Blue Badges & Parking

steve_2012

thanks for all the input everyone, im a bit of a pessimist but maybe he will get a reasonable response from the council.
i dont think although not sure that it is a private contractor giving the tickets, i think it is the actual council who employ them but im not certain.
it just aggravates me that we live in such a mistrusting unbelieving society now, you shouldnt be punished for a silly mistake, especially if all the evidence is glaring at you which it will be when they check there records.
it is his only car with disabled tax and not insured for any other drivers so he is the only person that could have legally made the mistake, and they have a record of him being given the new BB.
i realise im repeating myself but the whole point (where told) is too catch offenders and not too punish a minor error, or it would just be a money making exercise.
i will report back when he or i speak to them tomorrow.
thanks again.........

BobQ

steve_2012 wrote: »

thanks for all the input everyone, im a bit of a pessimist but maybe he will get a reasonable response from the council.
i dont think although not sure that it is a private contractor giving the tickets, i think it is the actual council who employ them but im not certain.
it just aggravates me that we live in such a mistrusting unbelieving society now, you shouldnt be punished for a silly mistake, especially if all the evidence is glaring at you which it will be when they check there records.
it is his only car with disabled tax and not insured for any other drivers so he is the only person that could have legally made the mistake, and they have a record of him being given the new BB.
i realise im repeating myself but the whole point (where told) is too catch offenders and not too punish a minor error, or it would just be a money making exercise.
i will report back when he or i speak to them tomorrow.
thanks again.........

While I can appreciate the point you are making, I think that if it were commonly known that if you make this kind of mistake they let you off, it would become an incentive for allowing the original to be used by a friend on the basis that they are unlikely to be caught.

Easiest thing is for LA to require the old badge to be surrendered at the time the new badge is collected.

steve_2012

BobQ wrote: »

While I can appreciate the point you are making, I think that if it were commonly known that if you make this kind of mistake they let you off, it would become an incentive for allowing the original to be used by a friend on the basis that they are unlikely to be caught.

Easiest thing is for LA to require the old badge to be surrendered at the time the new badge is collected.

thats a fair point bob.
yes, you would think it should be mandatory.

Richie-from-the-Boro

steve_2012 wrote: »

thanks for all the input everyone, im a bit of a pessimist but maybe he will get a reasonable response from the council.
I don't think although not sure that it is a private contractor giving the tickets, i think it is the actual council who employ them but im not certain.
it just aggravates me that we live in such a mistrusting unbelieving society now, you shouldn't be punished for a silly mistake, especially if all the evidence is glaring at you which it will be when they check there records.
It is his only car with disabled tax and not insured for any other drivers so he is the only person that could have legally made the mistake, and they have a record of him being given the new BB.
I realise I'm repeating myself but the whole point (where told) is too catch offenders and not too punish a minor error, or it would just be a money making exercise.
i will report back when he or I speak to them tomorrow.
thanks again.........

Ste, you are confusing two issues :

The company issuing PCN's employ deliberately nasty jack booted mercenaries who are answerable if they fail to issue enough, they are not remotely interested in who they ticket and are completely devoid of sympathy or empathy. These companies are recruited by the local authority to do the dirty work for them and generate mi££ions in income.

The council on the other hand do not have one clue about your dad, they simply have a PCN and supporting evidential photograph. They have no reason to 'check their records' its an automated [non human] process quite properly designed to catch and punish cheats. Until your father directly intervenes any discretionary powers available to the local authority can not even be considered, as stated they don't even know he exists.

Best of luck !

steve_2012

i have just looked at there website.
and it seems they wont/dont discuss the case at all.
i will fill the form out tomorrow with dad and see what happens from there.
i will phone them just to be clear on what this means[FONT=Arial, sans-serif].
[/FONT] [FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Your penalty charge will not increase while we consider your challenge[/FONT]
that is from the form ive now downloaded.
it is not clear if it means the 50% discount would still apply if you challenge.
i think it does mean it will remain at £25 but would just like to be sure.

steve_2012

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Ste, you are confusing two issues :

The company issuing PCN's employ deliberately nasty jack booted mercenaries who are answerable if they fail to issue enough, they are not remotely interested in who they ticket and are completely devoid of sympathy or empathy. These companies are recruited by the local authority to do the dirty work for them and generate mi££ions in income.

The council on the other hand do not have one clue about your dad, they simply have a PCN and supporting evidential photograph. They have no reason to 'check their records' its an automated [non human] process quite properly designed to catch and punish cheats. Until your father directly intervenes any discretionary powers available to the local authority can not even be considered, as stated they don't even know he exists.

Best of luck !

hi richie,
your probably right about a separate private company doing the tickets, id just assumed it was your old fashioned traffic warden.
no, your right the council wont check anything or know anything about dad but what i should have wrote and meant was once there told dads version they can then at least then check everything.
i hadnt even considered them maybe thinking that dad had given his valid BB to someone else and then gives the version of events im giving here.
i will also attach a photo of the 2 BBs with the challenge form and cut the old one up before taking the photo.

Richie-from-the-Boro

steve_2012 wrote: »

hi richie,
your probably right about a separate private company doing the tickets, id just assumed it was your old fashioned traffic warden.
no, your right the council wont check anything or know anything about dad but what i should have wrote and meant was once there told dads version they can then at least then check everything.
i hadnt even considered them maybe thinking that dad had given his valid BB to someone else and then gives the version of events im giving here.
i will also attach a photo of the 2 BBs with the challenge form and cut the old one up before taking the photo.

- the truth is painful .. .. to blue badge holders but you have to understand their point of view to understand their reasoning
- surveys done over the last two years show that almost all blue badge fraud is perpetrated with the blue badge holder being complicit in the fraud
- lost parking revenues [BBFI] in 2011-2012 were a staggering £46 mi££ion to local authorities in England [DfT AfI figures]

AFi - Annual Fraud Indicator
DfT - Department for Transport
BBFI - the new Blue Badge Fraud Investigation team .. .. :T .. .. a welcome addition in my view

steve_2012

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

- the truth is painful .. .. to blue badge holders but you have to understand their point of view to understand their reasoning
- surveys done over the last two years show that almost all blue badge fraud is perpetrated with the blue badge holder being complicit in the fraud
- lost parking revenues [BBFI] in 2011-2012 were a staggering £46 mi££ion to local authorities in England [DfT AfI figures]

AFi - Annual Fraud Indicator
DfT - Department for Transport
BBFI - the new Blue Badge Fraud Investigation team .. .. :T .. .. a welcome addition in my view

it gets worse as i think about the whole situation.
if they say no sorry not good enough then if i was being really cynical i would have to conclude that they believe this minor error is believed to be fraudulent use of BB.
i best not mention this bit to my dad he would die of shame if he thought someone felt that was what he was doing.

Richie-from-the-Boro

steve_2012 wrote: »

it gets worse as i think about the whole situation. If they say no sorry not good enough then if i was being really cynical I would have to conclude that they believe this minor error is believed to be fraudulent use of BB.
I'd best not mention this bit to my dad he would die of shame if he thought someone felt that was what he was doing.

No M8 you have to believe the truth. The truth is your dad intended no such thing and is entitled to stand up and say so. On a very unlucky day you will get a 'pig' in the council office who needs a gentle shock of the 'cattle prod' of humanity to point them in the general direction the .. .. reasonableness .. .. of the mistake your dad made. Be softly spoken .. .. even between grunts a pig will come to realise the difference between a whining crook and a decent old fellah who clutching the pile of stuff mistakenly put out the wrong badge .. .. evidenced by the fact he had the 'in force' correct badge.

Savvy_Sue

steve_2012 wrote: »

i realise im repeating myself but the whole point (where told) is too catch offenders and not too punish a minor error, or it would just be a money making exercise.

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Until your father directly intervenes any discretionary powers available to the local authority can not even be considered, as stated they don't even know he exists.

+1

steve_2012 wrote: »

it gets worse as i think about the whole situation.

Can I just suggest that you stop thinking about it then? Seriously, you've done all you can about it before tomorrow morning, and even then you may not get any further but will have to wait to hear!

steve_2012 wrote: »

if they say no sorry not good enough then if i was being really cynical i would have to conclude that they believe this minor error is believed to be fraudulent use of BB.

Eh? If they say no sorry, it could equally mean that they haven't thought about it at all but just have a policy of zero tolerance!

steve_2012 wrote: »

i best not mention this bit to my dad he would die of shame if he thought someone felt that was what he was doing.

Again, I think you're taking this too personally! It honestly won't be that they think your dad is personally committing fraud, just that because there is a certain amount of fraud they have a particular policy.

and you still don't even know what the result of your appeal is going to be ...