Parking ticket, whats the score?

thebyp

Hi,

I recently parked in Cirencester (nice place, highly recomended ) and recieved a parking ticket. Ticket was listed as a contravention of section 01 of Road Traffic Act 1991.

Normally if i get a parking ticket I just shrug and move on paying the fine, however this one annoyed me.

The road I parked on is a dead end, it has nothing other than a clutch of houses at the end, and you can park (and people do) on both sides and traffic can easily still pass. Moreover there is a complete lack of signage anywhere to signify that this is a parking area. There are yellow lines but they are extremely perrished, going from complete areas without lines altogether, to fragments of lines.

After the ticket I checked and there are no signs for 100 feet in each direction to signify parking zones.

Given all of the above I challenged the ticket, however have had nothing back.... until today where I have had a Vehicle notice demanding a doubled payment :eek:

So, does anybody know what my rights are here?
Can they enforce a ticket where there are no road markings, and there is no signage?

thanks for any help!

anewman

Is it a council issued ticket?

thebyp

Yes, Cotswold District Council.

Crabman

Firstly, check out the National Parking Adjudication Service where you can make sure the contravention code is correct: 01 - Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours

Also, I think (someone correct me if this isn't the case) the yellow line must be solid and that even a break would mean the alleged parking offence is unenforceable. There should also be "T-bars" at either end - again if these aren't present I'm not sure the ticket is valid. See here for an illustration for the rules councils must follow when painting the lines in the first place: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2002/023113ba.gif

This notice you received today - does it acknowledge receipt of the appeals letter, and do you have proof they received it, e.g. recorded delivery?

anewman

My understanding is that council issued tickets need to be taken more seriously than those issued by private companies.

See https://www.pepipoo.com for a good site on this sort of issue, and the people there will know more than I do. I personally would be taking pictures of the area you were parked and the fact there are no signs indicating any restrictions.

thebyp

Thanks for the reply both.

It definitely says 01, and there are more breaks than solid parts. What i think I will do is take some photos give them a call tomorrow as there is no acknowledgement anywhere.

thanks again.