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I booked the day off work on Thursday 14th Feb to attend my local bank to gain a Euro Cheque. I drove into my local town centre at around 8:45am of where I live, which is Bury, and when I got to where I would normally park on the street nearest to the bank, I couldn’t park in any of the bays even though most of them were free, because of delivery vans parked in the road with their hazard lights on obviously delivering flowers because of the fact it was Valentines Day. So I parked around the corner from the usual street, literally 10 seconds walk if that. I purchased a 2 hour ticket and displayed it clearly in my car. As I walked around the corner to the street that was near full of delivery vans I noticed that one had left and that there was a space open. I jogged back to the car (literally took me a few seconds) drove back to where I started and parked in an bay that was empty. I went to the bank, had a look around the local shops that were open at the time and then made my way back to the car. As I got back to the car I noticed that I had a parking ticket. I drove around the town centre looking for a traffic warden to question. As I spotted one I parked my car witnessed him walk into a clothing shop and then on his way out I asked if I could speak with him and then questioned him about the ticket I had received, while showing him my valid ticket. He informed me that I had nothing to worry about and that if I photocopied my parking ticket and my valid ticket and sent it to the address on the envelope, I wouldn’t have to pay anything.
I did this and even went to deliver the letter myself in person, and was told that I would receive a response in due course.
Today I received a letter advising me that because I didn’t purchase my ticket from the ‘correct machine’ I would still be accountable for the parking fine.
I contact my local government who report that I cannot pay the halved fine now and appeal later and that if I want to appeal I have to wait 28 days.
My first question is, is this correct and my second, does anyone have any idea if I would be successful in my appeal. The ticket I purchased was £2.90 and the highest tariff on the machine I ‘should have purchased my ticket from’ was only £1.65. So in effect I over paid for my ticket in the first place!!
Technically the Council are correct the ticket has to be valid for that parking place although since you have not financially gained out of your error it seems a bit harsh. The Parking Attendant you spoke to obviously did not realise why you had been given a ticket, which is why they are usually instructed not to discuss other PAs tickets. Since the Council have rejected your initial appeal to appeal formally would lose your discount and on the grounds you stated you would lose at adjudication.
I understand what you are saying.
Does it state on the machines when yu buy the ticket that you cannot use the ticket on a different street?
Also, I haven't appealed to my local government yet.
I appealed to NCP ( I think that is it) who issued me the ticket.
No official appeal to my government has taken place yet.
Sorry for the confusion.
NCP enforce on behalf of the Council any appeal you made will have been with the Council or NCP on behalf of the Council. The next step would be appealing to the independant adjudicator (which would forfeit the discount). There should be some indication either on the machine or on the signage that you cannot park with a ticket from elsewhere.
So they are relying on the 'valid ticket' part. It would be to your advantage to check whether there is sufficient warning of the location restrictions on tickets purchased from the machine you used, if not it adds a lot of weight to your case.
If even g&m thinks it's harsh, you are almost guaranteed success.:grin:
If even g&m thinks it's harsh, you are almost guaranteed success.:grin:
Unfortunatly its out of my hands and the 'valid ticket' bit is crucial I'm afraid. If the bay has a sign saying pay at machine with an arrow indicating the location and/or it says something on the machine you are highly unlikely to win at adjudication, even without signage its not a dead certainty you will win.
The circumstances to your case are very different but I reckon that you can extrapolate to show that where different bays have different costs attached to them and there are ticket machines with different applicability in clear proximity there is a heavy burden on the LA to get signage absolutely clear and unambiguous.
I am serious, since the machine was in a completely different street there is no reason for a driver to assume that the ticket would be valid. As the OP states the tariffs are different for a start and I expect the maximun stay also.
There is also the point that the car was moved after the initial payment. So in effect he had paid for street 'A' parked all be it for a few minutes, he then returned left the street he had paid for, he then reparked in street 'B' without a valid ticket. If he had parked in street B' initially and gone to street 'A' to pay in error it would be a question of poor signage but that is not the case.
I Had A Valid Ticket But Still Got Fined!
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Re: I Had A Valid Ticket But Still Got Fined!
Originally Posted by adamna
