Parking Officer lied

[saintjames]

Never thought this would happen. I know these guys try it on, but lying seems to be going to far.

 

I received a ticket for parking in a residents bay on a Sunday in a CPZ controlled Monday to Saturday. It seems that there used to be an additional plate below the bay plate stating "AT ANY TIME". However, this additional plate has disappeared thereby giving the impression that the main CPZ restrictions apply to the bay. Not a big deal, signs fall off etc and mistakes are made. Should be easy to clear up the misunderstanding, so I appealed online thinking it was a obvious no-brainer.

 

Surprisingly I got a letter back rejecting the appeal which refered to the enorcement officers notes

These notes also indicate that at the time your vehicle was parked under a time plates stating; CA-C Residents permits holders only "AT ANY TIME" A blatent LIE! He even took pictures which were posted to me as evidence of his own lie. Unbelievable.

 

I have complained and I am awaiting a 24 hours call back from a supervisor, who I expect will now cancel the charge. However, my question is this: Is it a criminal offence for a traffic warden to misrepresent in this manner and am I entitled to seek damages/compensation etc? I had to pay a congestion charge and waste half a day going back to Central london on the Monday to check I had not made a mistake and take pictures etc. Can I potentially go to the Police with this?

[green_and_mean]

'At any time' is not permitted on a permit sign, if the sign is in fact at any time then it would just say 'permit holders only' if it were CPZ hours it would state the time of the CPZ on it. So unless it has the actual time on it the CEO is correct the time plate does state permit holders at any time.

[Michael Browne]

'At any time' is not permitted on a permit sign, if the sign is in fact at any time then it would just say 'permit holders only' if it were CPZ hours it would state the time of the CPZ on it. So unless it has the actual time on it the CEO is correct the time plate does state permit holders at any time.

G&M, I'm confused (doesn't take much). Are you saying that if a resident's bay sign says ' Resident's Permit Holders Only' that that means non-permit holders cannot park there at any time, regardless of the CPZ times? And that non-permit holders can only park outside the CPZ times if the resident's bay sign also includes the CPZ times?

[green_and_mean]

G&M, I'm confused (doesn't take much). Are you saying that if a resident's bay sign says ' Resident's Permit Holders Only' that that means non-permit holders cannot park there at any time, regardless of the CPZ times? And that non-permit holders can only park outside the CPZ times if the resident's bay sign also includes the CPZ times?

 

Indeed, all signs are 'anytime' unless signed to the contary. CPZ signs only apply to markings without their own signs.

[Michael Browne]

The raeson I queried it is that I live in a CPZ where signs say 'Resident's Permit Holders Only', yet non-permit holders park there outside the CPZ times without ever getting a ticket (admittedly CEO's will rarely visit then anyway) , but residents are certainly under the impression that their visitors don't need a Visitor Permit outside the CPZ times. It doesn't make sense that they can park on the SYL but not in a bay outside the CPZ times

 

The council's guide says:

 

The times of controls are Mon-Sat 8am -6.30pm. Outside these times the parking scheme is not in operation.

[green_and_mean]

The raeson I queried it is that I live in a CPZ where signs say 'Resident's Permit Holders Only', yet non-permit holders park there outside the CPZ times without ever getting a ticket (admittedly CEO's will rarely visit then anyway) , but residents are certainly under the impression that their visitors don't need a Visitor Permit outside the CPZ times. It doesn't make sense that they can park on the SYL but not in a bay outside the CPZ times

 

The council's guide says:

 

Lots of Councils made this error when signing CPZs but it is valid grounds for appeal. Some adjudicators will see it as 'oversigning' in that if it says what is in effect 'anytime' then you had no reason to think otherwise but some will see it as invalid as it doesn't reflect the traffic order.