Parking fine for parking in a "taxi rank"

michaelm

I am disabled and unable to drive and I am a blue badge holder. On Friday night past, my wife and I were going to see a play in The Waterfront Hall close to Belfast city centre. At 8.15pm we tried to park in a disabled spot, about 300m from the hall, but none were available and out of around 10 spaces, only one car had a blue badge displayed. So we parked in a bay on the other side of the street which is marked "Taxis Only". This bay is never used as a taxi rink due to their being little or no demand for them in that area. Indeed, I had asked a parking warden in the past if it was ok to park there if I displayed a blue badge, and was told that it was for the reason I've stated. Parking in the area of the Waterfront is notoriously bad and I know of other disabled people who have been given parking fines for parking near to it.

So imagine our anger when we got back to the car around 22.15 to find a fixed penalty notice for parking in a taxi rink, issued by a parking attendant. Cars on the other side of the street, including those parked in disabled bays with no blue badge and those in a loading/unloading area, had also received penalty notices.

This part of Belfast is more or less deserted from 6pm onwards and I have parked there many times at night without any problem. We have never seen a parking attendant in that area. Would it be feasible to fight the fine on the grounds I have stated here? We only have 10 days to pay the fine or else it is doubled from £45 to £90.

da_rule

Hi, I'm assuming this was issued by the council rather than by a private company?

If so I would suggest heading over to the PePiPoo forum. They have a greater level of expertise when it comes to Penalty Notices. When you post you will need to post a copy of the Notice (front and back) obscuring any data that could be used to identify you.

The_Deep

Personally, I think that parking in a taxi rank is asking for trouble, blue badge or no blue badge. Council's will seize any opportunity to cane the Motorist, especially where I live in reading..

michaelm

Thanks for the replies. Parking enforcement is run by Roads Service, an agency of the Department of Regional Development, in NI. So it is government rather than council.

I hear what you're saying about parking in a taxi rank but it is never in operation. That part of Belfast is desolate at nights.

Coupon-mad

So post about it on pepipoo forum with pics of BOTH SIDES of the ticket, as the posters there can look at the PCN wording, even though it's a NI one which is a bit different than most cases on there.

deloodid

i was ticketed for parking on a taxi rank, for years its been pay and display and recently changed into a pay and display for a day and taxi rank off a night after 8pm not thinking to check because ive always parked there freely after 6pm. i come back with a whole row of cars with tickets including mine.

Coupon-mad

deloodid wrote: »

i was ticketed for parking on a taxi rank, for years its been pay and display and recently changed into a pay and display for a day and taxi rank off a night after 8pm not thinking to check because ive always parked there freely after 6pm. i come back with a whole row of cars with tickets including mine.

And most people succeed with most Council PCN appeals in the end when they post about it on pepipoo.