Parking ticket due to missing permit

pmorrison_2

Hi,

I borrow a friends visitor parking permit to park outside his house during the day. However, last week the permit, which is usually on the dash, blew down into the footwell when I opened the window - only thing is I forgot to put it back on view when I got parked.

I got a £70 fine (reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days) but have been told by a few people that I should appeal against it.

What I wanted to ask is, do I have a right to appeal? Am I likely to win, or would it be best to just pay up now?

Thanks in advance.

peter_the_piper

Council or private?

pmorrison_2

Sorry, thought Id put that in there! It was issued by the local council

Coupon-mad

You need to ask your questions on pepipoo forums and show them all pages of the PCN, asap. Of course you can/should appeal, it says how to on the PCN!

Most Council PCNs can be successfully appealed with help from pepipoo. There are almost always more appeal points than you think!

Pepipoo forum, register here:

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

Read the FAQs and stickies first and make sure you include a picture or scan of the wording on all pages of the PCN (just blank out the PCN number and car reg, but leave in everything else, dates, time, location and all as Councils do make a lot of mistakes). Don't post without pics as you will have wasted your time - they need the PCN to scrutinise first.

Personally, I would always appeal any Council PCN to PATAS/adjudicator stage. Even if the contravention had clearly occurred!

Think of it as a long game with the odds in your favour. Pepipoo will explain more, you need to be aware you are only risking possibly having to pay the full fine (non-discounted) if you are unsuccessful, no costs or anything. But most win.

In your case you have an argument that you had a permit - writing a simple informal appeal and showing them a copy of the permit 'which was displayed, but must have fallen down' may work at 'round one'. If not, then there's always 'round 2' (formal reps) and then 'round 3' (adjudicator, where most poeple win).

pmorrison_2

Thanks for the advice, now posted on that site!

elsien

I appealed in a similar situation, acknowledging that technically I was in the wrong as the permit wasn't on display, but explaining the circumstances and asking them to take it into account - this was for a council permit parking scheme.
I won the appeal with a stern warning that it was a one off and I was not to let it happen again.
So always worth a try - I think if you appeal, the 14 days is extended while the appeal is ongoing.