Hi folks. Had a bit of a result today. I think I mentioned that I'd emailed one of the powers that be about my ticket. Well I got an email back today from them to say they were cancelling my PCN because as the road markings had not be changed it was unstandable that I had not realised they had changed the rules. Therefore he is contacting the finance people to refund me my money. HOORAY. Thanks again for all your advice. Foxie.

Had an idea for these pay/display ticket type things. If it's a local car park rather than a tourist place could you not have a pick up point where you could get holders for the tickets, simlar to what you have for your tax disc. Then you could just slot your 'card' tikcet in. You could ask people to pay for them or get local big business to pay to advertise on the reverse. Sure this has been thought of but wonder what the down sides are compared to tickets blowing over in the wind or glue ones not sticking/leaving a glue residue behind.

Sorry about my rant. It's just this particular car park does my head in. It's for the local shops so you can park for 30 minutes for free, 70p for two hours. So my thinking is if you are gonna be there for more than 30 mins you may as well use that 70p on fuel to go to a big super market that has a safer car park. The taxi's used to use the outer road to come round and pick folks up from outside the Sainsbury's. They now however, speed down the centre lanes within it and why should they slow down as there is no max speed limit. Contacted the council about this, no interest, guess they will wait for someone to be hit by a car before it becomes a priority. The main issue is though that the local traffic wardens have a hut near by so they are always around ready to pounce on someone who has gone five minutes over their 30. I realise that some car park's have barrier systems but think they may have a problem with that here due to the high winds as we are not far from the coast. I just think it's a shame cause the car park issues put a lot of people off and it's making it harder for the small business's in the area to compete. Our council at the moment seem to be changing a lot of the free parking areas to a pay area, then making the local streets near by resident only. My gut feeling this is more to do with getting extra revenue due to PCN's rather than traffic control. Shoot, I'm ranting again, can you tell I've been stung lately . Sorry for using this thread for my own rant...I will bow out now and behave. LOL

With regard to how simple it is to leave a ticket on display on the dashboard being simple. You try it when you are in a wide open car park where the wind is blowing hard. Your kids jump out the car (causing a through wind) and there is no pavement near by and taxi drivers whizz round as if they are in the grand prix. Our local car park which is by the shops has the system where you have to put the first three digits of your reg in. There is one pavement area in the centre which has the disabled spaces on it. However, in the rest of the car park you can drive through the spaces as there are no barriers so once your kids are out the car you or living on edge till you get to the side as people tend to drive through. So yes putting a ticket face up should be simple enough but sometimes when there are other things on your mind and your child's saftey is at risk then you do not always double check. Oh and yes, in a perfect world your children would stay quietly by your side until you had checked/fixed your ticket but if somebody else is parking or getting in/out of their car next to you then they sometimes have no choice but to move. So there you have it, in a perfect world you would only go shopping on a calm day without the kids in tow but hey how life is not perfect.

Hi folks, I bottled it and paid up at around 11:30 last night, decided that if I lost I'd never hear the end of it from OH and it wasn't worth the risk. My appeal would have been based on the fact that they have changed the rules for parking on a busy road by the shops where lots of people park on an occasional basis and have not put up any warning signs to let folks know. The two new signs that are there to say it is resident parking are very far apart on what is a very long road. Anyway, it's all over with now but I do want to say that I am very grateful for all of your advice and offer of future support if I went on with the appeal. Thank you

My partner's gut feeling is that I should pay so I guess that's what I'll do as if I don't win the appeal I'll never hear the end of it. Thanks for all your advice.

I can pay online still so I guess I best do that before midnight.

Sorry Berni, being a bit thick here (well thicker than normal) - is the fact that they wrote in my letter (see previous attachment) that no correspondance would be written in to a good enough reason for me to prehaps win my appeal next time. A 1,000 thanks Helen

The other thing is I work for the same council as the PCN is for. I work term time for a school so if the next stage involves going to court then I wouldn't be able to go unless it happened to fall in the school holidays. Off to take the kids to the pictures now so will have to make the decision as soon as I come back as I've got till 6pm to pay it. Once again, thank you to all those of you who have offered advice, sorry to be such a flapper. Just feel sick still about the fact that I got two tickets within a week for parking the same as I have always done, ie. what I considered to be legal. pcn_ltr0001.PDF

Think I best just pay it, can't afford the £35 never mind £70. Berni - I've pm'd you with the LA details. Thanks again.

I've got an email address for one of the manange's at the council, do you think I should email him today or wait for the NTO. I emailed him when my appeal was knocked back and he forwarded it on to someone but I never heard back. Also wondering if if though they have given me to today to pay they may not issue the NTO until after the bank holiday weekend, could this then alter my case as it would be after the 2nd of April. Thanks again. Foxie.

Thanks for replying folks. So today is d-day, not sure what to do for the best really, to pay the £35 or take a chance and risk having to pay £70. Oh what to do. My local council are in the process of changing previous free car parks in the area to pay & display. I've recently found out that the free car park behind the shops that I was visiting has changed to p & d. This explains why they have changed that road to resident only as they would most likely have people parking there instead of using that car park.

Sent an appeal in for a PCN which has been knocked back (I've posted a thread about it). However on my PCN it states at the top: Served on: 06/03/2010 further down it says: date of contravention: 06/03/2010 Does this make it illegal? After having my appeal knocked back I've got until today (31/03) to pay it or I have to wait for NTO and it will then be £70. So any advice gratefully received.

Just been reading through the threads and found this posted by someone An interesting issue is emerging within the Decriminalised Parking Enforcement system. This is the part of the Road Traffic Act 1991 which enables local councils to operate thier own parking regime. If you have been issued with a parking ticket and still have the original pcn (the ticket that gets attached to your windscreen), check the following points: 1. At the top of the ticket there must be the words "Date Of Issue", simply date or date of offence is not acceptable At the top of mine it says: served on: 06/03/2010 further down it has: date of contravention: 06/03/2010 Does this make it illegal? Thanks again

This happened to me. I sent them my valid ticket (keeping a photocopy for myself) & they accepted my appeal. However, if it happens again then I will be fined. Just wish our council like a lot of others would install a machine that issues tickets that you can stick to your windscreen...however, maybe it is not so much the cost of the machines that is an issue but the loss in revenue.

Got the ticket on the 06/03 at 15:33, the traffic warden said the rules changed about 6 weeks before & on the phone the lady at the council said they had changed at the end of January. In the letter they say 'At this stage we will not respond to any futher correspondence regarding this matter. Therefore if you disagree with this decision you should await the issue of a Notice to Owner document. At that stage you have the right to make a statutory challenge. I would advise you however that at Notice to Owner stage the cost to discharge the debt would revert to the original amount of £70.' I had been a bit unlucky in the fact that a week before this I got a ticket in a car park because my vaild ticket had been blown over by the wind. I won that appeal so feel this one has been knocked back because they see me as some bad parker but on both occasions I felt I had parked completely legally. I have raised with the council the fact that the car park should have those tickets that you can stick to your windscrean as they always blow over and sometimes when trying to manage kids out of car to a safe area it is not always easy to keep an eye on these things. Any advice will be gratefully received as I have to make a decsion by tomorrow to pay or wait for the notice to owner. Thank you Berni.

A few weeks back I parked in a place where I had parked on & off for over 10 years. What I hadn't realised is that the parking rules had changed about 6 weeks before. Used to be able to park for 30 mins, now it is resident only. Small ad was in local paper and there is a couple of signs about the new rules but they are far apart. Traffic warden advised me to appeal, said a few folks had & had won as they had changed the rules suddenly without much warning. Got a letter back though to say it stands and no more correspondence would be entered into. I had until 31st march to pay the £35 or I could hold off and appeal again, however if I lost the charge will now be £70. Have a got a leg to stand on? Or should I just pay?