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

jakes-mum

Hello all

thank you for all the replies its greatly appreciated, I am fully accepting that I was in the wrong now. It makes sense to me that timed parking requires clock and as they say, ignorance is no excuse. I read the book when I got the badge last year and with my super rubbish memory I really have no memory of the when to use clock bit.

Hi Mupette, im an M.E sufferer and it just plays havoc with my memory, I think my family dispair of me at times. I have calmed down a bit since yesterday, am no longer crying about a parking ticket I was also worried as my ESA was up for renewal and I hadnt heard anything so was panicing about that, I think the ticket just tipped me over the edge. Plus side it motivated me to chase ESA as I felt might aswell get all the bad news in one day, and they have renewed my claim with no medical required

So im going to stay calm and wait for the people at the council to decide my fate. If I have to pay the £35 then I will and that will be a lesson to me to carry the booklet and buy a badge and clock holder

sunnyone

jakes-mum wrote: »

Hello all

thank you for all the replies its greatly appreciated, I am fully accepting that I was in the wrong now. It makes sense to me that timed parking requires clock and as they say, ignorance is no excuse. I read the book when I got the badge last year and with my super rubbish memory I really have no memory of the when to use clock bit.

Hi Mupette, im an M.E sufferer and it just plays havoc with my memory, I think my family dispair of me at times. I have calmed down a bit since yesterday, am no longer crying about a parking ticket I was also worried as my ESA was up for renewal and I hadnt heard anything so was panicing about that, I think the ticket just tipped me over the edge. Plus side it motivated me to chase ESA as I felt might aswell get all the bad news in one day, and they have renewed my claim with no medical required

So im going to stay calm and wait for the people at the council to decide my fate. If I have to pay the £35 then I will and that will be a lesson to me to carry the booklet and buy a badge and clock holder

We have three cars between me and my husband so our badges are kept in leather wallets along with the clocks and the rule books also sit withing the wallets so that my wallet is with me and his with his, I have had a orange/blue badge for decades but I still check in the book if Im unsure about anywhere I park.


Dont pay much for the wallet, you can get them delivered for £3 or so (my husbands badge is new so we bought a new wallet just a few months ago).

So long as this is the first time you have been given a ticket and you explain you didnt understand you should be ok.

jakes-mum

Hi sunnyone,

I have literally just been on ebay and bought one for £2.69 with free postage never again will I be caught out with no clock. Never had a parking ticket before ever, will word my letter and get it in the post forthwith, I did have an email pop up on the screen after I filled in their online dispute thingy but didnt copy it down sometimes I think im a hazard to myself

Mupette

i really should get a badge holder....

Good news about the esa, see good things do happen, you need to calm down now, destress, otherwise you are going to make yourself ill.

It was an accident, and it happens (my god i'm so forgetful it is unbelieveable) fingers crossed they let you off..

Anubis_2

You have always to display your clock in time limited parking otherwise you get a ticket:

Displaying the Blue Badge
You should display the Blue Badge where it can be clearly read through the windscreen of your vehicle. The front of the badge should face upwards, showing the wheelchair symbol.
You should be sent a parking clock with your Blue Badge. The parking clock must show your time of arrival and be displayed next to your Blue Badge when you park either:
on yellow lines
in other places where there is a time restriction
If there is a time restriction, the clock should be set to show the quarter hour period during which you arrived.
When no parking concessions are being used, Blue Badges should be removed from view.

jakes-mum

Hello everyone, thank you all for your help. I had my letter today and it was that I hadn't displayed my clock. As a goodwill gesture they have waived the fine as it was a first offence and it says in big letters at the bottom, if I forget again the fine will stand.
I have got my badge holder now so my badge cannot go out without the clock again

kaya

They dont give you a clock with the badge for fun you know, if you didnt use it how is the attendant supposed to know how long you have been there for?

Richie-from-the-Boro

jakes-mum wrote: »

Hello everyone, thank you all for your help. I had my letter today and it was that I hadn't displayed my clock. As a goodwill gesture they have waived the fine as it was a first offence and it says in big letters at the bottom, if I forget again the fine will stand.
I have got my badge holder now so my badge cannot go out without the clock again

Good, I told you in #21 you would only get a ' rocket ' and no fine for a first offence, I'm glad it worked out for you.

From next year .. .. most authorities will operate a three~strikes~rule.

- 1st time let you off
- 2nd time suspend the badge for a month or two, then reinstate
- 3rd time, serious sanction including a fine / and / or / withdraw the right to the badge

jackieb

My mum has a blue badge and has never had a clock. We're in Scotland so don't know if it's different here.

Richie-from-the-Boro

jackieb wrote: »

My mum has a blue badge and has never had a clock. We're in Scotland so don't know if it's different here.

No idea for your area, as far as I'm aware the clock was never a legal requirement in bonnie Scotland, but it may well be next year. Next time you are in a BBBay area of a car park in Scotland have a look at what is written on the BB sign. I do know that many who venture south of your border into England are frequently caught by the ' clock rule ' !

This about says it all, a Scot visiting Blackpool was ticketed because no clock was displayed :

The funny thing about this story is the warden told me I could buy a clock for £3.50 from the council office round the corner. It was closed at this point, but next day we parked in a car park. There was a warden there who said if it was him he would not have issued the ticket because he knows that Scottish visitors don't have clocks. He said it must have been a new start that issued it. He said I could have written a note saying what time I had arrived, but this countered what the other warden had told me. Anyway went round to council office and the receptionist said they didn't have any clocks because there was a national shortage. I said i wanted to complain so she passed me over to another clerk. She said I could buy clock from the cashier. When I told her her colleague just said they didn't have any she called her over and she apologised for getting it wrong, saying she had been off for a while and was just back. Right then another woman showed up a supervisor and she started making funny faces at the other 2. When I asked what was going on the supervisor said, well actually we do have clocks but we pretend we don't have any !?! I failed to understand, so I said I was fed up being messed about, so the supervisor ran off and came back with a clock. The receptionist said I could borrow it till I was going home and then put it through the letter box.. I could hardly contain my laughter. The supervisor then said I could keep the clock. I came away shaking my head because just about everyone I spoke to up to this point had given me conflicting information.... if the officials cant get their story straight not much chance of us knowing the rules. What a mess.