NSGL Parking St Oswalds Gloucester - parked slightly out of bay on purpose - PCN

RWhitts

Hello,

Pretty miffed to receive a PCN today for "Not parked within a marked bay" when I did so on purpose - reason being I picked a spot specifically next to a yellow hatch area and left a larger than normal gap to the car on the other side (around 1 metre) as I was dashing it to B&Q to collect 20 long packs of laminate flooring which is a very heavy load and therefore I wanted all round access to the car to be able to load through doors from all angles to try and spread the load out properly. You can see from the photo I'm approx 8 cm over the line and I fully hold my hands up to it - but I honestly did it with specific intentions and normally am very careful and considerate when parking. So I accept that I am in the wrong but a £100 fine reduced to £60 is a bit harsh. No doubt there will be signs up if I go and look for them but I wasn't aware there would be an issue. I also get it that when some folk see SUV's and 4X4's parked badly it does look bad - but I have the receipt clearly dated and showing the very large bulky purchase - but am I going to get any sympathy by appealing on this basis?.

I'm thinking I will appeal anyway and the way I feel right now is that if I lose I will take over £700 worth of flooring back to B&Q to get it refunded and then threaten to black list them. I spend an absolute fortune with them, many many £1,000s in fact and this kind of thing really irks me as I usually really do take care when parking.

Would you recommend I try speaking to B&Q first or just go straight to appeal with NSGL, stating my position and intentions above?

I'm not feeling confident but hopefully those in the know here will give me the lowdown.

Many thanks in anticipation.

Coupon-mad

Complain to B&Q as the NEWBIES FAQS thread says is always PLAN A.  They can cancel it, or the managing agent of the whole site can.

Act quickly, NEWBIES thread explains all.  You do not pay this nor think about the 24 day discount bribe at all. No-one pays NGSL here.

RWhitts

Thank you for the advice. I went to B&Q and they were dismayed and frustrated at the ticket being issued - ended up with around 4 to 5 staff discussing it and even admitting they did not have proper larger loading bays available - whereas Wickes just down the road has dedicated ones. They urged me to fight it but advised the car park is owned by Gloucester City Council and that they could do little about it, apparently the B&Q staff often get ticketed as well. I made it clear to them all 21 packs of the flooring will be coming back to them for refund and I'll blacklist them - having spent around £10k with them in the last couple of years. 

I then emailed GCC providing evidence of the bulky purchase (a 280kg load) and without naming or referring to who was the driver etc but so far have not heard back.

I also now see the PCN is dated 15th March and "bribes" me with only 14 days to appeal - yet I only received the PCN through the post on the 22nd - I was here when the postman delivered it. So the 14 days is up tomorrow.

I will continue through the newbies thread / rest of this forum - a little bit up against it as the house is a full on building site and project managing that is a major distraction, but at least Ive now opened an account with a builders merchant up the road now so I won't have to travel to that farce of a DIY place so often.

fisherjim

RWhitts said:

 They urged me to fight it but advised the car park is owned by Gloucester City Council

For once they are right, have you tried this email: info@stoswaldsrp.co.uk

RWhitts

fisherjim said:

RWhitts said:

 They urged me to fight it but advised the car park is owned by Gloucester City Council

For once they are right, have you tried this email: info@stoswaldsrp.co.uk

I didn't try that email, I emailed the GCC general complaints line - and I have just received a very lax response saying "Unfortunately all appeals regarding parking fines have to sent to the company who are dealing with the fine on our behalf as they are the ones who processed the PCN" .........followed by about half a page of waffle asking me to take surveys, provide feedback and to say how helpful they have been........

fisherjim

RWhitts said:

fisherjim said:

RWhitts said:

 They urged me to fight it but advised the car park is owned by Gloucester City Council

For once they are right, have you tried this email: info@stoswaldsrp.co.uk

I didn't try that email, I emailed the GCC general complaints line - and I have just received a very lax response saying "Unfortunately all appeals regarding parking fines have to sent to the company who are dealing with the fine on our behalf as they are the ones who processed the PCN" .........followed by about half a page of waffle asking me to take surveys, provide feedback and to say how helpful they have been........

Very lax indeed if they believe they are "fines"!

Trainerman

RWhitts said:

fisherjim said:

RWhitts said:

 They urged me to fight it but advised the car park is owned by Gloucester City Council

For once they are right, have you tried this email: info@stoswaldsrp.co.uk

" .........followed by about half a page of waffle asking me to take surveys, provide feedback and to say how helpful they have been........

Although I hate these surveys, if it were me I might make time for this one, and guess what sort of feedback and score for helpfulness they would get !

D_P_Dance

Sometimes there is no alternative bu to park across a line.  Have you complained to your MP?

Umkomaas

D_P_Dance said:

Sometimes there is no alternative bu to park across a line.  Have you complained to your MP?

Even The Supreme Court in ParkingEye v Beavis acknowledged that.

RWhitts

D_P_Dance said:

Sometimes there is no alternative bu to park across a line.  Have you complained to your MP?

Yup, I freely admit I intentionally parked slightly on the line, purely in the interests of loading properly / safely. I even chose a spot next to the trolley park so that by encroaching the line on that side I wouldn't be affecting another parking space.

I'll appeal and see what they say..... if they don't play ball I'll happily start dishing out complaints... left right and centre.

RWhitts

Well I'm pleased to say NGSL have emailed to say they've cancelled the ticket. I had appealed (without identifying the driver) just basically saying the car had been parked like that intentionally in order to be loaded. Luckily I had taken my own photo with the car loaded as a bit of a joke to a friend and I saw it also showed an adjacent car fairly close to mine further justifying my offset parking. I sent that along with the receipt and it looks to have done the trick. Thanks for the initial advice and support though.