Unfair Parking Tickets: Have you appealed or spotted a loophole?

foreversomeday

My OH managed to reclaim one a couple of months ago.

What was the fine for? Not having/displaying a valid ticket
What was the problem with it? The ticket was valid, OH thinks it was in plain view, I think it could have been blown off the dashboard when he closed the door.
Did you try and appeal and on what basis? He found a traffic warden and asked him what to do - he suggested we take it to the council offices.
Did it work? When he took it in along with the ticket which had the time printed on it they said not to worry about paying it and they would sort it out.
Other interesting stuff? We got a letter in the post a few weeks after the incident saying that because they hadn't responded within a certain time, we didn't have to pay, but not to take it as a precedent! Cheeky.

ilovelillbj

All of my colleagues park in a pay and display car park during the day. Once my friend James' ticket fell off of his dashboard and he ended up getting a ticket. He wrote a polite letter explaining what had happened and sent of the ticket with it; they sent him back a ticket holder and told him to be more careful next time!

g_parry

Not a parking ticket story, just some general advice for those unfairly ticketed.

A letter to the local authority is rarely given proper consideration – the most likely response is a standard letter refusing to cancel the charge.
Following your receipt of a Notice to Owner (NTO) you are entitled to make a formal representation which places the local authority under a legal obligation to consider your representation. However, the parking department of the local authority has a budget to achieve and it’s still difficult to get a ticket cancelled.
If your representation is rejected, you have 28 days to appeal to the parking adjudicator. If you’ve gone this far, there is absolutely no reason not to appeal – it will not cost you any more money and 68% of parking appeals are found in favour of the motorist.
The adjudicators web site has a number of “key cases” that will point you in the right direction for appealing.
The law has recently changed to allow the adjudicators to refer cases back to the local authority where there are “mitigating circumstances” that the adjudicator feels need consideration.

It’s worth repeating that 68% of appeals are won by the motorist.

zedman63

hi got a ticket for parking in the B&Q car park in high wycombe. I parked there at 6 am till 6.28am as a lorry had blocked the entrance to my work which is next door, I moved my car from the nearly empty huge car park as soon as possible 1/2 an hour and received a fpn of £75 which if it was'nt paid within 2 weeks would go up to £125. I went to the store as it had surely to be a good neighbour if nothing else I mean we put up with all the traffic chaos they cause, but they were not interested at all I was fobbed off on an assistant manager who did'nt give a rats a**e. My company have appealed and they have as a gesture of goodwill cut the charge in 1/2 to £37.50 if I pay within a week.................. good for you B&Q I certainly will avoid shopping with you ever again as this is pathetic and the company i work for have put up a sign asking the other 40 employees to avoid it in the same way, please if anyone actually reads this avoid B&Q I've put a curse on them, they're going down....

xkatarzynax

I recieved a parking ticket for £30 over a year ago! I watched the man put it on my car and I went up to him and asked him why he had done it as none of the machines were working so nobody could even buy a ticket!

I then got in touch with the council via phone and sent them a letter etc and the told me the understood my situation and I wouldnt have to pay!

A year later i recieved a parking ticket for just under £400, and told if i didnt pay it then the baylifs would be around! They cam around the same day and I told them what happened and they went away and said the would be back! I called them up and they dropped £200 off it, But i can believe i still had to pay £200 for a ticket, when the council said it was unfair that i recieved it in the first place!

Ths country has become a money making sham, and I cant wait to get out!

snottyotty

I recieved a £30 now or £60 later ticket for parking in a disabled bay outside the local library in Peterborough with my wife who is disabled and we were displaying a blue badge with the correct time on the clock. WHY? BECAUSE MY WIFES ID WAS UPSIDE DOWN IN THE WINDSCREEN!

AND I HAD TO PAY, THEY WOULD NOT WAIVE THE TICKET

DISGUSTING

rih2010

Apologies for my previous post on this subject. My pc went a bit wonky and prematurely posted for me. Now on works computer which should be better.

What was the fine for?

Last summer I parked in a pay and display car park in Newhaven, Sussex on a blustery day. I bought a ticket and placed it on the dash. Whilst unloading the car (baby, buggy, the missus, etc.) and unknown to us, the wind must have blown the ticket off the dash on to the floor. This resulted in a £60 ticket.

Did you try and appeal and on what basis?


I found my ticket and sent it with a covering letter of appeal to the address on the parking ticket. I basically said that I had bought a ticket and it blew off the dash. Therefore I felt I wasn't guilty of not paying. (However I suppose I was guilty of not displaying, but didn't put this in the letter!!) This was down to having to unload the car on a windy day.

Did it work?


Initially I received a reply saying the case would be investigated. Then, several weeks later I received a letter saying I would be let off this once and advising me to take care when putting the ticket in the car. They suggested employing the adhesive on the ticket on windy days.

So there you go.

Jane_Rowley

I parked in a marked parking bay at 6.30pm in Raynes Park. I saw a parking attendant and double checked the parking sign, which was as clear as mud. The traffic warden disappeared, probably hiding in a doorway, so I couldn't double check. I decided he was only there for cars parked on double yellows and I must be ok in a P bay at night. I left the car for 5 minutes and returned to find a ticket. I was shocked. I took a photo of the sign with a digital camera and asked friends if they thought I had parked illegally - they agreed I should not have been fined, so I appealed. Merton council would not accept the signage was wrong, but a few weeks later they replaced the sign with one which restricted parking before 7pm. I called the council but they denied the sign had changed and again refused to cancel my ticket! I took photos of the new sign and showed them at the appeal hearing, but even the photographic evidence wasn't good enough for the adjudicator who quite frankly wasn't very bright and had trouble grasping the facts. It was only because I had taken the camera with me and could show the dated photo of the original sign on the camera that he believed me and upheld my appeal. Still, he only awarded me £30 compensation for all my stress and trouble, including a day off work to attend the hearing, which is no deterent for shameful councils and still left me out of pocket and very angry. The whole parking system in this country is a scandal and everyone knows it is just a terribly unfair stealth tax. No wonder Labour are so unpopular.

zzzLazyDaisy

What was the fine for? Overstaying a free half hour in a car park for customers using the local post-office (run by private company)


What was the problem with it? There was a newly installed camera system that took photos of cars entering and leaving the car park. Any car that did not leave within 30 mins got a 'fine' (so effectively you actually only get about 25 mins parking time as the driving around looking for a space, and the time taken to drive out of the car park is counted within the 30 mins). There were no notices up warning people of this change. I am disabled, there were no disabled bays, but I did display my blue badge. As I have mobility problems it is at least a 5 min walk each way, there was a long queue in the post office, and then owing to my condition I was exhausted and had to rest for a few minutes to get my breathe back before driving away, none the wiser, as there was no notice on the windscreen. The Charge Notice arrived in the post several weeks later.

Did you try and appeal and on what basis? Yes, I appealed on the basis that 30 mins is too short for disabled people. I said the failure to provide disabled bays at the end of the car park closest to the post-office, and also insisting that disabled people must carry out their business within the same time period as able-bodied people was unlawful discrimination, and also that this meant that disabled people were now effectively barred from using the local post-office.

Did it work? Yes. I got a standard letter saying that my blue badge was not valid as this was a private car park and so they had no obligation to make special arrangements for disabled people (!!) but if I sent a copy of my blue badge the charge would be rescinded as a gesture of goodwill. I did, and it was.

Other interesting stuff? The next time I drove past that car park, disabled bays had been installed and the parking time extended for those bays to three hours. So I suspect that I wasn't the only person to complain.

NikkiDee

What was the fine for?
Parking on a Yellow Line.
What was the problem with it?
Due to road resurfacing the yellow lines were repainted but where cars had been parked while the re-lining was taking place some of the new yellow lines had gaps in them and so I parked over one of these gaps but still got a ticket.
Did you try and appeal and on what basis?
Yes, I did appeal by sending my payment for the fine together with a letter stating that I had not parked illegally as the yellow line was incomplete and as such was not enforsable. I also sent a photo as proof.
Did it work?
Amazingly yes ... my cheque was returned to me with a letter of apology.
Other interesting stuff?
Did you know that every yellow line has to have a start and a finish otherwise it is not enforsable ...
To try to explain, a yellow line must look like this I---I I---I if there is a break for a driveway then the yellow line should have a line at a right angle to the curb at the end of the line then another one where the line starts again. If there is no start or finish lines and it just looks like this ---- ---- then it can't be enforsed and you can appeal any parking fines incurred with a readsonable chance of winning.