Hi there Forum, can anyone give me advice at all please.

Received a pcn with a disabled badge displayed on yellow line with restrictions - no loading 7am - 7pm / no parking - blue and red circle sign 7am -7pm.

The disabled person said it was ok to park using her badge, I don't have a clue about the rules for badges.

Parked there after 3pm, was around 20 -25 mins and came back to see ticket.

Started to examine where I had gone wrong.

Could see the yellow line where I parked and another yellow line which was prevoiusly there making it a double yellow but it had been rubbed/removed out with paint making it a single.

The short yellow lines that are on pavement edges was worn away, some not even visable and also the sign stating the above restriction.

Disabled friend insisted we could have parked there.

Saw a traffic warden walking a road away and asked him, he said that ticket was wrong and would be invalid, not too worry about it.

Still unsure we asked her sister (who is traffic warden) forwarded pitcures I took of area, she too said it was invalid.

Got a increased ticket yesterday so it was not cancelled!

We had a valid reason why we stopped and parked up and really believed car could be parked there.

Please help with any feedback

Hello and welcome to CAG. I've edited a few paragraphs into your post to make it easier to read for the advisors.

Could you tell us exactly where this happened please and post up any relevant photos of the lines? You don't need 10 posts to attach images, have a read of our upload guide [click/hover on the word for details].

Best, HB

One of the experts on this will hopefully come by with more detailed comment but in the meantime when you say " Got a increased ticket yesterday so it was not cancelled!" do you mean you appealed it to the council and they rejected your appeal? If you did nothing then it won't have been cancelled!

Ok will do.

I have a few pictures and the letter from council.

I will remove my personal details and upload as quick as I can.

Not too clued about pdf conversion so will get my young son to do it for me first thing.

I did not appeal at all,

I was a bit silly and took the advice from the the traffic warden (who could have been ticket issuer) and advice from friends sister.

Disabled friend was in car with me and was witness to what traffic warden said.

The area was tooting, at beginning of longmead road, near the primark store, sw17 .

Did you actually challenge the pcn with the council . If you didn't, then the enforcement process will just roll on, regardlesss of somebody's opinion that it was invalid. You need to engage with the process rather than just assume it will go away.

Have you received the Notice to Owner? If so you need to make representations.

What's the exact location?

Hi yes I received the notice to owner yesterday (fri 26th oct) it has now increased to £110.

On the ticket there was no mention of a disabled badge being used at all, so it does appear that we just ignored parking rules all together , when this really was not the case.

Longmead road oppsite entrance to the tooting market but on the other side of the road. Hope that makes some sort of sense.

Thanks

Here?:

https://goo.gl/maps/ykefMU1YMBC2

By all means make reps (discount is now lost so you've nothing to lose) but although the kerb markings are faint they are still discernable , which should have alerted you to the fact that there were loading restrictions in place, so no BB exemption. Clear timeplate very near where you parked.

Suggest you explain circs as in post#1, very sorry etc. Some councils will cancel for a BB holder's first contravention.

Ok will do reps.

Just asking,

Do they have to put the BB info on the ticket?

They did not do this.

I understand that the BB may be dismissed completely as they did not take any pictures of the BB on the dash board?

Hi

I think you really need to read the Blue Badge Scheme Rights and Responsibilities: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-blue-badge-scheme-rights-and-responsibilities-in-england/the-blue-badge-scheme-rights-and-responsibilities-in-england

10.1 Yellow lines

Badge holders may park on single or double yellow lines for up to 3 hours, but in general not where there are restrictions on loading or unloading – indicated by yellow kerb dashes and / or signs on plates. You may wish to check whether a particular local authority has chosen to exempt Blue Badge holders from this restriction.

The difficulty you may have is the above as there was signage restriction in place making it clear No Loading / No Parking 7am - 7pm

You need to remember there are still restriction on where you can park even with a Blue Badge

Hi there. Yes I have looked up the rules and you are right.

I am unfortunately am not the disabled badge holder, but I am a driver who should have noted that the sign said no parking or loading.

Despite the above, Do you think that there are any grounds to appeal on other than the reason for parking there?

I am really stressed about it and really did not mean to just park there and break any rules.

The Blue Badge holder should familiarise themselves with the regulations. There's a Blue Badge handbook which would be worth getting, and I think the link which stu007 gave is that, in an electronic form. You should be able to get a free paper copy from your Council and give it to the Blue Badge holder for future reference.

A Blue Badge does not permit parking where a loading ban is in force, which is the case here. Therefore the PCN was issued legitimately, and an appeal based on not knowing the regulations is unlikely to succeed - although you might get lucky if you try - you will have to write in to them, of course.

The point is, even without the loading restriction indicated by the chevrons on the kerbs, you would still have been on a single yellow line, and therefore obligated to look for signs explaining the restriction. The sign says clearly, "no loading", so the chevrons being worn is not a strong line of argument, and I doubt the Council would accept that the signs and lines are not clear enough.

The PCN should have a contravention code and definition on it - I would expect it to say "02 parked or loading/unloading where a loading ban is in place".

If it doesn't say that, or has a different code to 02, then you may have grounds to appeal. Let us know.

Hi there, checked pcn and it says 02 parked or loading in a restricted street where waiting and loading/unloading restrictions are in force.

So no hope there I guess.

Do you think I should still appeal on the grounds for reason why we stopped?

I am expecting that I will be the one to pay all of this amount and I myself receive dla so will find this very hard. I dare not ask my friend as she may well say that she cannot afford even though it was partly her fault..

Thanks for the info about the handbook, but I actually think my friend has one as she showed me something, where it says that she could park on a yellow line.

I will never trust her opinion again with her badge. In fact I wont be giving her a lift anywhere anytime soon, as we were in that area for her anyway!!

Hey, has anyone got any ideas of how I should approach council in my appeal please ?

I have taken on board all the previous advice and feel that if I write to them and ask them to maybe cancel ticket for reasons suggested above : BB 1st contravention or the reason why we parked which was a medical reason or any other way to approach???

Really appreciate the help.

Thanks

I forgot to display my badge and got a ticket. It was my first, so I made an informal appeal stating that I was interrupted when getting out of my car and simply forgot to put the badge in my windscreen and it was down to me to display it. After sending them a copy of my badge, they allowed the informal appeal as it was the first time, but warned that they would not allow it again.

Circumstances differ and you may now have passed the point for an informal appeal and will have to appeal the ticket formally. Be sure of your facts if/when you do and be honest.

A few years back at jcn of Harrow View with Headstone Gds/Headstone Drive in Harrow, Middx, my father in law stopped with his Blue Badge at the ready to get meat but the butcher ran out and said, "Don't stop here. Park round the back or you'll get a ticket."

Too late !! The remote camera operator spotted him stopped for 20 seconds and a ticket was sent for stopping on a No Loading kerb regardless of the Blue Badge.

Good luck with your case but it doesn't look good because :-

1. You failed to challenge within 14 days or pay and ....

2. You took your passenger's word that you could park safely.

It makes no difference if you missed the 14 days. An appeal is an appeal and will be considered on its merits.

I would try sending an appeal - nothing to lose. I would just explain the basics - that you are not the Blue Badge holder, and that you took the holder's word on where you could park. You understood you could park if there was a single yellow, and didn't realise that a loading ban would override that concession. Genuine mistake, won't do it again, etc...

You have a chance they will cancel, especially if it's your first one.