Parking ticket arising from misleading council sign - suitable grounds for appeal?

SP218

Dear forum,

I have challenged parking tickets successfully in the past - this is a new type of scenario for me and the penalty is £25 (discounted) so am considering whether it's worth just paying it but the devious nature of the council is infuriating and the Council signage has been set up in a way to deliberately mislead drivers unfamiliar with the car park.

So I have a Penalty Charge Notice for not displaying a valid pay and display ticket. There are two issues:
- one is that the 'Time first seen' per the ticket is 11.33am and then the 'Time of issue' is 11.34am;
- secondly and more infuriating is the fact that signs around the car park all say in fairly large legible wording from a reasonable distance in the car, 'The first three hours of parking are free' and then in much smaller font below, for which one would have to get out of the car to read, 'but as a condition of use you must first obtain a valid pay and display ticket from the machine'.

I informally challenged the ticket on the basis that a) the observation time is ridiculous as it takes more than a minute to cross the car park and b) the signage is misleading as it does not provide all the information in a clear and consistent way i.e. a key condition of the free parking is communicated in a different manner and the larger font should indicate in the same size font, that there are conditions to free parking. This has been rejected for the following reasons:

1. 'It was clear that the car park was left unattended and this PCN was issued correctly. Had the CEO seen a motorist at the P&D machine or the contravention board, they would not have issued this PCN without further observation'

2. 'For your information, it is your responsibility as the motorist to read the signage in the car park before leaving the vehicle unattended. Whilst you may not be able to read the signage in the car, this is not a requirement. If you cannot read the signage from the vehicle, you must get out of the vehicle, and check the signage at an adequate distance that you can read it. The signage clearly states... etc etc'.

The next step is to either pay or make a representation on legislatively defined grounds (presumable under the Traffic Management Act 2004). Surely this type of behaviour cannot be allowed? I appreciate I could have gotten out and read all the signs properly but the Council have intentionally made the signage in such a way that a driver coming into the car park assumes parking is free for three hours and then only indicates this is conditional and what those conditions are in much smaller font. There are two exits to the car park so one does not have to pass the ticket machine or contravention board to exit so the simple signs dotted around saying 'parking is free for three hours' is in some instances (as in mine), all you would see.

Any legislative grounds for appeal?

Coupon-mad

Unclear signs are something that an Adjudicator will consider.  Also look up snd read the Parking Places Order for this car park, to check that the terms actually match the intention of the Order (which trumps signage).

But as this is a Council ticket, as @Umkomaas always says:

As we major on private parking tickets here, PePiPoo will be your best bet for council tickets. Register there but please note that a Hotmail address won't work - try using a throwaway Gmail account instead if you do have trouble registering, and post a new thread; here's your link:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?act=SF&s=&f=30

Have a read through some of the other threads there before you post your own, to get the hang of what information they need from you in your opening post - but as a minimum you will need to post redacted photos/scans of all correspondence you've received from the council (both sides, if appropriate), as they need to see all the small print.