Blue Badge displayled without clock

damebigs

I parked outside of my gym in October (Merton council) with my blue badge but not the clock. At that point it was a habitual thing to not use my clock but after receiving a ticket I've since bought a wallet. Anyway, I appealed on the day and thought they'd throw it out but they came back to me in January and rejected it. I appealed again, same thing and the fine went up.to.£130 which I thought was ridiculous. I took it to tribunal. I explained the signs I saw didn't show I had to use my clock. I explained that I was in and out within the 3 hour time slot. The signs,.on reflection,.are.correct but due to my pain on any given day I probably wouldn't have seen the sign that does say the clock must be displayed (it doesn't actually say that, it just says max stay 3 hours but apparently the law says I'm supposed to be aware that means the clock.must.be display ed with the badge). 

My appeal was set for May, I hadn't heard anything in early August. I messaged them and about 10 days later they've written back and rejected the appeal. I'm obviously livid. Is there anything anyone thinks I can do please? £130 for not displaying a clock and I definitely was in and out within the 3 hours is absolutely ridiculous. Thanks in advance and apologies if this is answered on the forum elsewhere. I struggle with signs and this forum it would appear 🙄

Umkomaas

As we major on private parking tickets here, Free Traffic Legal Advice (FTLA) forum will be your best bet for council penalty charges. Register there but please note that a Hotmail address may not work - try using a throwaway Gmail account instead if you do have trouble registering, and post a new thread; here's your link:

https://www.ftla.uk/index.php?board=3.0

Read the sticky 'Read this first before posting your case' as well as reading through some of the other threads there ahead of posting your own details, 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, and a Google Street View link.

damebigs

Thank you. I suspect I'm out of challenges. 

BridgetTheCat

The signage isn’t always clear. I got caught out just after I got my first blue badge (it was on my birthday too!) They let me off but now I just put up the clock whether it’s needed or not. Can’t do any harm.

Gr1pr

BridgetTheCat said:

The signage isn’t always clear. I got caught out just after I got my first blue badge (it was on my birthday too!) They let me off but now I just put up the clock whether it’s needed or not. Can’t do any harm.

Yes, so do I, regardless of where I park,  belt and braces

damebigs

Evening both. Firstly to you Bridget. The signage for the car park outlines that the area is for disabled parking. There are smaller signs which state your maximum stay is 3 hours. There's also CCTV. I also thought common sense would kick in but Merton Council rejected the appeal, then the formal appeal. The tribunal have today rejected the appeal and told me I have 28 days to pay £130. 
Sorry, I lost my train of thought but yes, I bought one of those wallets and now my clock is in with my blue badge. 

Sidenote, in inner city London many people I know who have blue badges say they don't leave them.on their cars overnight due to theft. What are we to do?!