Council Bankrupt/****ing money up a tree - Parking Ticket

Council Bankrupt/****ing money up a tree - Parking Ticket

Author
Discussion

Ares

Original Poster:

11,000 posts

119 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
I got a parking ticket last year. Filled in, issued, stuck to windscreen and 'yellow-striped-parking-vulture' scarpered all within 1 minute of the expiration time.

Now this was £50 (£25 if paid in 14 days). I could have just paid, but it got my goat...the warden had clearly filled the ticket in ahead of time (or had dicky/fiddled with equipment).


I contested the ticket. It was rejected.

I asked for proof of calibration. They refused.

I appealed. It was rejected.

I contacted the (left-leaning) Council CEO who confirmed the ticket stood, as they only have to give THREE minutes grace.

I pointed out they gave out one. They ignored me.

They sent me an NTO threatening legal action. I asked to be referred to the courts.

I got a tribunal notification. I asked for the case to be heard with all parties present (tribunal fortuitously happens to be less than a mile from my house).

They accepted.

I was asked for my 'case' - I sent one photograph and a 250 word/half page letter detail the facts.



......I then got the council's defence. A 127 page dossier, duplicated, detailing every possible map/street plan/picture/etc (but no calibration proof). The postage alone came to over £12.


All this in a case than is indefensible for them, given the three minutes/one minute admission.


The same council is claiming financial difficulties and blaming 'government cuts'.... I suspect something else may be wasting money. Thank got it's not my council.


Rant Over....


The Mad Monk

10,474 posts

116 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Did you overstay your time, or not?

Issi

1,782 posts

149 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
If he was, I bet you a pound that he was 'ONLY' a couple of minutes late.

Motorrad

6,811 posts

186 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Good luck getting justice.


I spent over 200 euros not including my loss of earnings fighting a 90 euro parking ticket (which wasn't me as I was in LA and nobody else has access to the car). I ended up appealing several times before going to court and having the judge throw the case out.

It's not the charge which is just so much chump change, it's the injustice.


xRIEx

8,180 posts

147 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Ares said:
......I then got the council's defence. A 127 page dossier, duplicated, detailing every possible map/street plan/picture/etc (but no calibration proof). The postage alone came to over £12.
Pay them £25, it sounds almost worth it for getting them to do all that crap hehe

budfox

1,510 posts

128 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
xRIEx said:
Pay them £25, it sounds almost worth it for getting them to do all that crap hehe
I think it's fifty quid now.

The Mad Monk

10,474 posts

116 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Motorrad said:
Good luck getting justice.


I spent over 200 euros not including my loss of earnings fighting a 90 euro parking ticket (which wasn't me as I was in LA and nobody else has access to the car). I ended up appealing several times before going to court and having the judge throw the case out.

It's not the charge which is just so much chump change, it's the injustice.
The two cases are not comparable.

Pothole

34,367 posts

281 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Ares said:
I got a parking ticket last year. Filled in, issued, stuck to windscreen and 'yellow-striped-parking-vulture' scarpered all within 1 minute of the expiration time.

Now this was £50 (£25 if paid in 14 days). I could have just paid, but it got my goat...the warden had clearly filled the ticket in ahead of time (or had dicky/fiddled with equipment).


I contested the ticket. It was rejected.

I asked for proof of calibration. They refused.

I appealed. It was rejected.

I contacted the (left-leaning) Council CEO who confirmed the ticket stood, as they only have to give THREE minutes grace.

I pointed out they gave out one. They ignored me.

They sent me an NTO threatening legal action. I asked to be referred to the courts.

I got a tribunal notification. I asked for the case to be heard with all parties present (tribunal fortuitously happens to be less than a mile from my house).

They accepted.

I was asked for my 'case' - I sent one photograph and a 250 word/half page letter detail the facts.



......I then got the council's defence. A 127 page dossier, duplicated, detailing every possible map/street plan/picture/etc (but no calibration proof). The postage alone came to over £12.


All this in a case than is indefensible for them, given the three minutes/one minute admission.


The same council is claiming financial difficulties and blaming 'government cuts'.... I suspect something else may be wasting money. Thank got it's not my council.


Rant Over....
Why are you wasting every other council tax payer's money? Pay the ticket you thief!

Burwood

18,709 posts

245 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
budfox said:
xRIEx said:
Pay them £25, it sounds almost worth it for getting them to do all that crap hehe
I think it's fifty quid now.
Plus costs

ZOLLAR

19,908 posts

172 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Ares said:
I got a parking ticket last year. Filled in, issued, stuck to windscreen and 'yellow-striped-parking-vulture' scarpered all within 1 minute of the expiration time.

Now this was £50 (£25 if paid in 14 days). I could have just paid, but it got my goat...the warden had clearly filled the ticket in ahead of time (or had dicky/fiddled with equipment).


I contested the ticket. It was rejected.

I asked for proof of calibration. They refused.

I appealed. It was rejected.

I contacted the (left-leaning) Council CEO who confirmed the ticket stood, as they only have to give THREE minutes grace.

I pointed out they gave out one. They ignored me.

They sent me an NTO threatening legal action. I asked to be referred to the courts.

I got a tribunal notification. I asked for the case to be heard with all parties present (tribunal fortuitously happens to be less than a mile from my house).

They accepted.

I was asked for my 'case' - I sent one photograph and a 250 word/half page letter detail the facts.



......I then got the council's defence. A 127 page dossier, duplicated, detailing every possible map/street plan/picture/etc (but no calibration proof). The postage alone came to over £12.


All this in a case than is indefensible for them, given the three minutes/one minute admission.


The same council is claiming financial difficulties and blaming 'government cuts'.... I suspect something else may be wasting money. Thank got it's not my council.


Rant Over....

Zod

35,295 posts

257 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Issi said:
If he was, I bet you a pound that he was 'ONLY' a couple of minutes late.
Wow the tosser brigade are out responding to this one! He states that he was one minute late.

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
The Mad Monk said:
Did you overstay your time, or not?
sounds like it but not his fault...

Issi

1,782 posts

149 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Zod said:
Issi said:
If he was, I bet you a pound that he was 'ONLY' a couple of minutes late.
Wow the tosser brigade are out responding to this one! He states that he was one minute late.
You know when you get a library book out and it states 'To be returned by the 20th'. Do you think it means return by the 20th or round about the 20th?

You know when the sign states 'parking limited for 1hr only'? Do you think it means 1hr only or 1hr and a few minutes?

Ian Geary

4,462 posts

191 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Penalty charges are obviously emotive, and should be contested if wrong.

You obviously know the details better than anyone on here, and given you've chosen to contest I hope you get the result you want.

I can assure you though that Councils are facing pretty large reductions in spending, and have been near the top of the list of government spending to be cut (and deliver cuts incidentally).

That doesn't mean councils still won't screw things up. And more reliance on income from charges and penalties is an inevitable outcome of cuts.

I do struggle though to see the link between funding reductions and your ticket. Councils were screwing up parking tickets back in the days when Labour's magic money tree was increasing council funding, so its not a direct cause.

Also, poor administration can be challenged via ombudsman, and the more that marginal tickets are overturned on appeal, the more councils "should" do to improve quality of ticketing.

I say should, because eventually the cost will outweigh the benefit, but only if people do it.

Ian
(Accountancy Manager at a council)

Zyp

14,673 posts

188 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
I think the OP's point is that there's a 3 minute grace period but the PCN was timed just 1 minute after expiry.

I think some of you are being a little harsh on him.

Zod

35,295 posts

257 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Issi said:
Zod said:
Issi said:
If he was, I bet you a pound that he was 'ONLY' a couple of minutes late.
Wow the tosser brigade are out responding to this one! He states that he was one minute late.
You know when you get a library book out and it states 'To be returned by the 20th'. Do you think it means return by the 20th or round about the 20th?

You know when the sign states 'parking limited for 1hr only'? Do you think it means 1hr only or 1hr and a few minutes?
So you've never found yourself running back to the car when your hour's parking is about to expire? He was one minute late!

anonymous-user

53 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Yep, I've found myself doing that.

I've been ticketed in that situation too.

I thought "bks, fair enough though, I'm the one who went over the time limit" and paid it.

Clearly I should have pissed many hours of my time and other people's time up the wall because it's so unfair. I wish I wasn't so weak.

johnfm

13,668 posts

249 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
fk there are some thick people on PH these days.

He stated pretty clearly the ticket was issued 1 minute after a certain time and the council operate a 3 minute grace period.

Why, I wonder, do they do that??

Do you think the parking inspectors' watches and ticket machines are synchronised?

OP

The council members are (only just) as fking useless as many of the PHers on this thread.

Good luck with the issue.

williamp

19,213 posts

272 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
One minute over?? That could easily be because his watch isn't 100% right. That's why they make allowances. So in this case, he is right to challenge.

Sheepshanks

32,522 posts

118 months

Monday 30th March 2015
quotequote all
Issi said:
Zod said:
Issi said:
If he was, I bet you a pound that he was 'ONLY' a couple of minutes late.
Wow the tosser brigade are out responding to this one! He states that he was one minute late.
You know when you get a library book out and it states 'To be returned by the 20th'. Do you think it means return by the 20th or round about the 20th?

You know when the sign states 'parking limited for 1hr only'? Do you think it means 1hr only or 1hr and a few minutes?
Weird....that doesn't look like "Oops, sorry OP, I missed the bits where you said you were within a minute of the time and the council said they allowed three."