Unfair Council Parking Fine

Bbsgirlie

I’m not sure if anyone can help as we are by the appeal stage of my daughters parking ticket. The parking ticket was issued when she parked on a Saturday on double yellow lines with a restriction sign saying no stopping Mon-Fri 8am-4pm.

She did not appeal immediately but wrote a letter after the 14 days effectively missing the reduced payment time. She heard nothing but then in April had a bailiffs letter and we sent a letter appealing against this. Some weeks later another bailiffs letter came and I called Her Majesties Enforcement who said we should not have send a letter but complete some papers for an out of time appeal which we then filed saying that the ticket should not have been issued as she was parked when the restriction was not in place.

Her Majesties Enforcement confirmed to me that they had received all the paperwork and nothing would be done i.e. all bailiff stopped etc until the Council made a decision. We have heard nothing and out of the blue my daughter received a bailiff’s letter last week stating that she now owed over £300 and that they would take her car away if she did not pay. I contacted Her Majesties Enforcement and they said they had sent a letter to the Council on 7 June requesting feedback from the appeal but had heard nothing so she said she would chase them up.

Then today my daughter has now received a letter from Her Majesties Enforcement with a copy of a letter from the Council to them saying that they did not accept my daughters appeal as she was parked on double yellow lines and it didn’t matter what the sign said and that she owed over £300 to pay immediately or go to court and fight it but she needed to pay £80 and £45 to do this. My daughter does not have the money to pay any of this.


The Council Officer has obviously not read the highway code as I have looked this up and it clearly states ‘[FONT=&quot]Waiting and parking (238-252)[/FONT][FONT=&quot] -[/FONT][FONT=&quot]238 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]You MUST NOT wait or park on yellow lines during the times of operation shown on nearby time plates.’ My daughter had not contravened the sign and therefore the ticket should never have been issued![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My daughter is extremely stressed with this and I live 250 miles away and I now don’t know where to go with this as I don’t have the money and neither does my daughter to take this to court or to pay the fine that should not be there in the first place.[/FONT]

vax2002

Appeal the council appeal immediately to the parking adjudicator stating the letter that arrived today forms the only notification of outcome of appeal reached.
http://www.parkingandtrafficappeals.gov.uk

Sirdan

Sorry to tell you that the Highway Code goes on from the extract you quote to say this :

"Double yellow lines indicate a prohibition of waiting at any time even if there are no upright signs".

Not sure that there is much to be done now

peter_the_piper

""saying that they did not accept my daughters appeal as she was parked on double yellow lines and it didn’t matter what the sign said""
This I don't understand, can't see this being real. Copy all paperwork, remove personal details, write a timeline. Get pics of the sign if possible showing the lines. Post all on pepipoo.com.

Sirdan

peter_the_piper wrote: »

""saying that they did not accept my daughters appeal as she was parked on double yellow lines and it didn’t matter what the sign said""
This I don't understand, can't see this being real. Copy all paperwork, remove personal details, write a timeline. Get pics of the sign if possible showing the lines. Post all on pepipoo.com.

Why can't it be real ??? What they are saying is there are no unrestricted times on a DYL , which is correct.

It does leave the question as to why the sign was there at all of course !

I suspect the sign was for a single yellow that has now been made into a double and the council forgot to remove it.
That said I would fully expect the council to reject all appeals on the basis that they expect drivers to know that you can't park on a DYL at any time.
Quite what an adjudicator would make of it is anyone's guess !

peter_the_piper

Badly worded, it just seems strange that the council tell her to ignore what the sign says. Agreed on DYL but there is sufficient confusion caused by the sign for the council to say sorry and immediately remove it. What are these charges £80/£45 for? I get the impression the council think it goes to small claims court or am I misreading it, not had my morning cuppa yet.

maninthestreet

STOPPING and PARKING are not the same. Your daughter didn't just STOP, she PARKED as well.

daveyjp

Without the signs "stopping" on DYLs is permitted for loading and unloading of passengers and goods. With a sign or kerb edge markings this is prohibited. Double yellow lines indicate no 'waiting' - i.e.parking for an extended period.

Appeals need to be done properly as it is a form of legal process - the fact is in most cases the Council's initial reaction will be to dismiss any appeal so you need to be fully versed in all aspects of the contravention to take them on.

Either you or your daughter now need to control this situation and formally appeal or pay up - relying on Chinese whispers between the bailiffs, Court and Council will only get you a larger bill.

Sirdan

maninthestreet wrote: »

STOPPING and PARKING are not the same. Your daughter didn't just STOP, she PARKED as well.

In the context of a DYL waiting/stopping/parking are all exactly the same (with the exception of loading/unloading ).

Coupon-mad

Bbsgirlie wrote: »

I’m not sure if anyone can help as we are by the appeal stage of my daughters parking ticket. The parking ticket was issued when she parked on a Saturday on double yellow lines with a restriction sign saying no stopping Mon-Fri 8am-4pm.

She did not appeal immediately but wrote a letter after the 14 days effectively missing the reduced payment time. She heard nothing but then in April had a bailiffs letter and we sent a letter appealing against this. Some weeks later another bailiffs letter came and I called Her Majesties Enforcement who said we should not have send a letter but complete some papers for an out of time appeal which we then filed saying that the ticket should not have been issued as she was parked when the restriction was not in place.

Her Majesties Enforcement confirmed to me that they had received all the paperwork and nothing would be done i.e. all bailiff stopped etc until the Council made a decision. We have heard nothing and out of the blue my daughter received a bailiff’s letter last week stating that she now owed over £300 and that they would take her car away if she did not pay. I contacted Her Majesties Enforcement and they said they had sent a letter to the Council on 7 June requesting feedback from the appeal but had heard nothing so she said she would chase them up.

Then today my daughter has now received a letter from Her Majesties Enforcement with a copy of a letter from the Council to them saying that they did not accept my daughters appeal as she was parked on double yellow lines and it didn’t matter what the sign said and that she owed over £300 to pay immediately or go to court and fight it but she needed to pay £80 and £45 to do this. My daughter does not have the money to pay any of this.


The Council Officer has obviously not read the highway code as I have looked this up and it clearly states ‘[FONT=&quot]Waiting and parking (238-252)[/FONT][FONT=&quot] -[/FONT][FONT=&quot]238 [/FONT][FONT=&quot]You MUST NOT wait or park on yellow lines during the times of operation shown on nearby time plates.’ My daughter had not contravened the sign and therefore the ticket should never have been issued![/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My daughter is extremely stressed with this and I live 250 miles away and I now don’t know where to go with this as I don’t have the money and neither does my daughter to take this to court or to pay the fine that should not be there in the first place.[/FONT]

Your daughter (not you) needs to register with pepipoo forum (it's free):

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

She needs or scan or take a close up pic of all letters received, and put them in her new topic on there. She should read the FAQs first, such as 'how to post pictures' and also look at other threads on there to get a feel for what she needs to provide by way of info.

Pepipoo will not be able to help with a confusing post without pictures so please don't try to post about it there yourself. It would be a frustrating waste of time for you and her - they need the person with the ticket & letters to post and they need to see all letters & BOTH SIDES of the PCN and a picture of where she parked (lines & signs).

They can help - I suspect she will need to pay the £80 you are talking about in order to get he case re-set to NtO stage (if she then wins the appeal she should have done properly first time around she would be able to reclaim this cost I think). You/she does NOT take the matter 'to Court' - it seems you are both misunderstanding the process which means unless she gets good advice and acts quickly, the bill will be very high as the bailiffs will return.

It sounds as if she made an informal appeal but then ignored a Notice to Owner, a Charge Certificate and an Order for Recovery which is not a good idea. But if the Council never sent a Notice of Rejection to her reps then I believe she can get the matter re-set but has to pay the £80.

If she ignores that lifeline she will be stuffed I think so do not discount it - if pepipoo tell her that paying £80 is the way forward then she MUST do so in order to get back to a normal penalty and no bailiffs fees.

And by the way, double yellows do not even need a sign; it's possible the sign she looked at related to another restiction such as a bay or a single yellow.

Tell her about pepipoo, encourage her to get the paperwork photos and post asap before it's too late.

robbies_gal

ianrt it pointless though coupon because you cant park on dyl-or can she contest that threre was a sign thre that shouldnt be