Parking ticket fine Barnet Council

jahina

Hi

I received a fine for not having a parking ticket.

There were two machines in the car park neither of which was working. I phoned the number and it was constantly engaged, the one time it did seem to go through I was left on hold for 10 minutes (I was using a mobile and felt I couldn't afford to be left on hold for any longer). I sent a text to their text messaging info to pay number but received nothing back. I also tried the number to report the broken machines but it was an answer phone that just said that the office was closed till Monday (this was a Saturday) and no option to leave a message.

I even walked to the library car park as I had heard there was a ticket machine in there, but there wasn't.

On the way back, I was given a ticket by someone else who had managed to get one earlier in the day, but didn't use up the hours paid on it, so I put this into my windscreen.

Lots of other people having the same problem, some of them not even having phones with them to be able to contact the numbers, so lots of notes in windows etc.

Anyway, I had to go back to my car a while later to get something from it and found a parking ticket on my windscreen and the ticket I had been given had blown off.

So, what to do? Appeal with the ticket I had been given? or appeal pointing out their useless phone system?

Any advice most gratefully recieved.

Coupon-mad

Ultimately your case is a 'fluttering ticket' case a bit like Pearly's, who started off posting on here then got some advice from pepipoo forums. Read her thread here as it has advice suitable for you:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=58608

Where did the other person manage to get their ticket from and are you sure it was valid for that car park on that day at the time when they issued the PCN?

If so then DO NOT tell the Council you were given the ticket and do not mention the broken machines, just appeal with a copy of the P&D ticket you had displayed (keep the original). Say you can't understand why you got a PCN, here's my P&D ticket and it was on my dashboard when I left the car. Do not say that it fell down or anything, just that you put it on the dashboard (if you did).

If the Council refuse the initial appeal then get yourself registered on pepipoo and post up a copy of your PCN front & back and the rejection letter, and they can help you with the next stage of appeal. If you are relying on that P&D ticket then IMHO at no point mention the broken machines.

HTH

jahina

Thanks for your reply.

Here is a bit more to the story. I should have written it up before:

As I stomped and hurrumphed, the warden came back again (I think he knew there were rich pickings to be had due to broken machines...).

I showed him my ticket and asked why did he give me a ticket? He said it wasn't in the window - and had taken a photo to prove it. So, does the fact that he has a photo of my windscreen without the ticket in it have any bearing?

He in fact told me to appeal and just say my ticket must have blown down.

And yes, it was definitely from that car park.

Thanks for your thoughts!

jahina

Gosh, just finished reading the thread on Pepipoo.com. Talk about tenacity! Not sure I could take it that far, but am going to start up the initial appeal and see what happens.

Fingers crossed...