Reply to: Parking Ticket

[EZ-IT]

Similar thing happened to us in Chester the back end of last year. We were parked in a disabled carpark, but forgot to put the badge on display - yes, entirely our fault. When we came back we had a ticket. I wrote a grovelling letter to the council with a photocopy of the disabled badge, appealing to their better nature (being close to christmas !). Had a very nice letter back from them and the fine was quashed.

Same thing happened to me, the wind had blown the permit onto the floor as I got out of the car and I received a ticket. I contested the ticket (albeit I was expecting them to say I should have checked it was displayed before I walked away from the car...) and the ticket was cancelled.

I do think it depends on the mood of the decision maker on the day and the authorities in the area you received it. I agree, nothing ventured.... so go for it

[expat]

Its worth a shot. There is no penalty if you lose i think.

Why do you "think" that? Because it's no skin off your nose if you're wrong?

[foritisme]

Similar thing happened to us in Chester the back end of last year. We were parked in a disabled carpark, but forgot to put the badge on display - yes, entirely our fault. When we came back we had a ticket. I wrote a grovelling letter to the council with a photocopy of the disabled badge, appealing to their better nature (being close to christmas !). Had a very nice letter back from them and the fine was quashed.

[BoredBloke]

Not ironic, but not nasty either.
Tony has been quite open about his son and his disabilities. He is clearly a caring parent and has a lot of concern for his son.
I was surprised that he had left him alone in a car park in a car with its windows open.
There are any number of scrotes out there who would not think twice about nicking the car with a disabled lad in it. There are others who would do the child harm.

What happened was she went into the shop to return something and James decided he'd rather stay in the car and listen to the radio (he's 11 and a pretty big 11 at that - more like 13). She was only intending being in the shop a short while but the queue was big. As I said the windows were down as it was hot, but also pretty windy. We don't keep the badge in a book like many do, so the disabled badge is just a laminated bit of card. A gust of wind blew it from the dashboard. It could be seen on the car floor if they had bothered to look, or he could have asked the kid sat in the car, with the windows down if there was a disabled badge. The thing is, the guy will have looked into the car for to see that the badge was missing, written a ticket and all the while the big kid in the front seat was oblivious to his presence.

I'm the first person to complain about people using disabled spaces when they shouldn't, but there must be some sort of wiggle room when things like this happen. Neither of us use disabled places when unless we have James in the car AND have his badge.

[malvolio]

If your son is the disabled one, and the badge is for his benefit, and he stayed in the car, why did you park in such a way that the badge was needed?

Surely the disabled badge is there to make your son's life easier, not yours.




Just a track that any apeals board might take..............

WHS...

[The Lone Gunman]

Were you being ironic?

It's difficult to tell, as I get the impression that the average British parent treats a ten-year-old in a way that was deemed appropriate for a five-year-old when I was growing up.

Not ironic, but not nasty either.
Tony has been quite open about his son and his disabilities. He is clearly a caring parent and has a lot of concern for his son.
I was surprised that he had left him alone in a car park in a car with its windows open.
There are any number of scrotes out there who would not think twice about nicking the car with a disabled lad in it. There are others who would do the child harm.

[oracleslave]

Just don't do what I did and have a £50 fine become £200 because you forgot about it, then went on holiday, then decided to appeal, then lost.

[themistry]

Last month I was dropping off some items to Oxfam.

I parked on double yellows for 2 minutes, and in that time got a £70 ticket.

Talked to the parking officer (who had just started to write the ticket) and got a signed letter from the oxfam manager that I was only parked there for 2 minutes.

Wrote up a nice letter, sent it off and common sense prevailed.

I was shocked, but £70 better of.

TM

[IR35 Avoider]

What were you thinking? Leaving your disabled son in an unlocked car! Anything could have happened.

Were you being ironic?

It's difficult to tell, as I get the impression that the average British parent treats a ten-year-old in a way that was deemed appropriate for a five-year-old when I was growing up.

[Bagpuss]

How likely do you think our appeal would be? My wife has just had a parking ticket for not showing the disabled badge when visiting a shop. She left my son in the car and went into the shop. The windows of the car were down and due to strong winds, the badge blew onto the floor. The traffic warden then came along and placed a ticket on the car while my son, the badge holder was clearly sat in the car, was listening to the radio.

Pretty good chance, but don't tell them it wasn't on display. As a back up
leave it as long as possible before sending the appeal, and then in all likelihood the council won't be able to respond fast enough. I've won by them not responding fast enough before.

The appeals people tend to be a lot less draconian than the councils.

[blacjac]

If your son is the disabled one, and the badge is for his benefit, and he stayed in the car, why did you park in such a way that the badge was needed?

Surely the disabled badge is there to make your son's life easier, not yours.




Just a track that any apeals board might take..............

[BrilloPad]

You are not going to win that one I think.
It is your responsibility to make sure the badge is displayed.

What were you thinking? Leaving your disabled son in an unlocked car! Anything could have happened.

Well he **should** win if any sort of common sense was applied. It tends to be quite lacking these days.

[PRC1964]

You are not going to win that one I think.
It is your responsibility to make sure the badge is displayed.

What were you thinking? Leaving your disabled son in an unlocked car! Anything could have happened.

Eh? Tony doesn't say it was unlocked, just that the windows were open.

I don't know how old his son is, but I'd say that under 10, probably not great to have left him there, over 10 fine.

[The Lone Gunman]

You are not going to win that one I think.
It is your responsibility to make sure the badge is displayed.

What were you thinking? Leaving your disabled son in an unlocked car! Anything could have happened.

[NickFitz]

How likely do you think our appeal would be? My wife has just had a parking ticket for not showing the disabled badge when visiting a shop. She left my son in the car and went into the shop. The windows of the car were down and due to strong winds, the badge blew onto the floor. The traffic warden then came along and placed a ticket on the car while my son, the badge holder was clearly sat in the car, was listening to the radio.

Worth a try. Strictly speaking the regulations require that the badge be on display, which it wasn't at the actual time of ticketing, but if you explain the circumstances they may exercise discretion.

FWIW an acquaintance of mine who was a traffic warden reckoned that there was always a decent chance of getting a ticket revoked if you had a reasonable-sounding excuse, although this was when it was a police-run thing, rather than nowadays when it's whoever the local authority have outsourced it to.

The case on which he reckoned I should have appealed was when my car was parked on a single yellow near my home in the evening (all the non-restricted spaces were occupied by football fans) and, having been out on the town for a friend's birthday, I reckoned I wasn't yet sufficiently alcohol-free to move it at 7:30 in the morning when the restrictions started. If he thought that being drunk at breakfast time was a good enough excuse to have a ticket revoked, you should have a chance