PARKING TICKETS & APPEALS

 

Appeals

 

Been given a parking ticket? Want to appeal? (For speeding tickets go to the excellent PePiPoo website!)

 

Important note: If you think you have a case for appeal then do not pay the ticket as you cannot appeal a ticket which you have already paid.

 

Find out how to appeal on the London Parking Appeals Service website (for London appeals) / Parking Appeals Service website (for outside of London appeals) / Scotland have their own appeals service click here for details.

 

If you don't know the ins and outs of parking legislation then check out www.parkingticket.co.uk which has a comprehensive guide to parking law (for both cars and motorcycles). If you don't have the time to learn about them to construct an appeal, then use the Appeal Now website, which for a small fee has an automated appeals system (just fill in the blanks and the rest is done for you).

 

Have you been given a PCN after your Pay and Display ticket been stolen / blown away? Then read the successul appeal against such a PCN made by a 'kit' car driver who came back to his car to find his had too..... Click here.(Updated 16 Aug 06)

 

Click here for information on alleyway (Footpath - Not footway) parking including a successful appeal against a fine.

 

 

Checking the validity of your ticket (With thanks and credit to the article detailed / referenced below)

 

Check the ticket details:

A ticket could be invalid if any of the following details are incorrect:

• - the description of your vehicle
• - the date, time and exact location of the violation

 

Parking bay signs:

...There should be one sign every 30 metres and a sign 5 metres from each end of a parking bay. If the bay is less than 30 metres long, there should be one sign, centrally located.

 

Jeffrey Levy used this as the basis for his challenge to Westminster council last summer after his car was towed away from a residents' bay. He had parked towards the middle of a bay which was more than 50 metres long, and having walked to the end of the bay could not find a parking sign. The council argued that the rules governing the frequency of traffic signs were advisory rather than mandatory, but the adjudicator found in favour of the motorist"1.

 

MCP note: If you think that the signage is inadequate i.e. that it is positioned in a place where you wouldn't expect it to be or there is say one sign for a huge car park and it isn't at the entrance, then check out the following successful appeal Bladon – v – City of Westminster (Updated 8 Sep 08).

 

T-bars

The ticket may be invalid if the yellow lines on the road fail to have a T-bar at the end (other than where one restriction meets another such as where a yellow line meets a parking bay)

 

"Bill Robson, a retired photographer from Ripon, North Yorkshire, successfully challenged a parking ticket in 2001 on the grounds that the yellow line in question had no T-bar and therefore did not comply with regulations"1.

 

Single yellow lines:

If the area is not a CPZ, there should be a sign on every lamppost along a stretch of yellow line. If there are no lampposts, or the lampposts are more than 60 metres apart, there should be additional posts to mount the signs on.

 

CPZ signs

Many towns now have controlled parking zones (CPZs), typically covering much of the town centre. There should be signs on every road entering the zone giving the hours during which parking restrictions are in place. Each single yellow line inside the zone does not need to have its own sign. However, if you have received a ticket on a single yellow line in a CPZ you should check whether there was an entry sign on both sides of the road as you drove into the zone. Several motorists have successfully used this as grounds that they weren't aware of the restrictions. Similarly, if any CPZ signs close to where you parked are faded, obscured by foliage or difficult to read you could prove that you couldn't be expected to know the restrictions.

 

Splitter signs

Where one restriction ends and another begins, there must be a sign to state this, or motorists can claim they were unsure of the rules. For example, in one direction the restrictions might forbid waiting between 8am and 6.30pm from Monday to Saturday, while in the other it could extend to 8pm. If there is no splitter sign between the two you can make an appeal.

 

Loading

Where there is a single yellow line, loading restrictions are indicated by signs and yellow stripes or "blips" on the kerb or side of the road. Double blips mean no loading is permitted at any time and single blips can mean loading is forbidden at certain times, which can be anything between one and 23 hours (this should be spelt out by signposts). If signs or blips do not forbid it, vehicles can load or unload for 20 minutes on single yellows without incurring a ticket. It does not have to be a commercial vehicle.

 

 

 

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1 Take on the parking patrols and win? It's an appealing rebellion by Jane Mulkerrins of The Sunday Times - Times Online 21 March 2004

 

 

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