'Parking Fines. You can reclaim them...' blog discussion

likklegibbon · 17 April 2009 at 11:55AM

I had an issue with my local council over returning to a car park - we had displayed a correct ticket but I was delayed and knew I would go over the maximum hours so pulled off the car park and tried other car parks nearby with no luck - returned to the same car park and spaces were still available so parked, paid and went about my business.

On return, faced a fixed penalty of £60 because the ticket stated that it was no return within 24 hours BUT there was no signage to this effect anywhere on the car park about any returning restrictions. Got my mom to come and take time and dated photos immediately and disputed the fine. The cheeky b***ers then put up a sign THE NEXT DAY and said that it was correctly signed at the time - only on production of the time dated photos and a threat of legal action was the ticket quashed (no apology of course).

The moral of this - when dealing with the council, get as much evidence as you can.

Katie-Kat-Kins · 17 April 2009 at 12:58PM

Great advice on reclaiming if you live in an area where parking is dealt with by your local council, but where I live it is the police. I got a ticket last year, only because of misleading signage, I had checked the signs which gave two hours parking and I came back within the time to find a ticket. Apparently that only applied to one side of the market place and the other was no parking, but it wasn't clear. There is a big free no restrictions car park next to the market place so had I realised I would have gone in there. I wasn't the only one either about ten other cars were parked in the same way as me and there are nearly every day.

I didn't appeal because it is a much more risky process requiring a court hearing if the ticket is issued by the police. It would be helpful if the reclaiming guide could include some help for those with tickets issued by the police.

olliecampbell · 20 April 2009 at 1:50PM

I've been ticketed 3 times, appealed all 3 and had 2 reversed.

I work on a busy jewelery street in London and the ticket wardens are outrageous. They'll happily take pictures of similar looking cars or in a way so that you're unable to identify where the car is (bad when you're trying to appeal).

Why?

BlackpoolBear · 22 April 2009 at 10:55AM

I was in a very similar position to Martin. I parked in a parking space with no yellow lines or restrictions on the road, somewhere I have parked for 5 years. Then last October I got a £60 ticket saying I had parked in motor cycle bay. There was a sign saying motocorycle bay which has been there years, but there are no markings on the road to signify the parameter if the bay, so for all intents and purposes the motorcycle bay could be the entire road (about 3 miles!)

I appealed with several pictures. Got rejected and they wanted £120. Appealed again, rejected again. It was only the 4th appeal letter I sent that worked and that they agreed to drop the PCN. 5 letters in total and 5 months it took but I refused to let up because I knew they could not enforce it and I had pcitures of the sign the road and the car.

Anyway key point is keep trying and dont give up. I think the first few replies were just standard letters they sent out. if you know it is wrong don't pay and don't accept it! Good luck

oscard · 22 April 2009 at 11:22AM

Anyone know if there is a time limit to appeal a fine already paid. In particular got towed after about 5 mins about a year ago!? Paid and didn't appeal as I didn't know better!

sarahsheehanuk · 22 April 2009 at 1:33PM

It is definitely worth digging your heals in. I have managed to reclaim every single inaccurate fine, even though it has meant attending a hearing in front of a barrister or on one occasion going to court. In one case I got the money for a clamp refunded! But it is a VERY long process and while the local authorities seem to be able to take as long as they like, make sure you keep within the timeframes set as there is no leeway there.

I was interested to see this was Hammersmith and Fulham. One three separate occasions I have had demands from them to pay the full amount because they claim they haven't received my 'early payment' in good time. They are the only local authority I have seen doing this, and sometimes there is a massive delay - I think they may be looking at this as another revenue stream!

irrelevant · 22 April 2009 at 4:19PM

I managed to appeal a fine years ago, pay-and-display on some sea front somewhere. Despite my putting the ticket clearly on the dash, the strong sea breeze found a way into the car and blew it into the corner where it must have been missed. They granted it "on this occasion" as I'd produced the ticket.

We also had an inncident where we got ticketed (by Bury MBC) because my wife's disabled badge and the clock were overlapped and they couldn't read something on it.. Probably my carelesness, but we appealed and they let us off.

Anybody ever had a fine for parking in a parent and child or disabled space in a supermarket car park? Signs promise them in local sainsburys & asda, but nobody enforces them it seems. (I'm asking this from the point of view of a parent with a toddler who just got back from shopping having had the last two spaces taken, in front of me, both by people without any kids.)

real1314 · 22 April 2009 at 9:36PM

Mosh wrote: »

How much do you want to bet that they've *not* gone back through the books to retrospectively refund the money of other people who coughed up the cash for the same thing?

My wife had a fine years back, it was for parking on a sunday on a council car park - my wife had checked the sign which had mon-sat charges and nothing about sunday. turned out the sunday bit was on an extra sign above the main sign, which itself reached to over 6 foot high. Her friend who'd been with her (in her own car) had checked the sign and neither of them had seen the extra bit, both got fined. The extra sign was a foot above this. appealed it, got refused. Gave up and paid.

A coupe of years later there was a report in the papers that signs had to be below 6 foot (or so) to be acceptable and that loads of people had been mis-fined on this basis. Nothing ever seems to get done though. It does seem to be a case of parking authorities being able to try their luck on mototists and just canacel fines if they are caught out.:mad:

gb57 · 23 April 2009 at 4:34PM

Why does the law of the land allow petty little council officials to make money from law-abiding citizens by fining them for "incorrectly displaying a ticket". If you have bought a ticket which is clearly visible and valid it should not be possible for a council to charge you just because you put in on the dash instead of the windscreen, or on the wrong side of the dash, or whatever. Also fines for parking with your wheel slightly over the line, etc etc, I hate injustice, and this is SO unjust!

Since being done about 6 years ago because I incorrectly read a very confusing sign (in a street where there had never before been parking restrictions in the evenings) I reread the signs if they are ambiguous or confusing, which many are.

The infuriating thing is that I am old enough to remember when there were virtually no parking restrictions, even in central London, and the original, much discussed, idea of bringing in parking meters, etc was to avoid parked cars causing congestion. Nowadays a lot of the time it is simply about making money, and although many restrictions are necessary, many quite clearly are not.

By the way, Irrelevant, you are going to hate me for saying this, and no, I don't park in them, but I am not quite sure why mother and child parking bays are necessary, or if they are, why so many of them and why do they have to be the ones closest to the shop? There are other people, not with disabled badges, who can't necessarily walk that far. In some stores there are acres of disabled and "mother & child" spaces, often half empty, while the rest of the customers are fighting for spaces! I don't believe that the mother & child spaces are enforceable by law in the way that disabled spaces are, although someone else might know better.

irrelevant · 23 April 2009 at 5:06PM

gb57 wrote: »

By the way, Irrelevant, you are going to hate me for saying this, and no, I don't park in them, but I am not quite sure why mother and child parking bays are necessary, or if they are, why so many of them and why do they have to be the ones closest to the shop? There are other people, not with disabled badges, who can't necessarily walk that far. In some stores there are acres of disabled and "mother & child" spaces, often half empty, while the rest of the customers are fighting for spaces! I don't believe that the mother & child spaces are enforceable by law in the way that disabled spaces are, although someone else might know better.

Well, I use them because it's awkward to get a 2yo out of a baby seat if you can't get the door open wide enough to lean in and lift her out. P&C spaces are generally wider, to allow the doors to open! As for being close to the doors, I don't necesarilly need that, as long as they are close to the trollies! What I don't like doing is leading, or even carrying, a toddler halfway across a car park, particularly in the dark or wet, especially the way some of the nutters drive around here.

As far as disabled spaces go, we use them too, when my wife is with me. These DO need to be near the door, particularly if we're intending to use the store's scooter, as she's not able to get too much further these days,and as often as not, I'm struggling with the aforementioned toddler, so am of only limited help! At least with the requirement to display a badge, they don't get abused to quite the same extent. Mind you, this one rather takes the biscuit.

'Parking Fines. You can reclaim them...' blog discussion

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