Traffic Nazis!!

[funnymummy]

Just home from taking #2 for his quartly asessment at hospital & need to have a little rant!!
Turned down road at side of hospital, normaly I use one if the disabled bays right outside the Childrens Development Centre, only I find it's now a building site! OH!
Spotted a space at the end of a parking bay on the road & pulled in, it didn't look like could get into the CDC as it was all fenced off & hoardings all round it. But there where two blokes wearing HiVis & hard hats stood a few cars down from where we'd parked, they had a lot of boards leaning against the wall, plans & blueprints, brick samples etc.
I asked them if we could get in & they directed me to go round the hoarding & through the tunnel, so i went bcak to my car, put my sons blue badge on the dash & off we went.
His appointment was 9.30, finaly we were seen at 10.20..returned to our car at 11.00 - Only to find a parking ticket on the windscreen timed 10.26 WTF???!!!
Turns out those 3 parking bays are Permit Holders only between 10-11am, 14-15.00 - The builders plans & boards had been covering the plaque on the wall.
So I now have a £70 fine, I can appeal, but have been told by the Council parking office it doubtful it will be allowed as it is clearly signed & only my word that the builders had obscured it!
I am not a happy bunny!!

 

[Dan B]

Got photos? If not, can you get them?

 

[LosingFocus]

Got photos? If not, can you get them?

This. And make sure you/someone holds a copy of today's newpaper in the photo to prove the data it was taken.

 

[Bromptonaut]

The appeal mechanism is that you make representations to the Council first. If they're still unmoved you have a right of appeal to an independent tribunal http://www.trafficpenaltytribunal.gov.uk/site/index.php. I'm assuming this happened in Brighton, for some odd reason there's a different tribunal for the 32 London Boroughs but the principles are exactly the same.

The only downside of appealing is that you usually forsake the oportunity to pay the 'reduced rate' the Council offers if you coogh the offence quickly!

As above, get your evidence together now before the building works have progressed.

 

[Coco]

Get down quick while the builders are still there! Some councils take photographs of the signs at the time a ticket is issued to deter such disuptes. Do you know if that has been done? Otherwise they have no proof either. I don't think it would be difficult to believe that builders obscured a sign at a building site


Is there anything to indicate where you should have parked. I would have thought that the council would (morally at least) have to provide alternative disabled parking. Will make for a cracking local newspaper story if they don't allow the appeal.

 

[funnymummy]

Cheers Guys, not much point taking pics, as by the time i'd returned the engineers & their boards had gone, it is only my word that they were there obstructing my view of the sign at the time I parked.
I will be appealing though & yes, I will contact the local paper if they turn me down.
The riduculous thing is that if I had parked in the space behind where I did park I would not have got a ticket..It's Yellow lines & I can aprk on them for upto 3 hours, so clearly logic dictates i would not have knowingly parked in a Permit Holders bay risking getting a ticket, when less then 3 feet away I would have been OK, but who says the Parking Dept use logic..?

 

[Bromptonaut]

[QUOTE 1378359"]
If the signs were really covered by the builders then your fine will be waived on appeal.

Pay it now, get some some photos together and bang off a letter with them.
[/quote]


Don't pay if you want to appeal, you need the Notice to Owner and subsequent refusal of representations to the Council in order to trigger access to the tribunal.

 

[funnymummy]

I will not be paying, on sheer principle I will battle this all the way.
Last May I parked in the bay outside a local store, I forgot to display my sons badge as he was fussing about something or other & I was distracted, anyways came out to find warden in process of writing ticket, as he's alreday started he carried on - I appealed, having never had a ticket before I didn't know how long it would take etc.
Then my son had a turn for the worst, then followed by probelms with my ex, then I forgot all about it - Til Dec last year when a balif turned up with a notice to remove my car or pay £400 on the spot!!
I had to pay there & then..bloody ruined Christamas for us.. On further contacting council, they insisted they had writen to me numerous occasions, I never recieved one letter!
Then they read my address to me, the had it slightly wrong, and that is the address they had given to the court (Funny the balif found me ok though!!)...But as i'd then paid the money to him they insisted tha there was now nothing they could do.
So on absolute sheer bloody principle I will not ay them another penny...and my appeal will be done via Email, followed up by a papercopy of it

 

[ohnovino]

There's a website called pepipoo that offers advice on how to appeal tickets for pretty much any motoring offence. Their parking ticket forum (linky-link) is full of advice on the best ways to appeal these penalties. Probably best not to tell them you're a cyclist though, as I doubt we'd be too popular over there!

 

[Brains]

I make a point of disputing every parking ticket and taking it to the wire every time on the basis that it costs them a lot more than they can fine me.

So far I have won every case by if needed taking to appeal and adding in every delay to get their costs up.
The message I wish to send out is do you really want to do this ? You know even if you win you will loose.
Council paking is by and large a money earner and nothing to do with parking

As an aside here: I do not park in 'silly' places such as zebra crossings, red routes, cycle lanes, disabled slots, residents parking etc, it is invearibly situations like the OP where the council come up with a rule to stop certain types of parking.
Outside my father house for example they issue tickets between 12 and 1pm. This is to stop all day commuter parking for the local station, but it means that my fathers Lunch parties now start at 1.30 rather than 12.00 as they used to.

 

[XmisterIS]

I know it is a cop-out, but I just tend to pay parking fines within the "pay within 14 days and get it half-price". It's not worth the hassle for the sake of £25. (that's half price where I live).

 

[Bromptonaut]

[QUOTE 1378362"]
I'd recommend paying rather than risking things taking ages and the bailiffs arriving. Then you've got a much bigger mess to sort out . That's exactly what I did in a Cornwall last year -paid up, then sent a polite letter with photos asking for a discretionary refund. The cheque arrived almost by return.

There will be guidance on the council website.
[/quote]

Cornish councils must be more civilised than those in London, South East and other metropoli. In most cases payment of the penalty = game over. Any exercise of discretion would be seen as a weakness!!.

There should be plenty of warning before the bayleafs turn up unless, as the OP relates upthread, there's confusion about addresses or whatever. If they do appear unnanounced or while the ticket is still in dispute with the tribunal or wherever there is a process for making a 'statutory declaration' which will stay the enforcement while the muck up is sorted out.

 

[fossyant]

Hospitals are a nightmare. God knows how much our family has paid in visiting my in-laws.... MIL in for 3.5 months after a stroke a couple of years ago, FIL is now in, family visiting loads, and I've spent a small fortune myself for my 'appointments'.

£2 a go. They make a fortune, and you can't always park - nightmare if you need to be at an appointment - like a consultant you've waited months for.

I once parked over half a mile away, public highway, very wide road, not causing anyone an issue. Local resident came out and photographed car, posted a letter on window, and sent off to NHS...FFS.

I get to the hospital about 30 mins early now, just to find a space. I'd ride, but the bike would be gone, and would look fishy turning up to a rehab physio appointment in full roadie kit (might think I'd escaped).

 

[david1701]

to make you feel better, the traffic nazi's have put a ticket on the digger that puts the boats back into the water on Bude canal while the driver went for lunch, hysterical because its surrounded by the fishing fleet that gets pulled out of the water for the winter, we've been taking bets on how long they last before getting parking tickets next year

 

[slowmotion]

A few years ago, my tax disc holder was falling off the windscreen so I jammed the disc into the top of my residents' parking holder. We went away for a week and returned to find seven parking tickets, dated one day apart, for not displaying a parking permit. The tax disc had partially obscured it. I wrote a very polite letter to Hammersmith and Fulham Council explaining the situation and asked if they would consider the case sympathetically. Much to my surprise, they did, and I wrote to thank them.

A polite letter might work. It's worth a try. Good luck.