Topic: my walking stick's got me in trouble

[manicscousers]

I've got a blue badge, can't walk very far
went to the local retail park, knocke my blue badge betwen the seats with my new, long handled stick
gone for 10 minutes, came back, £50.00 fine, £80.00 if more than 14 days, this was in the middle of the postal strike so, I e mailed them to appeal
9 days later, they e mailed me back, gotta pay , so, sent a recorded delivery letter to ask them to re-consider, got a letter back today, another 9 days, no way to re appeal, now have to pay the full amount !!!
boy am I ******** annoyed  :-X >:(

[lorna]

Oh Manic. What rotten luck, thought there would be a bit of consideration given. especially when you could prove you had a blue badge. Mind you I wish our local Sainsbury's and Tescos would be a bit stricter about blue badge parking, doesn't affect me now but when Charlie was alive I would get really annoyed when there were non badge holders occupying spaces.

[star]

Its very unfair, I dont think I would let it rest myself.......go the local press if all else fails

[Old bird]

To be honest!  Life's a pregnant dog etc but you do get free parking all the rest of the time.  And we, able bodied people have to pay all the time.  Had you put your sign up in the right manner then you wouldn't have got a ticket.

Not being biased but sometimes we all have a moment when we do something silly and then regret it later.  Bet you will never leave the badge thingy in the wrong place again.

Good luck though!

Old Bird

[ACE]

I would get really annoyed when there were non badge holders occupying spaces.

I'm scycotic do's that count.

[manicscousers]

well, thanks for the different types of answers, I know we 'all' do 'silly things'
I'll let it rest here, I'm so annoyed about it, i might say something I will regret
it's not long since I was 'able-bodied' and 'having to pay ' all the time, I never parked in a disabled space and i never resented people who were disabled being able to park without paying

[manicscousers]

sorry about that, sometimes not being able to do any of the things I used to enjoy becomes too much
1/ the site was a non-paying site
2/ there were loads of disabled sites unoccupied
3/ I AM ENTITLED to a blue badge

[Melbourne12]

I've got a blue badge, can't walk very far
went to the local retail park, knocke my blue badge betwen the seats with my new, long handled stick
gone for 10 minutes, came back, £50.00 fine, £80.00 if more than 14 days, this was in the middle of the postal strike so, I e mailed them to appeal
9 days later, they e mailed me back, gotta pay , so, sent a recorded delivery letter to ask them to re-consider, got a letter back today, another 9 days, no way to re appeal, now have to pay the full amount !!!
boy am I ******** annoyed  :-X >:(

Hang on.  Is this a privately owned retail car park?  If so, it's a civil matter.  Tell 'em to sue you and see if they dare.

Second, I fear that you had a lapse of memory.  In spite of what you may have said in your emails, you did not in fact knock the badge onto the floor.  ;) ;) ;)

Oh, no.  It was plainly visible on the dashboard, and you'll be bringing it to court to offer in evidence.  If it has a serial number, you might want to quote it.

I suggest that you write to them accordingly, then don't answer any more communications, no matter what the provocation.  They'll threaten and bluster, but they won't actually take you to court.  £80! That's outrageous.

PS When I contest unfair parking fines, I normally add that I'm very much looking forward to the opportunity of cross-examining their expert witnesses in court.

[Paulines7]

It's best to pay the fine and then appeal.  That way the fine is limited to £50 if you are unsuccessful. 

I have a Blue Badge and got a Parking Ticket five years ago.  I displayed my badge but did not park in a "marked bay" but in an ordinary bay that was in line with the disabled ones.  (The ordinary bays are reserved for Council Officials in this particular car park).  The signs were not very clear and the one mentioning where to park was like a two foot ice cream sign.  People, including Parking Wardens used to stand and chat in front of it so it couldn't be seen when driving into the car park. 

I wrote a good spread that was printed in the local paper.  Other people who had also been fined in the same spot, wrote to the paper.  The subject matter went on in the papers for several weeks. 

I had my first appeal turned down but each time I took it to a higher authority.  Next step would have been my MP.  I eventually got my money back.   :D

What was also annoying at the time was that my Mother, who also had a Blue Badge was sitting in the car when the Traffic Warden was writing out the ticket.  I had popped into the chemist to pick up my Mother's prescription and had only been gone a few minutes.  He was still writing it when I got back but wouldn't cancel it.  Was I mad!!     >:(

Manicscousers, there is always someone higher up the Appeals chain so don't let the matter rest until you have your money back. 

Beware of saying that your Blue Badge was displayed for the Traffic Wardens in our area have digital cameras with them. 

 

[manicscousers]

thanks, melborne, we've taken legal advice, sent the serial number, our advisor told us they've tried it and some people's fines run into thousands of pounds, we can just about scrape the money together and it's doing my head in, I'll pay it and not go there any more,will get in touch with the council and complain..head's hurting again, I'm going for a quiet sit somewhere  :-\
thanks, Pauline, I'm thinking mobile phones with picture facility
the fine's gone on too long now, it's £80.00 as we waited 9 days for a reply to the e mail then 9 more days for a reply to the letter
so, we'll pay it next week and then see what we can do  :(

[Melbourne12]

I understand the pressure, but it's a million times more difficult to recover a fine once it's been paid.  If you decide to pay it, better to forget the matter and move on, rather than to wage some fruitless campaign.

As for digital cameras, have you never heard of Photoshop?  And in any case they'd have to take a picture of the car showing both the vehicle registration number and a completely empty dashboard.  A series of pictures is no good!

Remember, these guys are accusing you of criminal behaviour.  Give as good as you get!  That is the basis of our justice system.  Do you think that burglars, rapists, and muggers simply plead guilty and take their punishment meekly?  Of course not.  They are advised to contest it, and frequently win.  And if that sort of person uses the law as it's designed to be used, why ever shouldn't respectable people do the same?

Oh, and recent cases have established that if you drive away before the warden has actually stuck the ticket to the car, then it's not valid.  Don't sit there and let them scam you out of some large sum of money - just drive away.  If they shout, or even remonstrate, that's a public order offence.  Report it.

[tartonterro]

I understand the pressure, but it's a million times more difficult to recover a fine once it's been paid.  If you decide to pay it, better to forget the matter and move on, rather than to wage some fruitless campaign.

As for digital cameras, have you never heard of Photoshop?  And in any case they'd have to take a picture of the car showing both the vehicle registration number and a completely empty dashboard.  A series of pictures is no good!

Remember, these guys are accusing you of criminal behaviour.  Give as good as you get!  That is the basis of our justice system.  Do you think that burglars, rapists, and muggers simply plead guilty and take their punishment meekly?  Of course not.  They are advised to contest it, and frequently win.  And if that sort of person uses the law as it's designed to be used, why ever shouldn't respectable people do the same?

Oh, and recent cases have established that if you drive away before the warden has actually stuck the ticket to the car, then it's not valid.  Don't sit there and let them scam you out of some large sum of money - just drive away.  If they shout, or even remonstrate, that's a public order offence.  Report it.

[tartonterro]

I understand the pressure, but it's a million times more difficult to recover a fine once it's been paid.  If you decide to pay it, better to forget the matter and move on, rather than to wage some fruitless campaign.

As for digital cameras, have you never heard of Photoshop?  And in any case they'd have to take a picture of the car showing both the vehicle registration number and a completely empty dashboard.  A series of pictures is no good!

Remember, these guys are accusing you of criminal behaviour.  Give as good as you get!  That is the basis of our justice system.  Do you think that burglars, rapists, and muggers simply plead guilty and take their punishment meekly?  Of course not.  They are advised to contest it, and frequently win.  And if that sort of person uses the law as it's designed to be used, why ever shouldn't respectable people do the same?

Oh, and recent cases have established that if you drive away before the warden has actually stuck the ticket to the car, then it's not valid.  Don't sit there and let them scam you out of some large sum of money - just drive away.  If they shout, or even remonstrate, that's a public order offence.  Report it.

out of interest - did they send you a letter or did you respond to the parking fine on your windscreen.
interested because if they wrote to you i would be asking them where they got your details, from experiance i have challenged a "parking attendant" in a private car park who told me that if i had driven away the fine would increase. my comment to that would be in that case i would be taking them to court to find out how they obtained my details as the only records of who own a car are held with DVLA and that information is only available to government departments and the police
just a thought and something to keep in mind for the future
obviously council and police parking attendants are different but to be honest any dealings ive had with them has been very friendly, one even told me not to park in a short stay bay, but to wait for the car in front to move from a single yellow line cause he couldnt book me for sitting there lol

[cambourne7]

contact your local bbc radio station, they usualy have a local champion who will chase up problems like this and shame them into backing down.

[SamLouise]

MS I hope some of this advice will be of help to you because it's such a bad thing to have happened.  I hope you choose to fight it but it's understandable if you don't feel up to it now.

If you do decide to fight it, would it be worth pointing out that it took nine days for them to respond and therefore you can't be held responsible for the increase of the fine?  Also, I worked for a supermarket for almost two years whose car park belonged to the local council - which meant everybody had to pay and it quite clearly stated on the board where drivers purchased their tickets that there's a period of grace for TEN MINUTES - allowing drivers who might be caught in a queue that little bit of extra time to get back and also - for drivers who don't have the right change and need to run off and get some ....... is there a time on their ticket?  Is there a time on your shopping receipt?  Check if this particular car park has the same rule because if the times tally up less than ten minutes, you will have grounds for appeal.   

[artichoke]

I have been given unfair parking fines over about 40 years and have found that the council dept that deals with parking fines needs something tangible to be able to cancel the fine.

For example, rushing to teach one morning, the pay/display machine issued me with a blank ticket... So I put it in the windscreen along with a note explaining how much I had paid and how long I would be, but returned after the classes to find I had been fined anyway. So I stuck all my previous tickets (thank goodness I drop them in the car and seldom tidy it out) onto some paper, photocopied it, and sent it to them with a note explaining about the blank ticket, but that here was proof that I parked there every Wednesday at those exact times and ALWAYS paid the fee, so I thought it was very unfair to fine me on the one morning their machine had run out of ink. I got a snotty letter back saying I should have run half a mile to the next machine, but the main thing was, they cancelled the fine.

In the same carpark one year, the ticket blew off the dashboard when I slammed the door, I didn't notice, and was fined, but the fine was cancelled when I  sent them the ticket. Again I got a note saying I should have checked more carefully, but they were cancelling the fine.

I won't bore you with details of other fines, but they were cancelled (hospital/funeral problem backed up by newspaper cuttings of  obituaries).

The one that was not cancelled was when I took my son to a Benefits hearing, bought a ticket and put it on the dashboard, but it actually blew out of the car as we both slammed our doors (windy seafront) and again was fined. I searched desperately for the lost ticket up and down the seafront, but it had vanished. When I wrote to explain what had happened, I got quite a reasonable letter back explaining clearly that however much they might like to cancel a fine, they are not allowed to without some sort of proof of the type I had supplied on previous occasions.

Well, there was no way I could prove this time that I had bought a ticket, so I had to reluctantly pay. But these days I weigh the ticket down with a bulldog clip, and stuff all old tickets into a pocket in the car just in case I need to prove again that I am not a habitual cheat.

I mention all this just in case it is useful to anyone else in similar circumstances.

[northener]

Unlucky manics. Follow Melbournes advice and i reckon you'll be ok.

[kenkew]

Sounds like a job for the local press and your MP Manic's.