothing or the full £60. There are a couple of levels you'll go through before it gets to a court, though, and during these it cannot rise above £60. The first is described on the ticket - which they will almost certainly reject. After that, the second is to take it to adjudication. The Adjudicator's decision is final and you'd better accept it. If you ignore the decision, or ignore the ticket altogether, you may be taken to court and then the charges will begin increasing.

If you have written within 14 days of receiving the PCN and the council reject your challenge, you should be offered the chance to pay at the discounted rate.
NPAS

There's also more information about challenging tickets on the link above.

Ivenofinmoney

Catch_A_Fire wrote:

If you have written within 14 days of receiving the PCN and the council reject your challenge, you should be offered the chance to pay at the discounted rate.

Stonk wrote:

If you appeal, you will be waiving the chance to pay the reduced fine of £30, and you'll end up paying either nothing or the full £60.

Does anyone know for sure which of these statements are true ?? If Catch A Fire is correct, then it can't hurt to chance my arm.

webhamster

anyone know anything of civil penalty for parking in scotland , or websites?

Ivenofinmoney

The plot thickens ....

My ticket states that it is issued under Road Traffic Act 1991 (Section 66, Schedule 6).

I've read these parts of the Act on the government web site and they seem to suggest that the rule applies specifically to London, as my ticket was not issued in London, can I appeal on the grounds that the Act stated does not apply to the location in which I was parked (Surely they couldn't be that stupid ??)

Ivenofinmoney

Ivenofinmoney wrote:

Does anyone know for sure which of these statements are true ?? If Catch A Fire is correct, then it can't hurt to chance my arm.

Just found this on the local concil'd web site....

Q: I want to appeal against my parking fine but I have to do it quickly so I can still benefit from “Half Price if you pay quickly” fine level?

Answer: If you feel that you have grounds for an initial appeal, you should appeal in writing immediately. It normally takes no longer than one week for your appeal to be handled and for you to receive notification. Provided that your appeal is received within the 14-day discount period, the 14-day period is re-set on the date of our decision being notified to you.

So I shall be writing.

I let you know how I get on !!

Peter-Pan_5

This is what they do in Edinburgh.

Who gave you the ticket a Parking Attendant or a Police Traffic Warden DYLs are

24/7 I`m afraid,check the lines and signs are correct everything has to be in order for

the ticket to stand,do appeal it it`s worth the price of a stamp.

if it was issued by the police or police TW,and you ignore it it will keep going up it gets into Statuary notices,courts etc,parking attendants work on behalf of the council,so if you ignore it it could be a bailiffs job.

was there one time on the ticket or two [from to]

Ivenofinmoney

Peter-Pan wrote:

This is what they do in Edinburgh.

Who gave you the ticket a Parking Attendant or a Police Traffic Warden DYLs are

24/7 I`m afraid,check the lines and signs are correct everything has to be in order for

the ticket to stand,do appeal it it`s worth the price of a stamp.

if it was issued by the police or police TW,and you ignore it it will keep going up it gets into Statuary notices,courts etc,parking attendants work on behalf of the council,so if you ignore it it could be a bailiffs job.

was there one time on the ticket or two [from to]

It was a council warden (I assume) Northampton transferred it's parking powers a couple of years ago, and ever since these mini hitlers have been terrorising the whole town, The Town centre has slumped all the major retailers are slowly leaving and many shops in the high street now stand empty. I now rarely visit the town centre as it's just not worth the risk, This was about the 10th time in 2 years I have parked in town, and the 2nd time I have been ticketed, the 1st was the first week of the new scheme, where I had parked in the same place I had every week for years, as I got out I said good morning to a guy in a wardens uniform, who never said a word about there being a new scheme in force, and when I returned ** Ticket ** :mad:



I would never ignore it either way, as it's a company car and the fleet management company charge disgusting ammounts for 'Admin' on these matters.

There was a from and too time ( 5 minutes), I beleive I have a right to 20 minutes for loading ???

Catch_A_Fire

Ivenofinmoney wrote:

Does anyone know for sure which of these statements are true ?? If Catch A Fire is correct, then it can't hurt to chance my arm.

I probably didn't make it clear enough in my post; my information was from NPAS (National Parking Adjudication Service) - a government body. You can get more information about the appeals process on this link:

http://www.parking-appeals.gov.uk/IveReceived/challengePCN.asp