Moral maze - should I pay my painter's parking ticket?

OctaviaP

We live on a road with residents-only parking and so have extra permits for visitors. Normally when a builder or similar is doing work they put a note on their dashboard saying "working at number X" etc and it's never been a problem. A new painter came this week and on the first and second days asked for a permit, so I gave him the last two I had and ordered more from the council. Of course it takes a few days for new ones to arrive and in the meantime I suggested he put a note on his dashboard. Two days later, he got a parking ticket, and is obviously quite annoyed - I asked if he'd put a note on his dashboard and he hadn't. I feel bad that he got a ticket, but am also annoyed that he didn't do anything to try and prevent it. Should I pay his parking ticket? 

Martin_the_Unjust

Will you want him to work for you again?

pramsay13

If you're employing the parking management company can you not get it cancelled as presumably it's there to stop random people parking and using up spaces, rather than contractors working at the houses.

Section62

OctaviaP said:

We live on a road with residents-only parking and so have extra permits for visitors. Normally when a builder or similar is doing work they put a note on their dashboard saying "working at number X" etc and it's never been a problem. A new painter came this week and on the first and second days asked for a permit, so I gave him the last two I had and ordered more from the council. Of course it takes a few days for new ones to arrive and in the meantime I suggested he put a note on his dashboard. Two days later, he got a parking ticket, and is obviously quite annoyed - I asked if he'd put a note on his dashboard and he hadn't. I feel bad that he got a ticket, but am also annoyed that he didn't do anything to try and prevent it. Should I pay his parking ticket? 

Yes, I think you should pay, or at least make the offer.

The reason the visitor permits are issued is for visitors, including tradespeople.  Notes saying "working at number X" have no legal effect.  Therefore even if the trader had done as you suggested it is quite possible they would still have got a penalty.

You'll never know whether leaving a note would have made any difference, so you can't assume it would.

If this is a private parking company operating on private land then turn your annoyance on the landlord/residents committee or whoever else is responsible for employing them.

OctaviaP

pramsay13 said:

If you're employing the parking management company can you not get it cancelled as presumably it's there to stop random people parking and using up spaces, rather than contractors working at the houses.

Thanks for this, but it's a council scheme on a public road - not a gated estate or anything.

Wanderingpomm

If those notes worked everyone would do it. You should have ordered more permits before you ran out 

OctaviaP

Wanderingpomm said:

If those notes worked everyone would do it. You should have ordered more permits before you ran out 

Well, as I said, a note has always worked before, so it wasn't unreasonable to suggest.

It's been so long since we had visitors I didn't realise we were so low, but sincere thanks for the helpful advice.

maisie_cat

Morally you should pay, legally you don't need to so it depends what sort of person you are.

knightstyle

Have you written a polite letter to the council explaining you were waiting for more permits?  This may/should get the ticket cancelled.

elsien

Ditto to he/you writing to the council to explain the situation. My council is generally understanding about the occasional slip up and I’ve had a couple of tickets cancelled where my permit has accidentally fallen off. 

If he knew he needed a permit he is partly responsible but it’s not unreasonable for a trade person to expect that a customer who knows they are coming will have made the necessary arrangements. 

Bendy_House

Planning and communication from the outset. Most trades folks will ask about parking when they quote for a job - at least they should. Especially in areas where it's known to be an issue; "Customer needs to make arrangements for parking/cover charges" is typical in London, for example.

So, what went wrong here? Did you just assume a 'note' would do? If so, I fear you have made the error here, as this may well have worked in the past (or you just got lucky), but it ain't official or valid.

Was any discussion made about parking before he took on the job?