Thread: Unsual Parking Ticket Claim?

Hi all
I have read through many threads on here but can't find anything similar to our situation..

I am the manager of a band which played a show in Soho in October. I was told by the venue promoter that I was allowed to park the band bus (minibus type Mercedes) outside the premisies after 18:30. I drove round the block over and over while the band set-up until after 18:30

After parking the vehicle, just to make sure 100%, I asked a traffic officer (not sure of their official name) if it was ok to park here overnight. He looked at the vehicle, asked how many seats were in the vehicle to which I answered 8. He said YES THATS FINE.

After the show (about 03:00) we found we had a parking ticket!! The ticket said:

"A commercial vehicle parked in a restricted street in contravention to the overnight waitng ban"

The next day I appealed against the ticket saying that it wasn't a commercial vehicle as it wasn't used to carry goods for hire or reward and that it didn't carry passengers for hire or reward.

They wrote back to me asking to see the log book to prove how many seats the vehicle had.

This is where it gets interesting...

The band bus is owned by the band but it is registered in one of the band members' father's company name. We used the garage finance to pay for the vehicle and the band repays him monthly.

I tasked the band member to sort out a copy of the log book. Time went on and, foolishly, it was overlooked and forgotten about

Last week I had an irate company owner (the band member's father) on the phone telling me that bailiffs were threatening to take the bus away! Following the council's 1st correspondence to ME, they had been sending all further correspondence to HIM to which I was unaware!

The band member had casually said in passing that the garage had received letters but I told him that I was dealing with it so nothing was thought unusual. After reading these threads I now know the process and letters which were being sent (Notice To Owner) etc of which I had no knowledge

I went to get a copy of the log book myself to deal with this. The log book said the vehicle had 26 seats - it used to but we had converted it to 8. I took photos to send to the council as proof but anyone looking inside the bus could see this

I called the bailiffs and explained that I was dealing with the council and explaned the situation. They said they would put a stop on proceedings.

I then spoke with a manager at City of Westminster / Park Right and explained the situation in that:

a.it is not a commercial vehicle
b. and more importantly, a parking warden had stated that I could park there to which I have witnesses
c. correspondence didn't come to me but the owner

He wasn't the slightest bit interested and said that the only way now was to sue the Council privately through a solicitor as too much time had passed

The garage owner paid £180 pound over to the bailiffs as he didn't want any trouble and is now billing the band. This started out as a £60 ticket!!

Can anyone please advise?

Thanks in advance

the registered owner is the band member's dad's company

he did receive a Notice To Owner and a charge certificate. Problem was is that I didn't get to find out about it until it was too late!

After the call regarding the bailiffs from him I was sent via the band member all of the correspondence which contained the NTO etc

It's very frustrating especially since I went out of my way on the day to check that we could park there and were told that we could by a traffic officer who's colleague later gave me a ticket!

Is this some sort of misrepresentation or something - being told it's ok to do something and then being fined for it?

thanks for the response