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Parking Ticket Appeals successes and failures
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My car was towed away, after I parked in a suspended residents bay in Lowndes Square, London SW1. When I parked there on a Thursday there were signs on every possible bit of street furniture for a one day suspension on the Saturday.
The eighth nearest suspension sign (yes I counted when I got back to find my car gone) referred, slightly ambiguously, to a long term suspension of some of the bay I parked in for scaffolding works. This sign was, in itself, on the same post and immediately above yet another sign for the Saturday suspension. In the confusion of signs I simply didn't notice it.
I went back the next day and photographed everything, including the bay I had parked in that was (as it had been on the day I parked) full of cars 'illegally parked' by owners who hadn't noticed the suspension sign either.
The council, of course, rejected my appeal, twice, so it went to tribunal.
At the appeal the adjudicator came across as somewhat dry and and stuffy. And at one point said something along the lines of, "What would you say if I said to you that Kensington and Chelsea have correctly issued a parking suspension that you simply failed to notice?"
This nearly threw me but I replied that I failed to notice because of the number of other suspension signs confusing the situation and that I wasn't the only driver who had been confused by the signage.
Also the traffic warden had taken a photograph of the suspension notice but had deliberately cut off the notice immediately below referring to the Saturday suspension. I had a photograph of both signs squeezed together on the same post and, I think perhaps, that the fact that the warden had been so obviously disingenuous in his selective photography, might have been what swung it in my favour.
The Adjudicator concluded that the council had a statutory duty to make their signs as clear and obvious as possible and, in this case, had failed to do so.
Therefore I got my £200 refunded
So I would say. Take it all the way, even if you don't have a cast iron case. Also, if at some point the adjudicator seems to be taking the council's side he's simply playing devil's advocate, so be polite and articulate in your response, make a reasonable case, and you may well win.
Actually I would like to say something in Kesington & Chelsea's favour.
As a K&C resident I only get to park in places like Lowndes Square, or Kensington High Street, because the council, uniquely in London as far as I know, has a borough wide resident's parking permit rather than dividing it into zones.
That means that people, like me, who live in the far north west of the borough (for those who don't know London that's the poorer bit, next to Wormwood Scrubs) can park anywhere in Kensington and Chelsea.
So I can park my car, sandwiched between a Rolls Royce and an Aston Martin, wander into Harrod's, stroll around for a bit without buying anything, stroll out again, climb into my 13 year old Metro and drive away, secure in the knowledge that, as a resident of the Royal Borough I'm the equal of anyone, no matter how rich they are or how expensive their car.
So hats off to Kensington and Chelsea for that!
Won the appeal without argument when I asked to see a copy of the Secretary of States variation order!
I had success in an informal appeal recently due to the road sign which explained the restrictions should have been removed in 2005. I found this out as the sign was hard to read and I thought it looked dated so I checked it out on the Department for Transport and as suspected it should have been removed as it was no longer legal.
Here is a link to the DfT website where they publish signs which no longer carry a legal standing
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tss/nlpbtsrgd/
Here is a link to a 2 page pdf of the sign which I was caught out by - its labelled up as 641. After going through this I have been amazed by how many of these signs I have seen - most of which are around town and city centre's so be sure to check it out.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tss/nlpbtsrgd/6signsremoved1january2005.pdf
Hope it helps.
a point worth mentioning is that always, always read your ticket!! sounds daft i know but the ticket on your screen may not actually be for your car!! normally, you dont read it and just go and pay it, and the person whose car it was put on in the first place, has removed it and put it on someones elses car, in the hope that THEY wont read it and check it, and will just pay it, because that happens a lot!!!
Excel put a ticket on my window in their car park stating that the contravention was 'non-display of ticket'.
Illogically - the attendant wrote down the number of the parking ticket on this ticket.
I complained that his logic was faulty .. did he have supernatural powers - no response, a lot of phone calls and wasted time. However, it is important to get the name and e-mail address of anyone who responds to you - they don't like it if you send e-mails direct to them.
Eventually I took to sending registered letters. This proved more effective but they then wrote back and said that I had 'outstayed my time'.
I hadn't - as the ticket was timed before the expiry date.
In my opinion the attendant had ticketed the disabled man next to me - who hadn't realised the car park was not free for disabled people, who was in tears when I arrived back at the car.. and decided to add one extra as I was parked next to him.
My ticket was clearly displayed on the dashboard. According to Excel that is not good enough - it has to be stuck to the window to be displayed. But this infromation is only on the back of the ticket - after you have paid up. Therefore the point of sale and the contract is made before you see the ticket. They cannot alter the terms and conditions after the ticket is paid for - even if it does drop down into the collection point straight after you have paid. This infromation was not on the noticeboard.
You do receive nasty threatening letters - and I bet the poor disabled man paid up, but make sure you read the noticeboard in the car park before you park ,every bit of the parking ticket.... and say that you will see them in court if anything doesn't make sense. Ask for their photographic evidence becuase without it - it is their word against yours.
It is advisable to take a photo of the noticeboard, as soon as you get the ticket, as the one concerned was altered shortly after they caved in.
This is the letter that saw them off - and Excel finally sent me a letter admitting they had no grounds.
Recorded delivery
Alun Cockcroft
Commercial Director
Excel Parking Services
356 Omega Court
Cemetery Road
Kenwood Park
Sheffield
S11 8FT
Dear Mr Cockcroft,
I also include copies of emails sent to your company pointing out:
1. Logically, the ticket must have been clearly displayed in that it’s number was recorded on the PCN.
2. I requested photographic evidence as you company newsheet – The Excel Flyer- quotes you as saying:
While it is not a mandatory requirement in law that photographic evidence be taken to support any enforcement of parking regulations it is a requirement of Excel Parking. As such, photographs of vehicles must be taken whenever a PCN is issued.
I have received no such photograph.
3. Your company then sent me a letter on March 7, from XX saying that ‘ the ticket clearly shows that the departure time had expired when the notice was issue, therefore, you were clearly in contravention of the regulations.’
I would draw you attention to the fact that the contravention was not that of overstaying and that the ticket was issued at 10.05, when the ‘time seen’ was 9.30. As I paid to stay until 12.24, I cannot see that this is correct.
I would therefore like a confirmation within the next week as to whether you intend to proceed with the matter on either basis. If I do not hear from you, I will presume that you have no intention of pursuing the matter to court.I will, however, be lodging all the paperwork with my solicitor.
I’m sure that with all the recent bad publicity for this car park in three consequtive issues of the XXXXXXX(local paper) that you will not want the reputation of your company to be tarnished any further and that you will reply within the stated time frame.
Yours
XXXXXX
The first was about 3 years ago in scarborough on holiday with my 3yr old daughter - I had parked up forgot to buy a ticket and went out about 30mins later - there was a ticket - I was frustrated cos I had genuinely forgot - so I wrote and said that I had gone to find a toilet and to get some change and wrote a letter explaining that we were on holiday spending lots of money and did not want to scar the holiday with a ticket - I was pleased a few days later to get a reply saying it was revoked.
The second time was on Saturday - I bought a ticket ( Crewe, Asda car park ) - Forgot to put it in the window - I emailed them monday morning with a picture of the ticket and explaining the situation and wrote in an apologetic tone - Today ( Wednesday ) A letter saying it had been revoked - I think I have saved in excess of £100 of fines.
Its common sense stuff really but a good idea to discuss on here - Thanks to this site I have got a free ipod shuffle, claimed about £150 from Halifax for a mortgage they sold me got sat nav for under £60 - Martin - your the man!:j :T
:T :beer:
I contested the PCN and the council refused saying I was illegally parked, even though I'd included two pages of very clear photo's indicating the suspension signs were illegal.
This takes you to the next stage which is 'representation'. This is the legal bit, if you like, when you contest the ticket. I printed out the same pictures and included the original letter. This time they buckled and admitted the fault.
Mind you it didn't stop them from saying in the letter that 'it is your responsibility to park legally' - so annoying and patronising.
I've contested about 80% of all PCN's and got a result from well over half. And like the other biker here I've had tickets because the attendant can't walk his fat backside round the bike to see where my parking permit is located clearly visible.
One should never be afraid of these scumbags, it always looks frightening when they send the 'evidence' to you through the post. A huge pile of mostly complete waffle. You must look through this though as very often they supply contradictory statements or outright lies and think you won't bother to read it all.