PCN Question - don't the existance of telephone payments mean many PCNs are void?

[Flossie112]

I wonder if anyone can advise. I parked in Cheam Library Carpark with my disabled daughter. I am often confused about when to just leave her blue badge and when to use the clock, and I know that they are really hot on parking tickets there (Sutton) so left both. Unfortunately, due to the slope of my dashboard, the clock covered part of the badge including the date so they left me a PCN.

 

I wrote explaining what had happened and providing all details of the Blue Badge which is, of course, still valid. This was rejected saying "it was parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket of [sic] voucher or parking clock".

 

BUT yesterday I was back there and I paid via the telephone. I therefore left the car WITHOUT any ticket, voucher or clock but did not get a ticket.

 

My question is: doesn't this throw into question the validity of the whole "you need to display your ticket clearly and correctly" argument?

 

If you pay by telephone, you have no ticket but are covered because they can contact the telephone payment office and verify that you have paid.

 

So surely, then, the same argument should apply if my ticket or badge is obscured. I have paid for the period in question (or I am legally entitled to park in the space without payment). You could not see the ticket or badge clearly so issued a PCN. Unlike the telephone payment, the warden obviously has no immediate access to the information that we have paid but if we provide it afterwards then surely the PCN shouldn't stand.

 

If the reason for the PCN is explicitly "no valid ticket was clearly displayed" then there should be NO circumstances in which you can park without displaying a ticket and not be liable for a PCN. The fact that you can, by paying by phone, means that they have accepted that you can park WITHOUT DISPLAYING your ticket as long as you have made the appropriate payment arrangements - either by paying by telephone or by buying a ticket or having a Blue Badge. The fact that the ticket or badge is not clearly displayed becomes irrelevant.

 

Do I have any grounds here?

 

Advice would be greatly appreciated.

[dx100uk]

council or private ticket

does it say [EXACTLY & ONLY]

 

PENALTY CHARGE NOTICE

 

dx

[Flossie112]

It has the Sutton logo and says PENALTY CHARGE NOTICE then underneath "under the Traffic Management Act 2004...." i.e. don't remove it. In the letter it is just referred to as Penalty Charge Notice. It is a council library so not private.

 

Thanks

[Zamzara]

Ultimately it depends on what the parking places order or traffic order says – and whether the necessary information from it is brought to the motorist's attention. However it would be very optimistic to hope that non-display is not a contravention of the order.

 

It may be worth posting the PCN and the council's response as there could be other problems with them.

[green_and_mean]

The contravention should be '73 parked without payment of the parking charge' but they will probably argue that if you pay by phone there is no requirement to display in the same way as using a blue badge does it is an exemption to the regulations. The Traffic order would be worth reading it may not have been updated to take into account the new phone payment correctly.