Parking Ticket Advice

[andrew1707]

Hello ABers,
I need some adice on a penalty parking ticket my wife got this morning.

She parked in a Notts County car park in Hall Road, Stapleford. The Parking sign at the pay macchine said "first hour free parking".
After about 50 mins she came back to the car to pay for further parking, bought a ticket and went to put it in the car only to find she had a penalty parking ticket on her windscreen. On detailed reading of the parking sign she noticed that further down from the "free parking for an hour" statement, it stated that a parking ticket had to be obtained from the machine even if only staying for the free hour.

We are not from Stapleford and are therefore not used to their parking rules.

Legally where does she stand. She is really annoyed about this and feels duped

A

[murraymints]

I suppose they have to have some method of knowing if you have been there an hour or not already...we have the same system in lots of places here in Edinburgh and the machine asks for payment on leaving only if more than one hour has elapsed...when no barrier is there the wardens check the time on issued ticket on display...You could try writing pleading ignorance...but don't hold your breath as ignorance is not admissable in the eyes of the law...

[McMouse]

Legally they have her dead to rights.

[New Judge]

Shouldn't that be "banged to rights"?!?!

[wolf63]

Why didn't your lovely wife not confront the traffic moron warden?

Was it a large fine on the ticket?

Keep the faith
Live long and prosper

Susan

[joko]

i think most operate this way...you must have a free hour ticket...otherwise as has been noted how would they control it...

she certainly hasnt been duped - you cannot blame them for her not reading the sign

[brenda]

Pay up and forget it. A lesson should have been learned here, read carefully the rules before you leave your car.

[tinkerten]

Was it council or some one like Paid Parking Company (operate at Aldi etc ) as there is a lot of advice about dealing with them on the web. They try to make documents look legal, but they do not seem to have a leg to stand on if they just assume you accepted their terms... Look them up on the web and you will see loads of info (type in "aldi parking " )

[tinkerten]

Useful advice about parking tickets if you goggle "Aldi parking"

[Davethedog]

Sorry Andrew, as hard as it seems, you are in the wrong. The fact that your wife mis-read the sign, is i'm afraid, no defence.

No doubt the sign is deliberatly worded the way it is, to catch the unwary.

[milly143]

We have a car park with those sort of rules near here. It wasn't until someone else mentioned they got a ticket inside the free hour that I realised you do need to obtain a ticket for that hour. If you press the button on the machine, without inserting any money it should print one off for you that expires in an hour. I have to admit this wasn't entirely clear on the signs but the rules is the rules.

[dotty.]

so you get fined for not having to pay?

[Berkshirelad]

Everything depends on who issued the ticket.

If it is a legal ticket - Police, Traffic Warden or Local Council - then pay it.

If it is from a private company, then simply ignore it and all the garbage (intimidating letters, etc) that follow as they can do absolutely nothing to enforce. They rely on contract law, but can only dicover (from the DVLA) the name/address of the registered keeper; who is not obliged to name the driver for a private company.

[tamborine]

she read the rules 'after' receiving a ticket.....her fault, pay up.

When you dispute fines you end up with court fees, penalty points & extra charges.

[milly143]

Yes Dotty. If you think about it, how is the traffic warden supposed to know how long you have been there if there is no ticket in the window.

[sir.prize]

Andrew - there is a similar ploy in Shropshire. The parking sign is headed 'Monday to Sunday Tariff'. It then gives details of parking charges ie Up to 30 mins 50p, etc etc. I visited there on a Sunday and parked for 20 minutes.Inserted ticket into pay machine and was asked to pay £1. Strange? Not really - at the foot of the parking sign it stated minimum charge on Sunday, £1.
My contention was the sign should have been headed Monday to SATURDAY Tariff - but I lost the argument!

[frankiecat]

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Unless the part of sign indicating the 'small print' was in anyway obscured then, unfortunately, it was your wife's fault. This does not mean that it is fair but it is right.

She should pay the fine but enclose a strongly worded letter with her payment - it won't do any good but may make her feel better.

Frankie

[paddywak]

In regards to confusing parking rules the worst I've seen are in the car park at the north end of the harbour at Bridlington, which appears to be one large car park but is in fact two car parks one administered by the Harbour Authority the other by the council,there is no dividing barriers but the charges and rules are different in each part and they do fine you even if you've paid but used the wrong machine for the part of the park you are in

[gingejbee]

I have recently used a car-park with the first hour free. However, the tariff board was headed IN CAPITAL LETTERS: " You must display a ticket, even for the first, free hour". No chance of getting it wrong!

[Old_Geezer]

You can complain to the council, but I suspect you have been caught as presumably they hoped. Just put it down as more evidence that 'they' are out to get you. Try 'turning the air blue' for a bit, see if it helps.

[sidkid]

Perhaps the Banks could take control of the car-parks. At least then everyone would look out for deviously worded signs.....