ngry, confused and very upset over a disabled space parking ticket

jakes-mum

Ok bear with me please as I have alot of trouble with memory and writing/saying what I mean so I hope everyone can understand me

Ok I am a disabled lady and I have a blue badge, I dont often get out of the house and today my husband took me to town as our daughter needed some shoes. We parked in a disabled bay, I checked the notice and popped my blue badge on the dashboard (right way up! ) and off we went, me in my mobility scooter. We came back 40 minutes later and I had a parking ticket for 'incorrect use of a parking space'

Now im upset as £35 is alot of money to be charged for using a space im entitled to use, I checked the car and we are parked within the space, we were less than 3 hours, badge was displayed. Husband then points out that I didnt display my clock. In hindsight that makes sense as its 3hr parking, but ive never had to display my clock before in a council car park and have never been challenged by parking attendants for just having my badge displayed with no clock.

The sign didnt state I needed my clock only a valid blue badge so now im worried that either I have been parking wrongly in all council car parks when I go out or I have just come across a really nasty parking attendant.

anyway I have appealed the ticket on the grounds I abided by all the rules written on the sign, but could other blue badge holders (or those in the know) tell me if the clock is the reason for the ticket, is that supposed to be displayed in all council car parks and what my chances are of getting the ticket appealed

thank you for reading and sorry if its a bit jumbled

jetta_wales

I would expect it could differ depending on the council and if that car park doesn't require you to purchase a ticket then it would be logical to require you to display the clock but they should of course state that on the parking information sign.

jakes-mum

Thank you for the reply Jetta this is what i thought, hindsight being a wonderful thing, it makes sense to me now to display a clock in a car park that has a time limit (though I think they all do for disabled badge holders as you mostly dont have to pay and display) but I checked the sign and did what it said I feel sorry for the woman at the concil office I spoke to as I was crying my eyes out down the phone to her, I was just so confused and having been out on a rare trip I was exhaused (i dont cope well with these things )

vax2002

Who has given you this "parking ticket" the name of the company or the address and postcode it asks you to send the money to.
ASAP please.

jakes-mum

Hi Vax2002, its a council parking ticket, I have appealed via the coucil website and it also has payment via the coucil website as one of the options, so is definitely not a private parking company

vax2002

Were you in a car park or parked on the street and what is the offence code it will have a code and then a description.
PS back soon

jakes-mum

I was in a designated disabled car park, it says: we had reason to believe that the following had occured and that a penalty charge is now payable: Incorrect use of disabled car park. Code 03
Location: Chequers Way (disabled) car park

its got the district councils logo printed at the top

Savvy_Sue

I think it will be not displaying the clock: I thought you had to display it always, even if there wasn't a time limit. Mum's is in a holder right next to her badge, so it's second nature (although I did once, in the early days, display the clock and not the badge!)

jakes-mum

This is what my friend is saying (also a blue badge holder) I read the leaflet that came with my badge but as a relatively new owner of one (and I rarely go out to use it) I really didnt know. I am coming to the acceptance that I have not displayed correctly, im just so angry that though I was obviously not abusing the space I have been fined I would have appreciated a letter saying (please note you have to display your clock when parked in this carpark, failure to do so can result in a fine) but he just fined me and then hid so we couldnt confront him (hubby did go looking lol)

I am so upset as I so rarely get to go out and obviously dont have alot of money living off ESA and husbands small wage, so a fine for parking in a space im entitled to has knocked me for six, and I am one of those people who will go to bed and lay awake worrying how I will pay this fine, which will then have detrimental affect on my health.

saving_pennies

I can understand your distress. I appealed a ticket before when I didn't display by clock and my council cancelled the ticket. My situation was slightly different to yours, however, when I explained my circumstances they were very understanding.

I hope whoever reads your appeal will understand your situation and distress, and may choose to cancel the ticket and give you guidance on how to use the blue badge in future. I'm not sure if you explained the impact of getting the parking ticket, e.g. financially and emotionally. Apart from financial income from tickets, there main purpose is to stop people incorrectly parking - from what you have said I am certain you won't make this mistake again. It is clear that this wasn't intentional mis-use of parking rules - this was a woman whose disabilities stops her going out frequently and on the rare occasion she did, she wasn't fully aware of how to use the blue badge, followed the instructions on the parking machine and unfortunately got a ticket.

I'm not sure if your ticket had a reduce fee to pay in first 14 days before the fee doubles. If this is the case on your ticket, please be assured that when you appeal this time stops until you get a response, so if you are unsuccessful you will not incur a further penalty and will have a certain time to pay it at £35 before it goes up.

I hope this hasn't put you off going out again.

jakes-mum

Thankyou saving_pennies Im hoping I get a nice person reading my email who will cut me a bit of slack. I dont know whether to send evidence of my blue badge and the sign through the post with a more comprehensive letter as I just filled in the councils online appeals form which doesnt give much room for explanation (I did say I checked the sign and followed what was written exactly)

I think im most upset that someone was such a jobs worth they would fine an obviously disabled car parked in a disabled bay I know some will say they are there to enforce the rules but I think its more important they stop abuse of the bays not punish for the sake of it. I have terrible memory as part of my condition so I really could have read in the blue badge book that clocks are required in council car parks, but I truly dont remember ever reading that, which is why I rely on the signs in the car park. And as I said before I have parked in other carparks run by the same council, seen the parking attendant and she has never said anythnig about the missing clock! I think I need to start putting it out all the time, and maybe get one of those holders