Advice Required for Parking Ticket for a Scooter in Park Lane

[yasma]

Hi All,

 

I would appreciate some advise on the following scenario.

 

I had a meeting last friday behind park lane hilton hotel.

I was riding my scooter and I was looking for a scooter bay to park in. I was aware of the 4 scooter bays in the locality around the area. I rode round to fine a space and surprise surprise all were full especially as it is in congestion charge area and there are now so many scooter/motorbike riders.

I could not park in any parking bays as all are resident permits.

 

So after making a few rounds and getting close to my appointment I

found this spot where the payment was very wide and there was a phone box and a sand/ grit bin near each other against a big brick wall. So i wheeled the scooter between both so no one would be inconveniced at all as it was against a wall and between the back of a phone box and a sand/grit bin.

 

surprise surprise 30 mins later I had a ticket.

Do i have an argument for not being able to park because the facilities were not avaialable

 

regards Yasman

[pin1onu]

Do i have an argument for not being able to park because the facilities were not avaialable

 

regards Yasman

I don't think that would fly with either the council or an adjudicator.

 

However a PCN can be invalid for other reasons. Can you scan it, remove any identifying features such as the PCN number and your reg. number and post it up here. Our resident experts may be able to find something to give you something to appeal - the parking attendants sometimes get it wrong. If you can't scan it then type it up word for word.

[yasma]

hi,

i will try and get the details posted later today.

 

by the way even though the scooter was not the footpath but behind the footpat behind a phonebox and not blocking anybody can this not be a reason?

 

also do i have a complaint against council for not having ebough bay space to park scooter?

 

 

regards Yasin

[patdavies]

 

by the way even though the scooter was not the footpath but behind the footpat behind a phonebox and not blocking anybody can this not be a reason?

 

The footpath is a part of the highway, and any parking restrictions on the road apply equally to the footpath

 

also do i have a complaint against council for not having ebough bay space to park scooter?

 

How many spaces should they? Every scooter in England or just reserved parking for yours?

[yasma]

hi,

well i was riding around for a bit trying to find a space.

what would you do if my position and an important meeting to attend.

no where to park.??

I don't expect a space in a bay all the time but if you go round 4-5 bays in the area and all are full then the council should be aware that there is a problem with limited parking for scooters after all they want to encourage scooter riders instead of car drivers.

 

 

regards Yasman

[yasma]

ok here is the details of the ticket.

 

PCN No: WMXXXXX

Vehicle Registration No: LJXXXXXX

 

 

The vehicle was seen at location:

Hamilton Place [E1]

At 12:23 on 15/02/2008

 

Parking attendant WXXXX had reasonable cause to believe that the following contravention of the parking regulations had occurred:

Code 622 Parked with one or more wheels on any part of an urban road other than a carriageway - partly on footway

Therefore the penalty charge is payable

Date of Notice 15/02/2008

 

 

then the ticket continues with usual city of westminister blurb about amounts and reductions and payment methods.

 

 

two points I wanted to ask about

i) what does the [E1] mean is that the postcode? because I was in W1 not E1.

ii) is the code correct for what I had done with my scooter?

 

look forward to your replies

 

regards Yasman

[lookinforinfo]

Yasma, Councils try to ensure that there are more vehicles looking to park than parking spaces available for those vehicles since that is when they make the bulk of their money from parking.

They are hoping that people like yourself will park unlawfully when they cannot find an empty parking space. £120 please -ding ding-thankyou very much. If motorists parked correctly in the spaces provided and no driver

incurred a PCN, then the majority of Councils, if not all, would lose money on their parking system-which is not their object. They make money precisely because there are insufficient spaces. And making money is what they want

rather than any attempt to control traffic. Of course an additional bonus for them is

that with the necessary issuing of tickets, collection of fines etc that all

requires human beings to carry out the tasks thus helping to reduce unemployment in their borough.

[yasma]

hi,

i have to make a decision to pay or contest the ticket.

 

the point I raised in my earlier post in this thread is that the ticket says:

 

The vehicle was seen at location:

Hamilton Place [E1]

 

i assume E1 is the postcode on the ticket..is this correct?

 

because I was in W1 not E1.

E1 is a differerent brorough and W1 is the actual postcode of Hamilton Place.

I noticed that E is next to W on the keyboard so maybe the traffic warden made a mistake...do I have a case for contesting on grounds of i was not at the address stated on ticket?

 

please reply as I have till tommorow to either email them and make an appeal or pay before 14day limit is up

 

regards Yasman

[pin1onu]

Can you post up all the details on ticket. You probably have one aspect to contest with the E1/W1. However the wording and placement of the payment information etc is quite important. Its always better to have several points to appeal rather than just one.

 

Can you add the rest of the ticket.

[Tony P]

I dont think the E1 on the PCN is referring to a Postal areas.

I think E1 is a coded reference to the scooter's exact location within Hamilton Place or their zone in which is Hamilton Place. I have seen similar references before on Westminster's PCNs. None of them have had any relationship to the postal area.

Indeed I am looking at one now that has " ***** Road [C1]". Actually in NW8.

 

What I do wonder about is the part of your (and my) PCN that says "partly on footway"

This might be their standard machine print out that was intended for cars parking with some wheels on the pavement (footway) and some on the road.

Your scooter presumably had all its wheels in the same area of footway, not one on the footway and one elsewhere. Or did it have one in the air?

 

In my own case (which I will be Appealing for other reasons, but adding this point) the bike was on a side stand so all its wheels were in contact with the surface.

2 wheelers on a centre stand often have one wheel on the surface and the other in the air just above the surface. This again might be what the machine print out 'thinks' it is describing with the word "partly".