Parking Ticket Appeals discussion

A question about : Parking Ticket Appeals discussion

This thread is for discussing the
Parking Ticket Appeals guides.

To discuss/ask a question click post reply.

If you want particular help on your own case you can start a new discussion on the Motoring and Public Transport board, although there is no guarantee someone will be able to help.

Alternatively go to the
Report Parking Ticket Appeal Successes thread

Best answers:

• Remember that parking tickets issued by private companies are largely unenforceable, so the best approach is to ignore them. Do not, however, ignore council or police issued ones and the like.
  The private companies will threaten court action and bailiffs, but it ain't going to happen. Just like if you send in an appeal with that cheque for the amount of the fine, your appeal is going to be rejected and your cheque cashed.
  Do not give money to these cowboys.
• I recently received a ticket for having parked on a single yellow line in a side street in Manchester. I parked on this street because there were no signs on any of the lampposts in the street detailing when you could and couldn't park there, and I assumed that the law still stood that required there to be a warning. However, when I contested my ticket, the council replied that Manchester has been designated a zone in which the parking strictures are advertised on signs on the way into town, so that individual signs do not need to exist - there is a blanket rule.
  I'm curious to know what people have to say about this - is it legal? Especially as, despite driving pretty regularly into Manchester along many of the several routes into town, I have never seen any of the signs the council claims are informing me of when I may park. I appreciate that I may just not have seen them - but no-one else I've spoken to has, either.
  On the bright side, this may be a way to save a little money on not having to put numerous metal signs around the place. However, this being Manchester City Council, I imagine that, if they realised it was saving money, they'd be horrified.
• Back in the early eighties I got a parking ticket on a public side road and the warden actually read my number plate incorrectly missing out a digit.
  I do wonder whether there ever was a registered vehicle with that number plate and what the strain must have been like for the person involved,especially at the appeal stage.
  I must add that I too hate driver's who block other driver's in.Oh and the driver's that park on zig zig's.
• I appealed and lost!
  I paid for a 1 hour parking ticket in a council run car park. Went into a very near by shop and had to wait ages in the queue for the assistant and 3 shoppers ahead of me to deal with various problems including one which had they read the sign by the till they would have seen they can't pay by cheque anymore...... long story.....
  Result was I got back to my car 6 minutes late with a man standing by the car window and ticket on screen.....
  I appealed telling the whole story in full......and lost.
  I had to pay £30 because of other peoples problems.
• Hi Peeps
  I had a letter sent to my house 2 weeks ago...stating the CEO 'handed' a PCN to me...which was a complete lie!!!
  I have not recieved any PCN nor was it on my windscreen...i have applied it saying they must send me evidence of this if not will be taking them to small claims court for undue stress on me both mentaly and financially...and when i made my representation and personally handed in the parking shop, so i know they definetly got it.
  after 2 weeks they sent me a letter...they sent me reminder letter saying i have to pay Ј100 withing 14days or make a representation????? acting if they didnt get the letter and i know for a defo they reiceved my representation becuase when i post it in the appeals box (in the parking shop the have a appeals box) one of the admin team came and took all the apeals that was in the box.
  B******S im gonna call them up and gonna give them a verbal!!! will keep you guys posted.
• Don't even get me started...
• I appealled a ticket as the double yellow lines I had parked on were barely visible - seriously, you couldn't see them in the dark, which is when I parked.
  The lines that I had parked on were more visible, but on approach the lines were virtually non-existent and when I got out the car and looked behind me there were no lines (or at least no visible lines). In front of me were more parked cars, so I had no reason to believe that the road couldn't be parked on - it was a cul-de-sac too, so I had no reason to think otherwise as there would be no obstruction caused by parking where I did.
  I appealled and sent photographs of the virtually invisible lines and the lack of a t-bar at the very end of the line.
  I have just received a letter back stating that despite this, it's not the councils responsibilty to keep the lines in a good condition (surely it IS!) and bad luck but pay up anyway.
  They also included pictures of my car parked where it was, and yes, in the daylight you CAN see the lines is was parked on, but still can only barely see the lines leading up to where I parked.
  In one of the pictures, you can clearly see my girlfriend at work (we live next door to where she works) and she is talking to my mother. The car recieved the ticket on it's windscreen on a Saturday - a day when she WOULD NOT have been at work!!
  Is this usual practice for a council - take pictures on any day they feel fit and claim that they took them at the time of the 'offence'?
  Can anyone advise on my next step regarding this?
• Hi Wendy, MSE Martin et al
  I noticed in the main article, you are touting a "Reclaim Private Parking Tickets" guide.
  I sincerely hope that the advice in there will be to never pay them in the first place, for all the reasons outlined in numerous threads on this forum, as well as the forums on CAG and Pepipoo.
  The chances of anyone successfully reclaiming PPC charges once they've paid them are very slim; most of the PPCs hide behind PO Box Numbers and dummy directors, and whilst quite a few people have successfully got court judgements against them, the court bailiffs give up because they are usually unable to recover any money.
• [quote=dogsbody321;15788343]I appealled a ticket as the double yellow lines I had parked on were barely visible - seriously, you couldn't see them in the
  dark, which is when I parked.
  Reply: "lines must be visible and clear "...and fallen leaves is no excuse for a council not to keep them clear.
  However, the council may fall back and rely solely on a signpost nearby, so i suggest you double check the signs, make photos, measure distance to sign,.just in case an appeals adjudicator asks.
  SUGGEST YOU APPEAL.....
• I did appeal, but now the letter states that I must pay up as my appeal has been rejected.
  Also, the name of the road on the ticket was wrong. Not sure if that's worth mentioning.
  I WILL appeal and take it as far as it can go - I wouldn't have bothered too much if they hadn't sent pictures taken on a different day! What a way to run a country, lying to the people they are suppose to be looking after just to extort an extra 35 quid.
  Wow. You couldn't make it up.
  So, do I have to pay up now, and THEN appeal? The letter sent back to me explained very little apart from claiming that they have nothing to do with keeping the lines visible etc... and that it isn't law that they have to...blah, blah.
• quoting MSE : "When you collect your vehicle from the pound, take your driving licence (counterpart and photocard), the vehicle registration document and a utility bill with your address".
  Virtually no one carries all these documents with us.......so if your car were to get lifted/compounded say in BOURNEMOUTH.........and you live 300 miles away (OR ABROAD).......you really got to fly home , and get back fast coz each day the charges run up and up and crush-day is getting nearer too !
  It gets worse if you just bought the car.......coz the seller holds onto the log book and you only get a little tear-off portion of the original log-book.....and you are completely reliant upon the seller to send it off speedily ..can take over 2 weeks !!
  Worse still.you just moved house and registered car at new address/or still at old address......and you dont yet have a utility bill ....... "oh dear, your ultitity bill is over 3 months old sir, sorry you cant have your car"......and they charge you another day or two whilst you go sort it out.....!! .
  compounding is outrageous and should be banned.
  By the way.......as you dont have a ticket ( coz you got no car), the first time you learn what documents they require is when the person at the compound tells you......AND IF YOU DONT CATCH IT CLEARLY, YOU END UP WITHOUT ONE ITEM AND A RED FACE.......AND OFF YOU HAVE TO GO TO GET IT ALL......or in my case i argued that he did not tell me the full list........Grrrrr......but it did no good, i went back and forth 4 times from home.......and guess what, my car had been damaged when they lifted it up......so I asked to see the pictures they took "before" they lifted it but they refused......I took my own pictures of the car in the compound in damamged state.
  I HAVE ISSUED A SUMMONS IN COUNTY COURT........still waiting to see there defence !
  Good luck......maybe a PETITION should be made about these rogue traders.
• Petitions are ignored by this government. This is the sort of draconion cr*p that they love, so don't expect it to go away any time soon.
  Legalised robbery is all is.
• I thought it might be worth mentioning the 56 day rule as I found that many councils do not know about this but it is clearly written in the Road Traffic Act. In summary, once you have submitted your appeal, the PCN issuer has 56 days to serve a response to that appeal (by serve, this means that it has to be received by the appealer 56 days from receipt of appeal, not posted on the 56th day).
  If the PCN issuer has not served a response within 56 days, the appeal is deemed to have been accepted, the PCN cancelled and any money paid to be refunded. Full wording/act here: https://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1991...#pt2-pb3-l1g71
  The wording in the Road Traffic Act is as follows:
  (6) It shall be the duty of an authority to whom representations are duly made under this section, before the end of the period of 56 days beginning with the date on which they receive the representations—
  (a) to consider them and any supporting evidence which the person making them provides; and
  (b) to serve on that person notice of their decision as to whether they accept that the ground in question has been established.
  ..........
  (9) Where an authority fail to comply with subsection (6) above before the end of the period of 56 days mentioned there—
  they shall be deemed to have accepted that the ground in question has cbeen established and to have served notice to that effect under subsection (7) above; and
  subsection (7) above shall have effect as if it required any refund to be made immediately after the end of that period.
  The reason that I know this was because my car was towed away (totally unresaonably). I sent an appeal and Haringey Council just took forever to respond. Few people know about this rule but I researched it and on the 57th day I called the council to get my refund and told them that they were breaking the law if they didn't refund me - I even threatened them with further legal action and costs. I got all my money back and the PCN was cancelled.
  In order to ensure that the issuer has received your appeal, ensure that you send it by recorded delivery so that you have proof - the 56 days start from when they have received your appeal and ends on the 56th day when you should have a response in your hand.
  Good luck
• So, does anyone know what I have to do next? They have rejected my first appeal, how do I do a second one?
• Hi everyone - as you have propably gathered, I have appealed and won tons of parking tickets. Here is some advice if you ride a motorbike like I do.
  I travel work on my bike. If I have to go to any meeting in central London, invariably all the motorbike bays are full by 10am so my other options are either multistorey car park - a good option as their all day parking tends to be very cheap cos they can stick you in corners where cars won't fit - or put the bike in a pay and display bay. I can't tell you how many PCNs I've had - but I've won all the appeals. Here's what you need to know/do:
  1. Pay and display bays are for motorised vehicles - that includes motorbikes. You are legally entitled to park there if you buy a ticket - don't let traffic wardens tell you otherwise.
  2. Attach a second tax disc holder to your motorbike.
  3. Buy a ticket (very important this bit) and put it in your second tax disc holder - thus you have paid and displayed.
  4. Take a picture of it on your camera phone before you leave.
  If you return and find a ticket on your bike (like I have sooooo many times because wardens are blind), simply send a copy of your P&D ticket and a photo of it in your tax disc holder. Appeal should be accepted.
  If like me you have to deal stupid councils too who do not just cancel your appeal, then list all the costs you have incurred dealing with this and make a small claim (MCOL). I once got Ј220 from Southwark Council because they spent 9 months hounding me for two PCNs that they put on my bike.
  Once you have parked and received a PCN, it is illegal to put another PCN on that vehicle for the rest of the day. If you move the vehicle, then you can get another PCN. Southwark were not only blind but also issued me two tickets.
  Good luck.
• Thanks for the reply.
  So, I don't send payment to them as they suggest. I send another letter?