Penn's Blog
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Invalid Parking Fine or Not?
A couple of weeks ago me and a friend went fishing at Brixham breakwater. A little later on in the day when the guys were here at the radio club, Derek noticed something at the bottom of my windscreen. It turned out to be a parking fine that I had received for apparently "parking in a pay and display car park and not displaying a valid parking ticket" I thought this rather strange since I have a parking permit that entitles me to park free of charge without having to purchase a parking ticket in all of Torbay's car parks, Brixham breakwater car park is a Torbay run car park. Anyway, I got straight on to the council's website and sent in an appeal against the parking fine. I received a letter from the council parking department informing me that in order for my appeal to the considered, I had to send in a copy of my blue badge. I really wasn't sure why they wanted to see my blue badge so I sent an e-mail complaining that the traffic warden had obviously made a mistake and had not seen my parking permit which is clearly visible on my windscreen. He then wrote back to me informing me that my parking permit is not valid because my blue badge was not being displayed properly. Absolutely ridiculous, I use the car parks on a regular basis, I have seen traffic wardens inspecting my permit and badge, this has never happened before.Now I've done some checking on the Internet and I'm sure I'm right in saying that the traffic warden should have clearly stated why he was administering a parking fine and not just stated that I was not displaying a valid parking ticket, when in fact there is a valid parking permit displayed clearly on my windscreen.
I am extremely angry, in fact I'm bloody well fuming about this. This is just a typical case of a council trying to pull a fast one and extort money out of someone who is doing nothing wrong. I always display my blue badge in my van, I have never received a parking fine in all my years of driving. These people have absolutely no compassion whatsoever, they don't seem to care who they are dealing with, what the situation of the driver happens to be, and how they deal with them.
Here is some information on that is relevant in my case and may help you. I obtained it from
They missed something off my ticket
There are certain details that a Penalty Charge Notice must contain. It is invalid if it fails to state any of the following:
- The reason for the ticket.
- The size of the fine
- A statement that the penalty must be paid within 28 days, beginning with the date of the Penalty Charge Notice.
- A statement that if the penalty is paid within 14 days starting from the date of the Penalty Charge Notice, the amount of the penalty will be reduced by a specified amount.
- A statement that if the penalty charge is not paid before the end of the 28 day period a Notice to Owner may be served by the local authority on the owner of the car.
- The address where the penalty charge must be sent.
If any of these are missing, you can appeal.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-1708393/How-fight-parking-ticket.html
