Bought more than one ticket

fined

Hi,
I parked in a council pay and display car park yesterday, but only had enough change on me for one hour parking. I paid this & went and met my friend, then at the end of the hour, got some more change and went and paid for a further hour. When I returned I had a ticket. We assumed that it was a mistake, and I left the car park without gathering further evidence. On returning home I read the ticket carefully, and it appears that extending the initial stay was against the rules.
Having read the advise on this website, I don't think I have grounds to appeal, but still don't think the ticket was very fair, as I paid to park and did not stay an excessive length of time. My "excuse" is that I have an 8 month old baby, who I had left with my friend while I went to pay for the second hour, so I was in a hurry and didn't read the sign properly. Is there any point in trying to appeal?
Thanks!

Guys_Dad

fined wrote: »

Hi,
I parked in a council pay and display car park yesterday, but only had enough change on me for one hour parking. I paid this & went and met my friend, then at the end of the hour, got some more change and went and paid for a further hour. When I returned I had a ticket. We assumed that it was a mistake, and I left the car park without gathering further evidence. On returning home I read the ticket carefully, and it appears that extending the initial stay was against the rules.
Having read the advise on this website, I don't think I have grounds to appeal, but still don't think the ticket was very fair, as I paid to park and did not stay an excessive length of time. My "excuse" is that I have an 8 month old baby, who I had left with my friend while I went to pay for the second hour, so I was in a hurry and didn't read the sign properly. Is there any point in trying to appeal?
Thanks!

Not with this defence! Being in a hurry and not reading regs will get you nowhere, I am afraid.

You will need to stretch the truth a bit. Having the baby is a good start and if I wasn't typing on a smartphone, I would help with a more plausible appeal.

I am sure a regular will be along to give advice, so hang on.

fined

Thanks for your reply.
I suppose I assumed what I was doing was ok, so didn't think to read the small print.

nigelbb

Unless there is a time limit of one hour for this particular car park then an offence of extending the time is ludicrous. The only justification I can think of is if it is a short stay car park with e.g. £1 for up to one hour but £5 for 1-2 hours.

McKneff

Could there have been a sign saying

1 hour parking only, no return within 1/2/3 hours, its like that in our local council car park.

So you wouldn't have actually been allowed to park there for the second hour.

nigelbb

McKneff wrote: »

Could there have been a sign saying

1 hour parking only, no return within 1/2/3 hours, its like that in our local council car park.

So you wouldn't have actually been allowed to park there for the second hour.

That was my first thought but the OP said that they only had enough change to pay for one hour with the clear implication that if they had sufficient change they would have paid for more than one hour.

fined

Thanks for your replies. I'm annoyed now that I didn't go back and read the sign again after I got the ticket. I don't know what the maximum stay was, but I could have paid for two hours when I arrived (if I'd had the change on me) and it was a flat rate of £2.50 per hour.
The offence is "Parked with additional payment made to extend the stay beyond time first purchased".

Coupon-mad

Yep so you just may as well send a challenge in seeing as the back of the ticket will tell you all you need to know (including whether they will re-offer the discount as they normally do if rejecting an early challenge).

Just say that as you had a baby with you, whilst you read the amount needed to pay and display, you didn't see any signs that you could not stay for longer than an hour, do not understand why you got a PCN when you'd paid in good faith. And that you require to see the Parking Places Order and for them to specifically point out to you where (which paragraph in the applicable Order) they contend that it says that buying a second ticket is a contravention of an Order.

Just do a challenge like that and see what happens. You can only contravene an ORDER not a sign as such - hence you require them to show you that this is even in the Order. It may be, but maybe it isn't. If it's just on the signs that's not enough.

nigelbb

Given it's a flat rate £2.50/hour what on earth can be the rationale for making "Parked with additional payment made to extend the stay beyond time first purchased" an offence? Is there a "no return with xx hours" because if not you could have got in the car driven out of the car park then back in & parked back in your original spot & gone & bought another ticket. And who is to say that you didn't?

fined

Thanks.
I've been searching for information online about the car park & found a picture of the sign. There is no maximum stay, and no rule saying no return, but it does state no further tickets can be purchased to extend stay - I missed this & assumed that as I displayed a valid ticket I was ok.
There is CCTV that would show I didn't move the car.

Coupon-mad

fined wrote: »

Thanks.
I've been searching for information online about the car park & found a picture of the sign. There is no maximum stay, and no rule saying no return, but it does state no further tickets can be purchased to extend stay - I missed this & assumed that as I displayed a valid ticket I was ok.
There is CCTV that would show I didn't move the car.

Hasn't changed my advice.