Brighton and Hove Council parking rip-off
Discussion
On a recent visit to Brighton to visit littl'uns godmother I received a parking ticket for parking in a shared use bay illegally (non displaying a valid ticket) in Preston Park Road
Slightly miffed as I had gone into GM's flat to get a visitor pass but as I had just driven for 3.5hrs I nipped to the loo first. When I got to the car there was the ticket with an explanation that the car had been observed for 'six minutes' and I now had a £70 fine (reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days).
I took one photo of the ticket; the visitor pass and my watch with the date and time visible and appealed the fine - 4wks later BandHC have reviewed my appeal and my fine has been upheld; I should have remained in the vehicle while a visitor pass was obtained.
Thirty five quid for 6 minutes parking - now that's a bargain!!
Slightly miffed as I had gone into GM's flat to get a visitor pass but as I had just driven for 3.5hrs I nipped to the loo first. When I got to the car there was the ticket with an explanation that the car had been observed for 'six minutes' and I now had a £70 fine (reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days).
I took one photo of the ticket; the visitor pass and my watch with the date and time visible and appealed the fine - 4wks later BandHC have reviewed my appeal and my fine has been upheld; I should have remained in the vehicle while a visitor pass was obtained.
Thirty five quid for 6 minutes parking - now that's a bargain!!
If you were absent for six minutes, as alleged, your toilet break wasn't the most sensible thing to do. Leaving relief until your practically ****** in your pants is never going to end well. B&HC is one of the most anti-car LAs in the country but at least, unlike some, they have the decency to publish their observation time scale policy - http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/parking-an...
kers working for their money 
They'll automatically reject every appeal. Most local authorities, or their private contractors, do. It's just someone sitting in an office who has five minutes to process each work item sending out a standard rejection letter with very little thought for your explanation of the circumstances. When my mother bought a ticket and displayed it and the traffic warden was too blind/thick/short of his targets to see it and booked her she had every appeal to the council denied. She had to go all the way to a meeting in a hotel with an independent adjudicator to get it cancelled. And no, it wasn't a hotel bedroom sort of meeting...
skeggysteve said:
Ask them how you could have done that.
You don't have a mobile phone and are not a psychic.
How do they expect you to stay in the car and get the visitors pass?
Everybody has a mobile phone nowadays.You don't have a mobile phone and are not a psychic.
How do they expect you to stay in the car and get the visitors pass?
Ring them when you are 5 minutes away and ask them to meet you at the front gate/parking bay.
BTW don't take six minutes over a urination procedure.
I used to live on the outskirts of Brighton. As a ratepayer, most of the council's funding coming via visitors had a lot going for it.
The anti motorist stance from the council meant that it was a lot easier to drive through. Just don't stop. And neither did we.
I've since moved a few miles away and despite the city being nearby I don't go there more than half a dozen times a year, and part of the reason is the feeling you get that if you are in a car, then you are targeted.
The anti motorist stance from the council meant that it was a lot easier to drive through. Just don't stop. And neither did we.
I've since moved a few miles away and despite the city being nearby I don't go there more than half a dozen times a year, and part of the reason is the feeling you get that if you are in a car, then you are targeted.
The Mad Monk said:
skeggysteve said:
Ask them how you could have done that.
You don't have a mobile phone and are not a psychic.
How do they expect you to stay in the car and get the visitors pass?
Everybody has a mobile phone nowadays.You don't have a mobile phone and are not a psychic.
How do they expect you to stay in the car and get the visitors pass?
Ring them when you are 5 minutes away and ask them to meet you at the front gate/parking bay.
BTW don't take six minutes over a urination procedure.
You would hope the LA alow a certain time for people to collect a visitors pass, otherwise Its a bit like being fined while you're buying a parking ticket. The OP's mistake was to take a piss as well.
Edited by 98elise on Sunday 16th November 09:17
The Mad Monk said:
skeggysteve said:
Ask them how you could have done that.
You don't have a mobile phone and are not a psychic.
How do they expect you to stay in the car and get the visitors pass?
Everybody has a mobile phone nowadays.You don't have a mobile phone and are not a psychic.
How do they expect you to stay in the car and get the visitors pass?
Ring them when you are 5 minutes away and ask them to meet you at the front gate/parking bay.
BTW don't take six minutes over a urination procedure.
turbobloke said:
Vote Green, get Red, see red.
Brighton is infamous for council muppets who rip off motorists and are generally clueless.
On the contrary, B&H raises more revenue from parking than any other local authority outside of London bar Birmingham, last time the figures were published. So from the council's perspective & no doubt many beneficiaries of council services, they are very clued up indeed.Brighton is infamous for council muppets who rip off motorists and are generally clueless.
However, from the motorist's view point it's a highly punitive regime out of all proportion to the offences committed in many cases. I don't miss living there, but in some respects, the slashing of central grant funding means you can't blame them for looking for easy revenue targets & with parking they're no different from dozens of other authorities, if much more tenacious. Another view would be taxation without representation but I'll leave that one for the NP&E junkies.
Either way, we'll soon see the back of the Greens I shouldn't wonder.
EtcEtc said:
All of brighton is a rip off. The whole place is a rusty, overpriced bag of arse.
I loved the place when I policed it. One of the safest cities for police officers and for the public. A variation of locals. The place is made up of different areas, almost villages, and many locals spend their day in that area.There were shops/services there that had been in town for decades. There was one chap who run a barbers for over 40 years in the town and if you needed to know anything about a person in Kemp Town, he was the one to ask.
Ask him anything out of his area, perhaps north of Eastern Road or across the Steine and he'd be a blank. "Where's the pier?" He'd shake his head.
Best town to police as there was always something going on.
There was an assault over drugs on the seafront, bottom of West Street and I was interviewing witnesses whilst a bloke juggled with flaming torches not 10' from me. Nothing odd in that.
Derek Smith said:
I used to live on the outskirts of Brighton. As a ratepayer, most of the council's funding coming via visitors had a lot going for it.
The anti motorist stance from the council meant that it was a lot easier to drive through. Just don't stop. And neither did we.
I've since moved a few miles away and despite the city being nearby I don't go there more than half a dozen times a year, and part of the reason is the feeling you get that if you are in a car, then you are targeted.
You have to wonder what councils that do this sort of thing are thinking of.The anti motorist stance from the council meant that it was a lot easier to drive through. Just don't stop. And neither did we.
I've since moved a few miles away and despite the city being nearby I don't go there more than half a dozen times a year, and part of the reason is the feeling you get that if you are in a car, then you are targeted.
In Chester, the council started stationing a camera car at a well used drop-off point and ticketing people using it (for dropping off and picking up, not waiting). The local paper was inundated with letters from people saying they'd never come to Chester again.
As more and more appeals were upheld the council quietly dropped the scheme, but those wronged visitors have probably made up their minds never to come back. Meanwhile the city centre continues to slowly die.
Sheepshanks said:
You have to wonder what councils that do this sort of thing are thinking of.
In Chester, the council started stationing a camera car at a well used drop-off point and ticketing people using it (for dropping off and picking up, not waiting). The local paper was inundated with letters from people saying they'd never come to Chester again.
As more and more appeals were upheld the council quietly dropped the scheme, but those wronged visitors have probably made up their minds never to come back. Meanwhile the city centre continues to slowly die.
Chester, though, is lovely. I was up that way with my wife visiting friends and suggested going into town to see the shops. But, I was told, the parking charges were astronomical and the chap had had a few tickets over recent times so refused to go. So we went to see Lime House instead and had conversations about Pride and Prejudice. Chester's loss, and mine as well.In Chester, the council started stationing a camera car at a well used drop-off point and ticketing people using it (for dropping off and picking up, not waiting). The local paper was inundated with letters from people saying they'd never come to Chester again.
As more and more appeals were upheld the council quietly dropped the scheme, but those wronged visitors have probably made up their minds never to come back. Meanwhile the city centre continues to slowly die.
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