I recently parked in a council car park in Birmingham. There was only one space available, but it was too narrow to park in. However, there was a bit of extra space adjacent - not another parking space, just some 'left-over' land that was not used for any purpose and did not provide access to any doorways/rights of way/etc. I parked over my left-hand bay line (so the left wheels were in this extra space) to give me a reasonable amount of room to get out of the car and to give my 'neighbour' and easier time getting out. I subsequently received a PCN for parking outside the bay; I lodged an informal appeal, which was denied, and then I responded asking for clarification, given that the response didn't explicitly indicate all me appeal criteria had been taken into account. I've just received a second response - in short, 'yes they consider all the factors I included, but still see fit to enforce'.... not that they address my issues explicitly. Putting aside the 'no harm - no foul' argument (that I wasn't encroaching on any other bays or providing no nuisance to other drivers/pedestrians), I thought that I had put a reasonable technical case forward. My [hire] car was 1.82m wide and the bay was somewhat narrower - as far as I can tell, I think parking bays are required to be between 1.8 and 2.7m wide. Unfortunately, I haven't been back to the city since, so I haven't been able to measure the bay in question, but judging by the photographic evidence, it appears the bay is narrower than my 1.82m car. Assuming for the moment that this is the case, am I correct in thinking that the bay must be a minimum of 1.8m wide, and would this be grounds to challenge the PCN?

Hi, newbie to this forum and delighted to have come across it and to have seen that the advice is very consistent so think I know what the response to this will be. I got a 'ticket' having parked in my own parking bay (I own the flat) from a company called UCS for not displaying an up to date parking permit as issued by the management agency. Having previoulsy read up about these 'fines' I chose to ignore it and promptly placed an upto date permit in the car windscreen. 3 months later and I have now received a letter fromTNC parking - a debt solution agency who UCS presumably sell the 'ticket' to. They have sent me the obligatory reminder threatening legal action etc and I have thus far chosen to ignore both letters; they have now sent me a FINAL DEMAND PAYMENT saying that unless i pay them now they have no choice but to recommend that UCS begin legal action. From what I have read on here I have absolutely no doubt that they are just bluffing and will go away. However, I may have made a mistake in complaining by email to the management agency for the estate that they are basically contracting a bunch of cowboys with no legitimate prospect of enforcing payment and that they/should reconsider who they contract (as after all they should be acting in the residents best interests?) I received a rather cold response stating that the ticket is legally enforceable and that unless I pay TNC they can begin legal action. I responded stating that they hadnt understood my point but she then replied to that again stressing that I needed to contact TNC and that they could legally enforce the 'ticket' - she also forwarded the email correspondance to UCS who sent me a furtrher email 'confirming' that they could legallyenforce the charge amd that I needed to contact TNC immediately. Apart from being thoroughly agrieved that my management agency forwarded on correspondance to UCS that had nothing to do with them I'm starting to get a bit concerned now. For the sake of my own ease of mind could somebody just confirm that I just need to comtinue ignoring any mail and that they will eventually go away? Thanks,

I would value all opinions on this please. There is a disabled blue badge holder living directly opposite me in a cul de sac. He has always parked on my side of the street, and had applied for a disabled parking bay, but hadn't heard if it was successful. There are grass verges outside the houses opposite, many of which have been concreted over to make a hard standing to park on. The man concerned still has a grass verge, but no hard standing. I got home on Wednesday night, to find a huge disabled parking bay on his side of the road, directly opposite my parking space. My parking space is on the road, but there are no yellow lines or parking restrictions. If I park in my parking space, this blocks the road entirely, and you could only fit a bicycle (at a push) through the space in between. This would stop all traffic flow through the street and as it is a cul de sac there are no alternative routes. I am of course concerned about general traffic and congestion, but also about emergency vehicles and service vehicles (such as refuse collection) being able to get down the road. In order to make it accessible, they would need to prohibit parking in 4 to 6 spaces to allow vehicles to drive around the disabled parking bay, and parking is already tight. I am writing to the council and the fire service to complain. Can you think of any good points I should include in my letter? Thank you.

Hello. My girlfriend just got a parking ticket in a red loading bay. She was sitting in her car in the loading bay for no more than 1 minute while she checked directions to where she was going. Two parking wardens appeared from around the corner and took a photo of the car. They then approached the car and proceeded to issue a ticket. My girlfriend started to protest and ask why she was getting a ticket. They were very unhelpful then ridiculed her when she got upset. I was wondering what the laws on red loading bays are? Surely she should have been told she couldn't stop there before they issued her with a ticket? And they were very rude to her which obviously makes me very angry. Any help with this issue is greatly appreciated! Terry

In Mount Pleasant, St Albans, there is a parking bay with two spaces marked out with white lines but no accompanying sign at the roadside. This is similar to a number of other bays in the neighbourhood except that all the others do have accompanying signs showing restrictions eg Mon-Fri 10.30am-12.30pm and Mon-Sat 8am-8.30pm. There are no white lines linking separate bays. Each bay is marked out with white lines and has kerbing at the end of each bay to clearly define their extent. There is a sign on the other side of the road from the unsigned bay. This sign overlooks an old bay where the remains of white lines delineating previous parking bays have all but disappeared, with newer double yellow lines at the roadside. I am guessing that the local authority has simply omitted to move the sign showing the hours of restriction to the other side of the road when the newer bays were created. If I were to park in the unsigned bay, would I have a strong case if I were to receive a PCN?

The residents parking bays outside my house were suspended to enable tree surgery to go ahead. The suspension signs put up by the council made no mention of the council, had no contact number and no details of the appropriate legislation. There was nothing official about them. Anyone could have done them with Word and Clipart. Were they legal? Could they have been legally ignored? Residents had applied and paid for the suspension to allow work a trees but the council, we believe put up inadequate signs causing us to incur an extra days expense with the tree surgeons. I have since seen many clipart signs around the city.

Hi My car was parked in a disabled bay and received a ticket for ; Parked in a designated disabled person's parking place without displaying a valid person's badge in the prescribed manner. It was parked with the badge on display. Could someone please advise? It was issued by Tower Hamlets thanks

Good morning, I received a parking contravention today from Ealing borough of London. I don't remember what I bought that day but I usually buy groceries from the shop near the bay on my way home (which can be seen in the picture). I have been parked there on several occasions and this is the only ticket they sent, and a good clue is that I was only there for a short period of time. I have now read their rules on their website and it seems it is a 24 hour loading bay (which I didn't realise). I only go to the shop at night. Here is the link for the PSN image http://s10.postimage.org/ywkga3ap5/PCN.jpg I really don't know what to lay as an arguement. I would be grateful if you could advise me. I feel so robbed. A seperate point is that I got a ticket earlier this year from the opposite end of the road. Again I was parked for 5 minutes. I tried to argue that the goods I came for were not available hence my short stay and they denied the appeal. I parked at 6pm, so I thought my mistake was that I parked during the designated hours of 9-6:30pm. Since I have been shopping there for months with no issues, I honestly thought that the mistake was because it was inside the 6:30 time slot. I have however parked for a short period of time yet again and this time gotten a ticket. I appreciate your time and help. I thank you in advance. Safiyyah

Recently I parked in a loading bay with the intention of loading some items (heavier than 20kg) for my disabled mother unfortuntely when I went to the disabled shop after some discussion with the owner it turned out he had ordered the wrong items and I had to place a new order for the correct items. Therefore I had parked in the loading bay with the intention of loading but due to circumstances outside my control I was not able to load. I recieved a parking ticket. I made a representation re the the parking ticket on the grounds I was loading but did not say that I was unable to actually load because the goods were not available. The representaion has been rejected because they say the vehicle was observed for a ten minute period without loading. They further say that occupying A loading bay without loading constitutes a contravention. My question therefore is, Is it an offence to occupy a loading bay with the intention of loading but due to the goods not being available no actual loading takes place ? Should I appeal their decision ?

Hi, I recently received a PCN for "Parked in a parking place or area not designated for that class of vehicle" My vehicle is a VW campervan which is actually registered as a 'Delivery van' with a 'Camper' body. The evidence was based on CCTV images and no ticket was issued at the time. CCTV images show me getting out of the door, the vehicle is clearly too far from the kerb, images were shown over about 2 minutes. I stopped in the loading bay because of a noise from the back of the vehicle (where the engine is on these). I left the engine running and my son in the vehicle and had a look. I removed the cardboard box, got back in and drove off. Couldn't have taken more than 3 minutes. I appealed with the defence that I wasn't 'parked', I stopped because of an emergency and drove on as soon as I could. Here's my amateurish appeal: I agree that I did on 03/07/2012 stop temporarily in a the loading bay. I heard a noise coming from the back axle which was of some concern, it's an old classic vehicle. Istopped as soon as I safely could. I did not stop the engine and my son remained in the passenger seat. I checked underneath and removed a cardboard box that was trapped under my vehicle (hopefully your camera should have picked this up), disposed of it and carried on as soon as possible. I'm therefore requesting that as this was an emergency (thou' it did turn out not that dangerous) and that I only stopped momentarily and did not park in that I did not switch off the engine and only vacated the vehicle as described above, that you rescind the notice on the grounds that the alleged offence did not occur. Sincerely Havent had a reply yet. What do people think? Regards Steve

Hello! I've got a Notice To Owner and I came across this website which is awesome and I'm hoping you knowledgeable guys can give me some advice I've done a bit of research before this post but its all a bit confusing and so I need some help. Here are the details of the contravention: Date of contravention: 10/06/2012 Time of contravention: 14:46 Location: Little Newport Street [G1] - (Westminster, London) Contravention code: 12r Contravention description: Parked in a residents` or shared use parking place or zone without either clearly displaying a valid permit or voucher or pay and display ticket issued for that place, or without payment of the parking charge - residents` bay So the situation: I needed to pick up something from a friend and I couldn't find any free P&D bays and so I thought I would take the risk and park in a resident bay (looking back it was really stupid). I got my girlfirend to sit in the driver's seat as a decoy and I hurried to find my friend. 10 secs later the CEO comes and tells my girlfriend to move on. She calls me but only got through after a few attempts. 3mins later I am back. As I'm ready to drive off the CEO said 'You can either have the PCN or go' so I said 'Thanks! bye!' One month later no PCN received...YAY!.... but through the post comes a Notice To Owner on 14/07/12. >. Now I know I was 'in the wrong' but who likes fines? so what do you guys think? I have attached some photos for your reference. Do I not have to recieve a PCN through the post before I get the Notice To Owner? The CEO took a picture of a disable parking bay sign rather than the resident bay sign Therefore the photos taken by the CEO don't show any evidence that I was in a resident bay (although, if you knew the street well, from looking at shop fronts and lines, you could work out its a resident bay.) The CEO says 'you can either have the PCN or go' Point 2 seems my strongest arguement, do I have a case to challenge? And from the 'how to challenge' document that I attached, would I use the points: 'the traffic order which is alleged to have been contravened is invalid' 'there has been procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority' and 'a CEO was not prevented from serving the original PCN'' Also, just out of interest, can a CEO take pictures and then put in details into his machine after you have driven off? Thank you very much for your advice! Ken

Hi guys, Picked up a PCN 232 yesterday in Westminster (St Johns Wood) for "parking in a place or area not designated for that class of vehicle - goods vehicle loading bays". This space, outside a Tesco Express, is, like most others in the area, a pay by phone between 8.30am and 6.30pm. I was parked there at about 7pm to pick up a couple of bits from Tesco. Came out and had been given a PCN - asked the guy what he was doing as it was past 6.30pm. He then told me that it becomes a goods vehicle loading pay from 6.30pm until 8.30am. This was a surprise. Bay marking: You can see from the pics below that there are no markings on the road saying "LOADING ONLY" along the side of the bay. (contravention of direction 24, which states that a 660.4 sign should be accompanied by wording as in illustration 1028.3 or 1032 TSRGD 2002, surely?). Signage: When you step out onto the pavement you see at eye level (from the pavement looking out to the road, and there is one on the road side of the post) a sign about how payment can be made by phone between 8.30 to 6.30. Nothing at eye level about this being a loading bay. When looking from the road to pavement, there is (as was pointed out to me by the CEO) a sign quite high up which details the pay by phone parking hours and, even higher above that, the sign that this is a goods loading bay between certain times. There was a lorry parked behind me at the time I took the photo of this, so I couldn't step back into the road any further to get a better view of the sign, but it's not at all easy to see. I tried to take a photo from across the road but you couldn't see the sign as the lorry was blocking it (sign isn't that high up. But given lack of writing alongside the bay, this seems too difficult to tell what type of bay it is! Any thoughts here as to the challenge? I think the lack of bay marking one is useful, but technically it's not "LOADING ONLY" all the time - does this make a difference? That's my only concern. The signage on the post is very unclear, but there isn't much in the statute about how high a sign must be displayed etc... Thanks all in advance. PICS:

How would one fight a tfl parking fine issued for parking in a loading bay. There was another topic on this but thought that each situation is different: This situation: TFL warden was in the process of writing out ticket but the person drove off before this could be issued. They sent a ticket through the post but the information on it was incorrect ie vehicle was in bay for less than 5 minutes (min observation i believe) and when ticket was sent through the post they only included the start of the observation and not the end time. I believe the PCN should be correctly filled in. It was only on first appeal that they then wrote a end time in. There appears to be no evidence other than the word of the warden against the the word of the driver than any contravention occurred. Does TFL have a case, and is the incorrect filling out of the PCN important in defence. I always thought if they had photographic evidence they would send this out to the motorist. This was asked for but has not materialised. Would they not just send this to the driver in the first place to make their case, rather than holding it back if they did. Thanks for any advice

Hi, Yesterday I received a PCN for parking in Northumberland Avenue from Westminister council with intervention code 21U for 'parked wholly or partly in a suspended bay or space- mobile phone parking" Like you did I called parking helpline they advised first 5 bays are suspended and I parked on 6th one. When I reached location I saw officer already stamped ticket and took photos. He said 5 bays suspended and he did not agree to me that I parked on 6th. Bay parking is free here monday-friday after 18.30 and my PCN issued at 20.20. Now is there any grounds where I can appeal? I have photos taken showing location of car parked. Could you please help me with a template guidance for appeal ? Many thanks.

Dear All I was absolutely amazed to receive a notice to owner by post few days ago. I stopped on residents bay to make a phone call (no other places to stop). A minute or so later a parking warden jumps out of nowhere, photographs car from the front, quickly jumps and photographs my tax disk. I was astonished and lost for words! I knew if i come out I would make trouble (I cant keep calm with them) so I just drove off on the assumption that he is just playing games and just wanted to make a scene. I also remembered that in any case he has to put a ticket on the car- apparently not any more. Could you please let me know if it is permitted to stop on a resident bay for short period of time to make a phone call or something? what would be my course of action - I am definitely contesting it - since I never had original ticket I have to pay full penalty now anyhow help