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Is it parking ticket silly season in Wandsworth?

iSleepDiagonal

Posted by iSleepDiagonal about 1 year ago
Last active about 1 year ago 20 responses

I’ve had five parking tickets in five days from the ever-eager wardens that patrol the streets of Wandssworth borough. Are they struggling to reach quota?

The first four are perhaps my fault, I’ll explain what happened and let you lot decide. The fifth was blatantly not my fault, it’s as if Mr/Mrs Warden was just bored and picked a car at random.

Tickets 1-4: Saturday just over a week ago, I got home late at night and couldn’t park right outside my house, and ended up round the corner from my front door, even so still less than 30 seconds walk from the door – but not in the direction I would normally walk when goign to the tube, bus, shops, boozer, etc. And there my car sat all wek until I went to use it Saturday just gone, to find four tickets under the wiper, one each from Tuesday to Friday. And, all a bit sodden from the rain. My parking permit had, some time between Saturday night and Tuesday morning, fallen from its holder on the windscreen, on to the floor in the passenger’s footwell (I assume it was in place on Monday as I don’t have a ticket for that day). So I’m guilty of not displaying a valid permit, even though I was when I last left the car.

Ticket 5: Having bought a new permit holder, the old one having broke (see above), I manage to render the permit illegible when trying to insert it into the new holder (£1.49 at Halfords, not recommeded). So this morning I troll along to Wandsworth Council offices, and park in a bay saying “Permit holders Zone W2 or Pay at green machine, Max 2 hours, Mon-Fri 9.30am to 4.30pm”. So I buy a ticket and leave it in my windscreen, expires 12.35pm. I get my new permit, return to the car to find a ticket – offence recorded 12.11pm, no valid parking permit, parking voucher or pay and display ticket”

Of course I’m going to contest them all – but I’m only allowed to do that once the option to pay the discounted fine has run out. Which is another subject entirely.

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20 responses

Raverator

Dunno if it’s the same in Wandsworth, but I got a ticket that I’m contesting from Camden. I asked the same question…if I contest and lose, will I have to pay the total amount and not the discounted rate. They assured me that if I contest within 14 days and I lose, that I’ll only have to pay the lesser amount. Can’t tell you the outcome yet cos I only contested it on Friday but I’ll happily let you know if they’re true to their word…if you care?

Posted about 1 year ago by Raverator

iSleepDiagonal

Yep, keep us updated. What’s the story?

Oh wait a bit. From the WBC website about appeals: “If you have received a PCN for a parking contravention, a formal representation can only be made upon receipt of a Notice to Owner (NTO). An NTO will be issued to the keeper of the vehicle 28 days after the issue of the PCN, if it remains unpaid.” but also “Please note there is a 50% discount if payment of a Penalty Charge Notice is received by the council within 14 days of the date the PCN was issued. The full amount of the PCN is due when the 14-day discount period has expired, however, the discounted charge will generally be re-offered if the PCN is formally challenged”

Which is nice.

Posted about 1 year ago by iSleepDiagonal

flippypremium

The whole point of the discount period is to discourage speculative complaints. I thought about speculatively complaining when caught on the M4 at somewhat over the speed limit. I know I did it, however the evidence they had was dubious at best. To save myself 60 quid, though, it worth just accepting the points.

If you can prove you had a valid ticket, I’d hope they wouldn’t want to throw the book at you, irrespective of the legality of otherwise of not displaying it. Depends how much faith you have in the Übermenschen.

Posted about 1 year ago by flippy

Busstopboxer

Haha my flatmate’s mortal enemy used to be the parking inspector on Bolingbroke Grove. I swear they would come up with random parking suspensions just to catch people out.

Posted about 1 year ago by Busstopboxer

Mockernee

Girlfriend got a ticket under the same circumstances as your first 4, appealed straight away and had it torn up the same day. I suspect Lewisham and Wandsworth use different agencies though, so this is less than useful.

Posted about 1 year ago by Mockernee

Raverator

Mine was a different offence…driving in a bus lane, but it still comes under the traffic offences department. I was still in the inside lane as the ‘normal’ road suddenly turned into a bus lane without warning, but my exit into the outside lane was blocked by a lorry and I couldn’t get out of it as quickly as I’d hoped, i.e., before it snapped me!

Trouble was, they also sent me another penalty charge notice for doing a U turn on the same road, about 2 minutes before the bus lane offence…had to call ‘em to explain that I definitely wasn’t doing U-eys and that the photographic evidence they supplied wasn’t even me (completely different car and reg number to me). Was a bit of a scare in the first instance that I’d got 2 tickets for offences within 2 minutes of each other…until I realised that they’d fucked up!

Got a really helpful lady on the phone and she cancelled the U-turn one while I was on the phone and advised me to appeal against the bus lane one, cos she said it’s always worth appealing against as you don’t lose anything. Even if I lost the appeal, I’d still only have to pay the lower rate.

I’ll certainly let you know how I get on!

Posted about 1 year ago by Raverator

vapourtrail

Wandsworth Council tried to charge me twice for a PCN and sent me nasty letters when I refused the second payment. I was only 1 minute late back on my ticket as well, the buggers.

It was the most satisfying feeling when I got their grovelling apology letter. I might even frame it.

Posted about 1 year ago by vapourtrail

Fi

Is there any borough you can park in restricted area without a permit showing and not get a fine? I had loads when I lived in Islington.

And I didn’t even own a car.

Posted about 1 year ago by Fi

cobo04premium

My brother-in-law is a coach driver and got as ticket while in the coach as children from the local school, which he was parked outside of at the time, were boarding !!

The officer even took a photo of the front of the coach, the photo, as seen later, clearly shows my brother-in-law at the wheel.

That was Hillingdon, home of Brunel Uni and dimwitted parking officers.

Yes he contested it, as did his boss, it took nearly two months before they got an apology and that was only because his boss refused to pick up any more children for their swimming lessons until something was done.

The parking officer involved is still on duty at the same place.

Posted about 1 year ago by cobo04

iSleepDiagonal

I took pictures of my own car today as well, in preparation for the appeal. Felt a bit of a lemon at the time, tbh

Posted about 1 year ago by iSleepDiagonal

Popey

Always appeal, they don’t have the staff to check each one. If you haven’t appealed before then they just allow it and you get off. If you keep appealing then they will actually bother to read your appeal.

Posted about 1 year ago by Popey

I_Love_Your_Shoes

iSleepDiagonal – This is slightly complicated (and boring), but did you use your resident parking discount card when you paid for your pay & display ticket? If you did and you didn’t have a valid permit on display then I’m afraid that the ticket was correctly issued. The discount card isn’t, as you might think, a discount card for all residents – it can only be used by permit holders in other parts of the borough not covered by their CPZ, and their permit must be on display. It’s a pain in the arse, and I’ve been caught out by it when I had a hire car. I tried to appeal but got absolutely nowhere because by the letter of the law they’re right despite the fact they don’t really make it clear when they send you the bloody card.

Posted about 1 year ago by I_Love_Your_Shoes

iSleepDiagonal

Crikey. Yes I did use my resident’s parking discount card. How can they tell that my ticket from the machine was bought using it?

Now then. Why was I going to the Council offices? To get a new permit. Why wasn’t my permit in the car? Because I needed to take it in to the Council offices to get a replacement. They know when I was there, as they’ll have record of when my permit was issued. Well they should do, if you ask me.

Posted about 1 year ago by iSleepDiagonal

I_Love_Your_Shoes

The ticket says RES in big letters on it if you use the discount card. Sneaky, huh? The really annoying thing is that you only get about 10p per hour off the cost of parking and it ends up costing you £40.

Posted about 1 year ago by I_Love_Your_Shoes

iSleepDiagonal

What would the parking ticket (ie the fine) say as the reason for being fined? Mine says something like what I mentioned in the original post.

Posted about 1 year ago by iSleepDiagonal

I_Love_Your_Shoes

Yep, that’s what mine said. Your pay & display ticket isn’t valid because you used a residents’ discount card but weren’t showing a residents’ permit. Before I realised my mistake I appealed my ticket urgently by e-mail because it was on a hire car & I didn’t want to incur extra charges from the hire company for sending me the paperwork when they received the 28 day notice. The council sent me a quick response with photos & everything, and unfortunately they had me bang to rights, done up like a kipper, etc. And it was Christmas. And I got a speeding fine the same week.

Posted about 1 year ago by I_Love_Your_Shoes

iSleepDiagonal

How could I show my resident permit when they’d told me to take it in so they could issue me with a new one?

Posted about 1 year ago by iSleepDiagonal

I_Love_Your_Shoes

Hold on, when did I become the mouthpiece for the council…? I guess you should have paid the full pay & display amount while you weren’t displaying your permit. Look, I know it’s frustrating – I’ve been there. I was only trying to explain what the problem might have been not defend the council.

Posted about 1 year ago by I_Love_Your_Shoes

iSleepDiagonal

Haha I know, thanks. And I’m practising my defence – not taking out my frustrations. Help much appreciated!

Posted about 1 year ago by iSleepDiagonal

I_Love_Your_Shoes

No worries.

Posted about 1 year ago by I_Love_Your_Shoes