City of London - parking a plated truck partially in a suspended bay

[dacouc]

I have received a Parking Ticket from City of London for parking a plated truck partially in a suspended bay (one of five suspended) whilst loading.

 

The only indications the bays were suspended were a parking meter further up the road with a cover on it and the dual purpose pay and display signs C.O.L use which fold down to say the bay is suspended.

 

 

 

 

I visited the same location the following week at the same time and the covered meter was totally obscured by builders from the building site for whom the suspension was for (I have a photo of this).

 

I appealed on the basis of De Minimis as I was only partially parked in one of the suspended bays and it had no affect on the builders as they had suspended the bays prior to them needing them as they were going to fence the bays off a few days later when they would start receiving deliveries.

 

The informal appeal was declined.

 

I'm looking to make a formal appeal and I believe I can use the fact that the authority did not properly take my appeal into account as one of the basis of my appeal.

 

Could anyone confirm the best terminology to use for this?

 

I'm also looking to appeal as the Dft Signs manual states the cover for the parking meter must only contain the words "No Waiting" it specifically states it must not state "No Parking" and "No Loading" which as you can see the meter cover contains the prohibited wording. In addition the word "No" exceeds by a long way the maximum letter size as given in the Signs Manual.

 

I've noticed that the suspension signs are not on the DfT approved suspension sign list http://www.dft.gov.uk/traffic-auths/?search=parking+suspension It's not amazingly clear from the Signs Manual whether or not the suspension signs are required in addition to the meter cover in the signs manual. Could anyone confirm whether this is the case?

 

Campbell V Camden mentions that a Pay & Display bay can be suspended with a meter cover with no signs, the meter & cover were around 5 meters away from where I parked. The case also mentions the addition words "No Parking" & "No unloading" and that the TMO requires a compliant sign to be displayed

 

This is the TMO https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/transport-and-streets/parking/traffic-reports/Documents/TMO-Parking-Places.pdf

 

I have other photos eg of where the truck was parked if these help.

 

Any advice would be appreciated.