Ticket displayed upside down - got a fine.

ironlady2022

Hi

I bought a parking ticket yest afternoon at 3.20pm which covered me til 8am the next morning. I displayed it the wrong way round and have received a £50 fine or £25 if I pay within 14 days. I have sent the council an email to explain that the wind blew it. How likely can I have this ticket recinded? This is the first ticket I've ever got since I been on the road 2 years ago. Anyone have any similar experiences?

pogofish

Plenty of "fluttering ticket" threads in the Parking Tickets forum.

facade

Try an appeal.
You have a valid ticket, and you displayed it on the vehicle.
Common sense would suggest that it has to be displayed so you can read it, but I'm willing to bet that the only contractual obligation is to display it. (face down is still displaying it IMHO)

If it is one of those anti-pass on to someone else tickets with your reg number on, you can prove its validity, if not they will argue that you picked it up off the floor......

arcon5

I had this issue with Bassetlaw District Council... paid for all day parking, returned to car at dinner and didn't realise the wind had blown it on its head or on the floor (can't remember which now but either way it wasn't on display).

Here's how it went:

- received ticket.
- sent informal appeal, declined saying I didn't give a valid reason for it to be cancelled.
- sent second informal appeal stating the guidelines allow them to use discretion, declined because they cannot accept a second informal appeal at this time and to await for the official notice in post.
- received official notice and appealed, heard nothing back.
- months later receive a letter saying they've applied to courts to register the debt. I respond with a witness statement stating I responded to the official notice and heard nothing and reiterated my case (I had a valid ticket and I wish for them to apply the guidelines to use discretion). (Did think the case paperwork was excessive, about 40 pages, about half of which was loads of different photos of my car)
- court cancels the councils request.
- council notify me they are still taking it further.
- I am notified they are sending their case to a tribunal.
- tribunal agree my reason doesn't merit the ticket being cancelled, however, their signage in the car park does not comply with regulations therefore the ticket cannot be deemed as valid.

All this took place over about 9 months or so.

A real waste of tax payers money, court time, their time, my time - all because some jobsworth a) couldn't get the signage in the car park right; and b) couldn't show discretion since I had genuinely paid the correct parking!
From the tone of the final letter though it would seem had their signage met regulations I would have lost at this stage and had to pay the fine!

So good luck with yours.

Guest101

You need to check what the signage says about displaying tickets. normally it says clearly visible, which even upside down is still visible.

Bongles

Guest101 wrote: »

You need to check what the signage says about displaying tickets. normally it says clearly visible, which even upside down is still visible.

I presume we're talking face down here, not face up with the top of the ticket at the bottom of the windscreen kind of upside down.

Guest101

I mean it's visible, but difficult to read. If it's face down, sure you may be issued a penalty, but if you have a ticket valid for that time, then that should be sufficient to appeal.

I say should, because the council will try it on.

spacey2012

Appealing a council ticket is an art form and you really have to do your homework on what to do if they ignore you and dont reply.
Many councils now favour the throw your appeal letter in the bin and hope you dont go to the adjudicator when the deadline arrives.

arcon5

Just found this info, I used it as the basis for my appeal (even if it didn't work, worth a shot?)

From the Statutory Guidance on CPE 2008

9. Authorities must have regard to this Statutory Guidance (as stipulated by
section 87 of the TMA) when exercising their functions. These functions
include developing, implementing and reviewing their CPE regimes. They
should also read this Guidance in conjunction with the more detailed
Operational Guidance (the replacement for Local Authority Circular 1/95). The
Statutory Guidance sets out the skeleton for how CPE should be operated
which is given greater depth in the Operational Guidance

85. An authority has a discretionary power to cancel a PCN at any point
throughout the CPE process. It can do this even when an undoubted
contravention has occurred if the authority deems it to be appropriate in the
circumstances of the case. Under general principles of public law, authorities
have a duty to act fairly and proportionately and are encouraged to exercise
discretion sensibly and reasonably and with due regard to the public interest.

vaio

arcon5 wrote: »

.......Here's how it went:

- received ticket.
- sent informal appeal, declined saying I didn't give a valid reason for it to be cancelled.
- sent second informal appeal stating the guidelines allow them to use discretion, declined because they cannot accept a second informal appeal at this time and to await for the official notice in post.
- received official notice and appealed, heard nothing back.
- months later receive a letter saying they've applied to courts to register the debt. I respond with a witness statement stating I responded to the official notice and heard nothing and reiterated my case (I had a valid ticket and I wish for them to apply the guidelines to use discretion). (Did think the case paperwork was excessive, about 40 pages, about half of which was loads of different photos of my car)
- court cancels the councils request.
- council notify me they are still taking it further.
- I am notified they are sending their case to a tribunal.
- tribunal agree my reason doesn't merit the ticket being cancelled, however, their signage in the car park does not comply with regulations therefore the ticket cannot be deemed as valid.......

hopefully you wrote a letter or two to your local newspaper so all the other victims of that car park who got wrongly fined could also get their money back

Wig

arcon5 wrote: »

- tribunal agree my reason doesn't merit the ticket being cancelled, however, their signage in the car park does not comply with regulations therefore the ticket cannot be deemed as valid..

Was this part of your argument or did the adjudicator realise this without any input from you? What was wrong with the signs?