Council Parking ticket Darlington Market place - Grounds to appeal?

mike321_2

Hey everyone, have been using this site for a long time however this is my first post...

I have strong feelings regarding this parking ticket, and so it seems do a lot of people. If you do a Google search there are a number of people who have been caught out at this particular location.

I have parked in this same location on many occasions over the years and knew that there were parking restrictions effective until 18:00hrs. I therefore arrived at the market place at 18:05hrs and parked my vehicle as shown in the below image parked approximately between the black Astra and silver Toyota behind it.

(I am not allowed to post pictures/links as a new user) if you copy the below link into a browser you can see the location. The signage which the council say the parking ticket relates to are yellow one where the blue transit is, the other next to the red phone box which say "Restriced Zone 7am - 11pm) so therefore all the cars pictured on google maps are breaking the law?



maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=darlington+dolphine+centre+market+place+uk&hl=en&ll=54.524182,-1.554716&spn=0.000025,0.021887&sll=54.634608,-1.643176&sspn=0.011898,0.027423&vpsrc=6&hq=darlington+dolphine+centre&hnear=Market+Pl,+Shildon+DL4+2DP,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=54.524184,-1.554824&panoid=npH2VqyIpy6jEC4KxqRUUQ&cbp=12,60.15,,0,2.55




No Lines or signs to say that you are not allowed to park here, or any recent changes to policy. or so I thought?




There is however a sign directly opposite which says "parking restrictions between 8am – 6pm Mon – Sat" I checked this and felt as though this confirmed by feelings and I left my car feeling as though it was parked correctly. 40 minutes later and I got a ticket

I appealed this and was told that "the signage in this area clearly confirms that a vehicle must not be parked in this area during the hours of operation (7am to 11pm) this also includes the grass verge) which "I can confirm this has been restricted since December 1995"

If you look real close there are some signs at each opposite ends which confirm this however these are not clear at all. No yellow lines, and signs opposite the location I parked say something different.

I think what’s happened here is that since the council are now in charge of issuing tickets and not the police they have become pretty hot on it. However like the editor from the northern echo has put it, is this just trying to drive people out of Darlington? I know that I could just let this go and eventually the courts would drop it after handing it to a bailiff a couple of times however I don’t want the agro. It just feels to me like it’s always the working class who lose out...

Any help relating to this would be great, I don’t know the law relating to signage and distance but surely it should be clearer than this? Otherwise in my opinion it’s just a trap to fleece motorists...

cheers

mike

Coupon-mad

What do you mean you 'could let it go and eventually 'the Courts' would drop it after handing it to a bailiff'? No. Never ignore a Council ticket, a bailiff IS the ultimate enforcement if you ignore it and it costs hundreds by that stage.

What you need to do is start a new topic on Pepipoo with the link you gave here and a copy of the front and back of the PCN. And a copy of your appeal wording, and a picture of their rejection letter. Have you got the Notice to Owner yet? When that arrives you will also need to show pepipoo posters a picture of it.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

Most people get off almost every Council ticket that is posted about on pepipoo. Chances are you will pay nothing, it's all bluff and bluster at this stage from Councils so you just need some advice on how to word a winning appeal for the formal stage, and if need be, adjudication.

Good luck.