Appealing council parking ticket

parking_problems_3

At the beginning of February I received a parking ticket in a local council run car park. I appealed it, which was rejected. I have now received a "Notice to Owner" and intend to appeal again, but I'm not sure which of the specified grounds I should use. The circumstances are:

- Company I worked for (to be known as "Acme" in this example) had an agreement that employees could park in certain bays in a local car park

- One day, due to office car park being full I parked in the council car park, the sign said "Acme Permit Holders Only" with arrows pointing to certain bays, I parked in one of those bays. I have an Acme parking permit which was issued by Acme, and had been used to park daily in the Acme car park.

- I received a parking ticket, did not know why, I appealed it immediately.

- The reply I received from the council was to reject the appeal on the basis that my permit was pink, and only orange permits were allowed. The signage did not specify that only orange permits were allowed, I was not aware. The council e-mail said it was up to Acme to make staff aware of any terms and conditions. The sign did not allude to the fact there were any T&Cs, other than needing an Acme parking permit.

- Accepted practise at Acme was that the pink permit also allowed you to park in orange parking zones.

I want to take the appeal further on the basis that the signs did not specify it was only certain types of Acme parking permits that were valid, the sign just said Acme parking permit holders only.

Is it likely to be:
- there has been a procedural impropriety
- The Order which is alleged to have been contravened in relation to the vehicle concerned is invalid
- any other reason.

Any other advice on what I should say and any tips on likelihood of winning would be gratefully received.

Coupon-mad

'The contravention did not occur' is the usual catch-all, plus 'procedural impropriety' as well.

And it is up to the Council's signs to make it clear which permits are allowed in a certain area or space.

So your formal appeal should state that the signs are unclear and that you had a 'legitimate expectation' that you could park there with that permit because accepted practice at Acme was that the pink permit also allowed you to park in orange parking zones, and because the signs the Council are relying upon did not specify the colour of the permit.

I would post on pepipoo for help through this process. Show them a pic of the front and back of every page of the PCN and the rejection letter and the NTO - all the small print! Just cover your car reg, PCN number, and name/address:

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

Likelihood of winning is very good and the amount does not increase; even if you lose in the end at adjudication it's still the same amount as the NTO says now. Most people win who take appeals further than the 'computer says no' initial rejection letter. And pepipoo's success rate is phenomenal; can't recall many lost appeals at all.

parking_problems_3

Thank you for the advice, much appreciated. I will head over to Pepipoo, but all sounds promising