Parking Ticket Appeal Refused - pay by phone entered wrong code

timbotambo

Hey guys

I parked in Birmingham a couple of weeks ago and paid by phone. Unfortunately, the location code I parked at was 7660 and I accidentally entered 7760 so got a ticket (city council warden)! On the automated system, it doesn't state a location so there's no way of knowing that you have got it wrong (it just says "Birmingham").

When I found out my mistake (when I got ticketed and checked with the nearby traffic warden), I let my parking going in the other location all day at a cost of £8.60. Where I parked for 3 hours should have cost £5.60 - so obviously covered the cost and more to ensure good chance of successful appeal.

I appealed the ticket for the reasons above, submitted payment receipt and also other times I have parked in Brum to show I am a frequent user. The appeal was rejected as per below. Any advice/grounds for further appeal?? The traffic warden I spoke to said that I will get it cancelled easily so this is really frustrating. Thanks for any help!


Thank you for your enquiry concerning the Penalty ChargeNotice detailed above.

I have given careful consideration to the circumstancesyou have described but regret that there are no grounds for the notice to bewithdrawn.

The Penalty Charge Notice was issued in view of yourvehicle being parked within a pay and display bay without a valid pay anddisplay ticket on display or a valid parking session being in place.

The Penalty Charge Notice was issued as the CivilEnforcement Officer did not observe a valid parking ticket clearly displayed inyour vehicle. The notice on the machine stated that a statutory Penalty Chargeapplied for under-payment or failure to clearly display a valid parking ticket.

I have noted your comments that you had arranged parkingusing our Park and Pay by phone facility. However, upon checking our records withParkmobile I can confirm that whilst a parking session was paid, it wasarranged for location 7760 NIA CommunityHall. Therefore upon checking your vehicle details for the location yourvehicle was parked (Edmund Street) the Civil Enforcement Officer was unable todetermine a valid parking session, thus the Penalty Charge Notice was correctlyissued at 12:02.

I must advise you that it is the responsibility of thedriver to ensure that a valid parking session is arranged for their vehicle atthe correct location. In this instance it would have been advisable to havechecked that all the information was correct before leaving your vehicleunattended.

Coupon-mad

Well from your situation, IMHO you will almost certainly win on appeal but what you hadn't anticipated is the well-known local authority scam - that most Councils turn down the first appeal. That's a fact - IMHO they do this because they can, because they know most people will give up and pay because the carrot of the discount is re-offered and in many cases the appeals are considered by private staff working for NSL or someone (not the Council). Happens almost every time.

So basically this just means you are back to square one but without a discount - unless you fold and pay which I wouldn't. So forget the bribe and carry on when you get the NTO - which is the leap of faith that everyone on pepipoo forum takes:

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

...and almost everyone there wins in the end at formal appeal or adjudication (a meeting, not a tribunal). Success rate is over 90% without a doubt, I post there as SchoolRunMum and rarely see someone who loses on appeal in the end. It's almost unheard of for posters there not to win, because Councils do sooo much wrong compared to the minors errors of motorists, such as in your case.

You still have a case. Nothing has changed. Everything you said in that post above is relevant to the decision an adjudicator might make (i.e. the system didn't alert you to the wrong location and you paid over the odds, never intended not to pay). They are right that the CEO had grounds to issue the PCN but that's actually not the point - you have grounds to appeal and the fact the CEO had reason in the first place does not justify the rejection now. Pepipoo may find you more grounds of appeal you haven't thought of yet - often there is a wrong contravention code in these cases so ask pepipoo about that and show the documents.

Start a new thread on pepipoo with pics (DON'T post without pics of ALL document wording including both sides, yes the back, of the PCN). Come back and update this thread when you win in the end.