Appeal Your Parking Ticket - Read This Before You Pay That Fine!

by Vinod Gorasia

Local councils are now responsible for issuing car parking tickets. And they use these as a way to claw in extra revenue. Enough’s enough! If you’ve got a ticket, know how to avoid paying it... legally. Be persistent and go to appeal...

1. Let’s assume you get a PCN (Penalty Charge Notice). You have a straight choice. You can pay it or challenge it. If you’re in the wrong, pay it quickly, you’ll normally receive a 50% discount for paying within 14 days. However, PCNs are often issued when no contravention has occurred or where restrictions are unclear or ambiguous.

You should challenge if (a) the parking contravention didn’t take place (b) the information on the PCN is wrong or incomplete, or (c) there were exceptional circumstances or compelling reasons for parking there.

Whether you intend to pay or challenge, respond promptly, either to claim the discount or to collect evidence for your challenge. If the road sign was missing, take photographs of where you parked.

2. Challenge successfully if you can see the council is at fault. Check the council has complied with their own parking regulations.

The most common cause of a successful challenge is that the council is at fault. Council must use signs and road markings to inform motorists about the local regulations. A common loophole is where the council has not done this properly. A regulation without a proper sign may not be enforced.

As well as complying with the regulations, signs must also be in reasonable position and condition so that motorists can see them. Signage is standardised throughout England and Wales.

Details of all signs, road markings and their permitted variants are set out in Know Your Traffic Signs published by the Department for Transport.

3. Spot other council blunders you can use in your defence... Was the parking space correctly marked? This is the number one blunder by many councils especially for a length of parking space which is not divided into individual bays. Often, they are marked with double marks instead of single which makes the bay unlawful. There must also be an upright plate showing the times of operation of the bays. If the bay is not correctly marked or there are signs missing, appeal on those points.

Were you loading or unloading? You can load and unload on yellow lines unless there are kerb blips (small yellow marks on the kerb which indicate loading prohibition).A civil enforcement officer must 'observe' for two to five minutes to check loading is taking place. An 'instant' ticket can be appealed successfully.

Were you ticketed on a single yellow line? The restriction must normally be accompanied by an upright yellow plate showing the times of the restriction otherwise it isn't signed correctly.

4. Identify errors made by the civil enforcement office which can get your ticket ripped up. The PCN information must be correct. If your car registration number is noted down incorrectly you need do-nothing further.

If they get the make or model or colour or location wrong, you can often appeal successfully. The PCN must also tell you how to appeal. You contact the local council, state your case and include copies of any evidence such as a delivery note if you were unloading goods for delivery. Retain the originals in case it goes further. If the council rejects your challenge, it will send you a notice of rejection explaining why along with an appeal form which you can use to appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal within 28 days. There is no charge for this appeal and you can ask for a personal hearing, a telephone hearing or a postal hearing.

5. Want to appeal? It’s free and 60% of appeals are successful! The council will generally turn down your appeal as a matter of routine - they want you to pay up and put more money in the council coffers. But the odds of a successful appeal are in your favour by going to tribunal. The tribunal will expect the council to have got everything right; otherwise, they should strike out the ticket fine. Councils make errors in compiling their evidence. Often the Traffic Management Orders are missing or inaccurate.

Get More Advice: Don't be afraid of appealing - you can win! Go to www.parkingappeals.co.uk which provides plenty of up-to-date news of successful cases as well as advice and tips and easy-to use guides for you.