February 22, 2008

How often have you popped into a shop only to find a parking ticket stuck under your windscreen wiper when you get back? Nowadays with parking zones dotted around many towns and cities you have to double check what the restrictions are almost every time you park anywhere and you may well be asking the friend you’re visiting if they can spare a voucher to put in your window.

Deregulation in the mid nineties has let to many private companies taking over the enforcement of parking regulations and effectively creating an incentive for attendants to issue tickets. Councils have been accused of using parking tickets as a stealth tax and some are reporting huge increases of revenue.

Tickets are issued with a half price if you pay within 14 days clause to encourage people to settle up quickly and not make a fuss, but the government is under pressure from motoring groups and the public alike to review the system. Many people feel that parking restrictions are no longer set to make the roads safer and traffic flow better but in effect used to raise money from the already beleaguered motorist through fines.

Most people opt for the ease of paying the half price up front option, probably £50 in order to make their life easier, albeit more expensive. The notion of having broken the law is something that upsets many people and they’re keen to put this right as quickly as possible. However many tickets issued may well be invalid and if everyone challenged each parking ticket issued the backlog in the system would force the authorities to reconsider issuing so many tickets, certainly issuing them so frivolously.

There are many companies that you can access on-line that offer advice on how to win appeals and they often offer letter templates that you can use to challenge your tickets. The charge for this service but it’s always less than the cost of the ticket. If you’re not keen to pay there is plenty of information about parking restrictions and challenges available on line but it is likely to be more time consuming to do so.

Always make sure of the following

Are the car details correct; make and colour?
Is the registration number correct?
As the road name correct?
Are the time and date on the ticket correct?

It is worth checking how well signposted the parking restrictions were and supplying photographic evidence where you can.

With so many tickets now being issued to delivery companies many employ legal experts to challenge most of their tickets, and they get many of them quashed. The general public don’t tend to do this is in part because of a lack of legal knowledge and in part because they feel intimidated. Make sure you scrutinize your parking ticket before you pay it. make sure the registration on the notice is correct and all of the details are too. Check how well signposted the street was and how obvious that you were contravening the rules
As an example of grounds that you could use to argue the lack of validity of a ticket the following legislation came into force last summer and should leave a lot of London tickets worth challenging in court.

Note to drivers in London.

London drivers should note that as of 1st July 2007 all London Boroughs adopted a system of 'differential parking penalties'. the following information is taken from the London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames website:-

From 1st July 2007 all London Boroughs adopted a system of 'differential parking penalties'. From this date the charge made for parking contraventions depends on the severity of the contravention with 'more serious' contraventions charged at a higher level than 'less serious' contraventions.

Contraventions 12, 15 and 19
From 1st July 2007 contravention code 15 'Parked in a residents' parking space without clearly displaying a valid residents' parking permit' ceased to be used in London and has instead be replaced with the less serious contravention 19 'Parked in a residents' or shared use parking place displaying an invalid permit, an invalid voucher or an invalid pay and display ticket' and the more serious contravention 12 'Parked in a residents' or shared use parking place without clearly displaying either a permit or voucher or pay and display ticket issued for that place'.

The Mayor of London has stipulated that to prevent visitors to residents within London being unfairly penalised that penalty charge notices issued for a code 12 contravention will be accompanied with the following guidance.

Were you visiting a resident?
This penalty charge notice (PCN) has been issued because the vehicle was parked in this parking place without displaying any form of permit, voucher or ticket that allowed it to be parked here.

You should therefore read and follow the instructions on the PCN about paying or challenging the issue of the notice.

However if you were parked here in order to visit a resident and can provide evidence of that then the Council may accept payment at a lower charge rate.

If the amount shown on the PCN is £120 (or £60 if paid within the 14 day period) then you would only need to pay £80 (or £40 if paid within the 14 day period).

OR

If the amount shown on the PCN is £100 (or £50 if paid within the 14 day period) then you would only need to pay £60 (or £30 if paid within the 14 day period).

Proof that you were visiting a resident should be in the form of a visitors' parking permit or voucher which was valid on the date of contravention given on the PCN.

Please remember that if you want to challenge the issue of the PCN, you should not send payment at this time, but follow the instructions on the Notice.

Under the road traffic act of 1991 it states that a Penalty Charge Notice must state:-

(a) the grounds on which the parking attendant believes that a penalty charge is payable with respect to the vehicle;
(b) the amount of the penalty charge which is payable;
(c) that the penalty charge must be paid before the end of the period of 28 days beginning with the date of the notice;
(d) that if the penalty charge is paid before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the notice, the amount of the penalty charge will be reduced by the specified proportion;
(e) that, if the penalty charge is not paid before the end of the 28 day period, a notice to owner may be served by the London authority on the person appearing to them to be the owner of the vehicle;
(f) the address to which payment of the penalty charge must be sent.

Therefore if your Penalty Charge notice doesn’t conform to all of the above it has not been issued correctly and the charge shouldn’t stand so if you have not been given the option of a lower payment the charge then the ticket has not presented you with all of the available options and will probably not be valid if taken to court.

Leave a comment

Type into the box below