Parking Ticket Nonsense!

Dalyboy2000

Hello, I am new to this site but was brought here upon googling for some parking information.

I gather Parking Tickets are a bit of a common topic here, but I have seen any similar to my situation.

OK, where to start? This is quite tricky to explain, so please bare with me.

I live in a privately rented flat in Perth, Scotland. There is minimal parking with room for 6 cars maximum with no parking restrictions what so ever. Directly across the road from the unrestricted parking, the council recently put down double yellow lines which obviously restricts any parking there which I guess is fine but still only leaves about 6 spaces.

Adjacent and next to my building, there are 4 seperate blocks of flats that all have their own private parking areas that require a permit to park in. I do not know who issues the permits, but I do know that the parking restrictions are enforced by Town and City Parking (who conveniently have their main Office in Perth!) so I am guessing they issue the permits to tennants of the flats in the appropriate blocks.

There is a 2 lane access road directly in front of my flat that leads to one of the parking ares and 2 of the flat blocks.

There are no yellow lines on this access road, however there are signs up that say this is a private road and that parkin is prohibited etc etc and that they will issue you with a Civil Penalty Notice for parking on this road.

As it stands in the past 2 months, I have had 5 parking tickets. 4 issued from TCP and 1 from the Local council.

The one issued from the local council was when I parked on the double yellows across from my flat. There was no where else to park as all the regular spaces were full as well as there being no space on the access road where I would otherwise have parked it. I'm not entirely bothered about the Council ticket as I work for the local council and should be able to get it anulled without much hassle.

My first main gripe is that the last 2 TCP tickets have been issed in the past 3 days, were both issued get this, before 8am!!! (actually both around 7:45). Not even the council issue tickets before 8am in their paid slots! Parking is free between 6pm and 8am the following day!!!

Each of the TCP tickets say that the contravention is for "No Valid Permit".

OK, here is my first querey: I live in Scotland, I park my car in Scotland, there is no Trespass law, right? So how can this private company come along and ticket me for parking my car on a road with no apparent legal parking restrictions? Who entitles this private company to issue these tickets?

I mean come on, I live in the same street! How on earth can people ticket me for parking across the road from my flat!

As longs as I am paying my Road Tax I certainly dont intend to pay a private company a single penny for parking my car across from where I live on a road with no double yellow lines.

I'm wondering if anyone here knows anything in relation to the Trespass law and can give me any tips on how to go about sticking it to this company?

brazilianwax

Dalyboy2000 wrote:

There is a 2 lane access road directly in front of my flat that leads to one of the parking ares and 2 of the flat blocks.

There are no yellow lines on this access road, however there are signs up that say this is a private road and that parkin is prohibited etc etc and that they will issue you with a Civil Penalty Notice for parking on this road.

Dalyboy2000 wrote:

OK, here is my first querey: I live in Scotland, I park my car in Scotland, there is no Trespass law, right? So how can this private company come along and ticket me for parking my car on a road with no apparent legal parking restrictions? Who entitles this private company to issue these tickets?

Because it is a private road not a public road??

If it is a private road then someone else pays for the upkeep of the road etc. More than likely it is the people that own property in that privaste road that own the road (privately). They may have a contract with TCP to ensure their private road isn't used as a car park by all and sundry!

Dalyboy2000 wrote:

I mean come on, I live in the same street! How on earth can people ticket me for parking across the road from my flat!

Because you don't own that road so you aren't entitled to park there!

Dalyboy2000 wrote:

As longs as I am paying my Road Tax I certainly dont intend to pay a private company a single penny for parking my car across from where I live on a road with no double yellow lines.

Your road tax won't be relevant because that is used to maintain public roads and the road you parked in is a private road!!! Paying road tax isn't a license to park anywhere you like!!! :rotfl:

Dalyboy2000 wrote:

I'm wondering if anyone here knows anything in relation to the Trespass law and can give me any tips on how to go about sticking it to this company?

My comments aren't meant to be personal, but I don't think you have a hope. Find somewhere that you are allowed to park!

frank_potter

Look on the forum at: http://www.pepipoo.com/

If you have been parked on private land you might well be able to avoid paying. (I am not sure of the situation under Scottish law however)

Dalyboy2000

brazilianwax wrote:

Because it is a private road not a public road??

If it is a private road then someone else pays for the upkeep of the road etc. More than likely it is the people that own property in that privaste road that own the road (privately). They may have a contract with TCP to ensure their private road isn't used as a car park by all and sundry!



Because you don't own that road so you aren't entitled to park there!



Your road tax won't be relevant because that is used to maintain public roads and the road you parked in is a private road!!! Paying road tax isn't a license to park anywhere you like!!! :rotfl:




My comments aren't meant to be personal, but I don't think you have a hope. Find somewhere that you are allowed to park!

But this is Scotland, there is no trespass law, so therefore if I can walk on a piece of land that is owned by someone else, then surely I can park on it....

Also, I dont actually own any roads, with that logic, I cant park anywhere....

Dalyboy2000

frank_potter wrote:

Look on the forum at: http://www.pepipoo.com/

If you have been parked on private land you might well be able to avoid paying. (I am not sure of the situation under Scottish law however)

Thanks, I will have a look through that and see what I can dig up.

brazilianwax

Dalyboy2000 wrote:

But this is Scotland, there is no trespass law, so therefore if I can walk on a piece of land that is owned by someone else, then surely I can park on it....

Walking and parking are 2 different things though.

Does that mean you can park on someone's private drive if you want to cos you won't be trespassing? Or build a house/pitch a tent in someone's garden??!!

Dalyboy2000 wrote:

Also, I dont actually own any roads, with that logic, I cant park anywhere....

But you can park on public roads (not on double yellows or red routes though) or in your own car park. If you did own part of a road then I doubt you'd be very happy about someone else parking in it!

brazilianwax

I found this on the walkscotland website (it's advice about wild camping)

"Finally, the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it an offence to drive a motor vehicle onto private land without lawful authority. No offence is committed, however, where a person drives within 15 yards of a public road for the purpose of parking. However, this does not imply that a person has a right to do so. This has no impact on wild camping, unless of course you tear over someone's estate to your remote campsite in a Land Rover Discovery!"

So you were in breach of the RTA 1988 and the Trespass (Scotland) Act doesn't help you.

Dalyboy2000

brazilianwax wrote:

I found this on the walkscotland website (it's advice about wild camping)

"Finally, the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it an offence to drive a motor vehicle onto private land without lawful authority. No offence is committed, however, where a person drives within 15 yards of a public road for the purpose of parking. However, this does not imply that a person has a right to do so. This has no impact on wild camping, unless of course you tear over someone's estate to your remote campsite in a Land Rover Discovery!"

So you were in breach of the RTA 1988 and the Trespass (Scotland) Act doesn't help you.

Actually, where I park on the private road, would easily be with in 15 Yards of the public road.

Dalyboy2000

brazilianwax wrote:

Walking and parking are 2 different things though.

Does that mean you can park on someone's private drive if you want to cos you won't be trespassing? Or build a house/pitch a tent in someone's garden??!!

Of course not, you wouldnt do that out of common courtesy, however, according to your find of the 1988 Road Traffic Act, I would be quite with in my rights to park on someones drive if it was within the 15 yards of a public road with the purpose of parking....

brazilianwax

Dalyboy2000 wrote:

Of course not, you wouldnt do that out of common courtesy, however, according to your find of the 1988 Road Traffic Act, I would be quite with in my rights to park on someones drive if it was within the 15 yards of a public road with the purpose of parking....

I read it totally differently.

I read it that you can drive on a private road up to 15 yards to get to a public road to park on.

I think you need to speak to someone with a better understanding of the RTA 1988.

Dalyboy2000

frank_potter wrote:

Look on the forum at: http://www.pepipoo.com/

If you have been parked on private land you might well be able to avoid paying. (I am not sure of the situation under Scottish law however)

Thanks again for posting that link.

I've been over there talking to people who actually know what they are talking about!

Cheers!