Fined £260 for parking in a parents' space and leaving kids in the car

Rachel Bailey-Everest mother of three children accused a private parking firm of having 'no humanity' after she was fined £260 for parking in a parents' space and leaving her kids in the car.

Ms Bailey-Everest had used the special parking bay twice within the space four days to use a nearby shop.

She was shocked when she received the fines which were because she left her three children in the car instead of taking them with her to the store on both occasions. She tried to appeal against the fines but was told that she had failed to comply with the parking terms.

Rachel, from Cringleford, Norfolk, said: 'I feel so annoyed. It's just an easy way of making money out of people.

The first ticket was at the East of England Co-op in Norwich, Norfolk on August 24. 'I just saw a parents' space and parked there. I thought that will do, my boy's not well and I need to get in and get home. Her little boy was not very well at the time and he had fallen asleep in the car. She decided to leave three-year-old Benjamin with older sisters Sofia, aged 10, and Amalia, aged seven, while she popped into the shop

Rachel added: 'I thought the space was close to the store so one of the girls could come and see me if they needed to. I think I was in the store for about eight minutes.'

The second ticket was on August 28, using the same space and leaving her three children in the vehicle for around 11 minutes.

A few days later, the stay-at-home mum said she received a parking charge notice (PCN) from National Parking Enforcement (NPE), which manages the car park. It told her she had to pay a fine of £100.

Shortly afterwards, she received another PCN, but did not check the dates on the letters and assumed they were both for the same incident. She appealed against the fine, but it was turned down.

Rachel then received another letter saying she had not paid the second fine, and was being charged an extra £60 for debt recovery agents' fees - totalling £160.

She said: 'I didn't even know it was against the rules to leave your kids in the car in a parents' parking space.

Rachel went back and read the small print on the sign and it did say you've got to be accompanied out of the vehicle by a child under the age of 12. which she admits she didn't see.

Source  dailymail 

New Zealander paints his own parking restrictions

A New Zealand man who has unlawfully painted yellow line parking restrictions outside his house in Wellington for the last 20 years says he has done so to improve road safety and to protest against gentrification.

Russell Taylor said it was necessary to stop cars from parking dangerously in an increasingly busy street. The city council says the lines are illegal and will be removed.

Mr Taylor has lived on Holloway Road since 1979, he says he has painted the lines intermittently over the last two decades when the parking problem in his street has become especially bad.

The roads have changed a lot since he has lived there and a lot more people now have cars. Mr Taylor sees it as a protest against the failure of the council to take action.

"Cars park on blind corners, and on occasions fire lorries and rubbish collection vehicles have been unable to turn around because vehicles are parked on both sides of the road.

"More recently we have had the additional problem of drivers going far too fast down our narrow street."

A city council spokesman, Richard MacLean, told Stuff New Zealand that it was aware there was a parking problem in Holloway Road, and it will shortly be discussed by residents and councillors.

The spokesman added that it was unlikely that Mr Taylor would be punished for his long-running, unofficial road-marking campaign.

Blue badge parking permits to cover 'hidden disabilities' in England

The Department for Transport  have said that blue badge parking permits are to be made available for people in England with "hidden disabilities" such as autism or mental health problems from next year.

The current rules do not explicitly exclude hidden disabilities, however councils' interpretations can vary.

Similar changes have come into effect in Scotland and Wales.
When the changes to the blue badge scheme in England are introduced, they will extend eligibility to:

• people who cannot make a journey without "a risk of serious harm to their health and safety" or that of others, such as young children with autism
• people for whom travel causes "very considerable psychological distress"
• and those with considerable difficulty walking, meaning "both the physical act and experience of walking"

Currently about 2.4 million disabled people in England have a blue badge as part of the system that was introduced in 1970 costing £10 in order to make access easier for disabled people.

It allow holders to park for free in pay-and-display spaces across the UK and for up to three hours on yellow lines.

The blue badge concessions do not apply to privately-run car parks. They also can not be used in central London, where residents need to apply for a special permit, although they do provide an exemption from the congestion charge.



For more on this story please visit the BBC

Man puts rude note inside penalty notice holder on car parked over two parent-and-child bays

After seeing a car straddling two parent and baby spaces, Mike from Woking in Surrey decided to prank a fellow motorist with a fake parking notice.

 The offending Land Rover Freelander was outside a branch of Tesco in Weybridge, Dorset, on Monday evening

He said: “There were lots of spaces. I just didn’t understand why they’d parked like that, it was just ridiculous.#

Source image Mercury Press

“The note wasn’t meant to be nasty, it was just a spur of the moment thing to highlight the bad parking.

“I’m a rep driving around all the time and it annoys when I can’t get a space because people have parked stupidly."

Mike said he was given a ticket a few years ago" after overstaying by ten minutes. At the time he just ripped the notice off his vehicle, stuck it in the glovebox and forget about it, but when he was in the car park on Monday night he saw the perfect opportunity to use the penalty notice holder.

Mike maintains the note wasn't malicious, adding: “I wrote something short that wasn’t too offensive as I didn’t want to be using all sorts of horrible words.
"I just wanted to shock them into parking sensibly.”

Source image Mercury Press

Mike had spotted the strange parking as he entered the supermarket and 20 minutes later returned to his vehicle and scribbled the note on the back of an envelope in a black marker pen.

After Mike tucked the note inside the yellow wallet and placed it on the car windscreen he went back to his van and waited to see if the car owner would emerge and read it.

The joker added: “I’m 49, so old enough to know better, but hung around afterwards for 20 minutes.
"No-one appeared and I got bored so left.”

Read a longer version of the story here Sun

Woman jailed for tampering with parking ticket in Dubai

A 25-year-old German woman has been sentenced to three months in jail after she tampered with a parking ticket.

The Court charged the woman with forgery after the public prosecution recommended for strictest penalty for her.

The offence took place on June 16, 2016. A ticket inspector noticed that one of the cars had a ticket on where the month had been changed by hand. "The fare paid and the parking time did not match," the inspector told the prosecutor.

"It looked obvious that the ticket was issued on May 16 but the car owner changed the date on the ticket to June 16 and left it on the front of the car. I reported the matter to my superior and then to the police."

The defendant admitted that she had got a paid parking ticket on May 16, 2016 and she used the same ticket on June 16, 2016, by changing the month from 5 to 6 so as to avoid buying a new ticket.

For more on this story please see khaleejtimes

Vauxhall Vivaro's Fitted With Parking Sensors

Watton Towing recently fitted Dolphin Parking Sensors to a couple of 2015 Vauxhall Vivaro's.  The sensors on both vans were matt black.  The kits used were rear audible parking sensors DPS400

2005 Landrover Freelander Fitted With Parking Sensors

This 2005 Landrover Freelander went in to Watton Towing for replacement rear parking sensors and they were kind enough to send us these images.

The factory fitted parking sensors had developed a fault, they were able to remove them and replace with a set of Dolphin Automotive Parking Sensors.  Matt black parking sensors mounted in the original mounts saved their customer ££££s on using genuine parts.

Grieving daughter furious after council issue parking ticket on dead mum's car and refused to drop it

A grieving daughter was left "crying her eyes out" after a council refused to drop a parking ticket it had given to her dead mum - forcing her to fight it.

The woman, who did not want to be named, told the Hull Daily Mail : “My mum deteriorated quite rapidly, and had not really been able to go anywhere since last May.

“She was sedated on January 14, and she did not speak again until she died on the 16th.

“A few days later, my sister was at mum’s house to pick up some boxes to take to the tip, and found the parking fine on her car.”

The woman immediately rang East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and spoke to the customer services team. She praised them for the support they gave, and they asked her to bring her mum’s death certificate into their office as proof.

The woman’s sister took the certificate in, and it was passed on to the council’s parking department.
The 42-year-old spoke of her shock, however, when they came back and said they were upholding the fine.

“When I found out we still had to appeal against the fine, despite everything that has happened, I could have cried my eyes.”

A spokesman for the council said: "In light of this information the parking ticket has now been cancelled and we will be writing to this lady with confirmation."

AA demands parking fines cap as it accuses councils of using tickets to raise cash

The AA has accused local authorities of treating motorists like “lambs to the slaughter”.

They are demanding new laws to cap the number of parking tickets a council can issue each month, additionally there is concern that motoring fines and parking tickets are being used as a way to raise money rather than encourage good behaviour. For example there have been incidents where people have been given huge fines simply for putting a zero into a machine instead of an ‘O’ when asked to type in their registration when buying a ticket.

The RAC last month revealed councils made a whopping £820million “profit” from parking fees and fines in 2016-2017 – up 10 per cent. The Local Government Association claims the so-called parking charge surplus is spent on “essential transport projects”.

But a report earlier this year claimed Britain’s road network was in such a bad state it’s ranked 27th in the world – below Ecuador and Namibia.

For more information on this story please visit: thesun

2014 Ford Focus Fitted With Parking Sensors

2014 Ford Focus photographed by Watton Towing when in for front & rear parking sensors.

The rear parking sensors are activated when reverse gear is engaged. The front sensors are controlled by a CanBus interface which automatically activates them at speeds below 6mph.

All sensors are fitted in factory designated locations with 2 matt black sensors fitted in the front grille for a factory fit finish.

 

How leaves on the road could save you from a parking ticket

In winter sometimes fallen leaves can obscure yellow lines, resulting in drivers receiving parking fines for stopping on roads where they thought that it was ok to park.

If leaves are obscuring lines on an un-spwept roads it is worth being aware that this is grounds for appealing a parking ticket, but only if certain conditions are met.

This is because it is the responsibility of local councils to keep roads clean with parking restrictions clearly visible. If the lines were covered by leaves and there was no relevant signage close to your vehicle then you have a good chance of having the ticket overturned.

In order to appeal  you need to do the following upon finding the parking fine. 

• look for signs that state the restrictions. (If there’s one right next to your car then your appeal is likely to fail).
• Measure its distance from your car to the nearest signage. (One pace = around a metre) 
• Take a picture of your car in relation to the sign
• Take a photograph of the road showing that the lines are obscured by leaves or flooding.

Most phones will embed Exif data on the image, this information can be used to prove the location and time that the photo was taken. This could be vital in any appeal.

The Source of this information is aph.com, there are also many other helpful tips for winter in their article

Whoops! Reversing Error!

A driver reverse parked in such a way their Mercedes ended up on top of a Saab that was parked behind them.

The unnamed person  performed the parking blunder in Falmouth, Cornwall, at around 23:20 GMT on Saturday night.

Nobody was injured and the vehicle was removed from the residential street.

More on this story, and other Devon and Cornwall news

Police warn Hertfordshire motorists about speeding ticket scam

Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire (BCH) Cameras, Tickets and Collisions (CTC) has said a bogus email is being sent to residents claiming they owe money after being caught speeding.

The email is made to look like it has been sent from the police. A CTC spokesman confirmed a legitimate Notice of Intended Prosecution (NIP) would never display the ‘gov.uk’ logo.

She added: “If you receive an email of this nature, do not click on any links within the body of the email text and instead take a screen shot of it before reporting it directly to Action Fraud.”

An NIP sent from Hertfordshire Constabulary and other police forces would be served within 14 days of the alleged offence in the form of a physical letter  via first class post. 

 

Thousands of Ticket Machines Not Accepting Old £1 Before Deadline

Motorists across the UK face chaos with thousands of ticket machines still not ready for the deadline of Sunday at 23.59pm after which the old round pounds fail to be legal tender.

MailOnline road tested the old pound to see how it fared in coin-operated machines days before the deadline and discovered that motorists travelling around the capital this weekend may struggle to park.

They tested a parking meter in Kensington, west London yesterday, which ate the coin and gave no ticket.

The British Parking Association says it is 'confident that the majority of parking machines are ready or will be ready to accept the new £1 coin'.

British Parking Association said the cost of replacing or converting 80,000 ticket machines will be up to £50million

It has advised members to ensure there are enough alternatives for motorists to pay for their parking, including card and smartphone options, as well as other cash denominations.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Hart, chief executive of the Automatic Vending Association (AVA), said: 'We believe that all machines owned by AVA members (around 380,000) are now accepting the new £1 coin.'

The AVA, which said it has worked closely with the Royal Mint throughout the planning of the new £1 coin, added that it has no access to information on those machines not owned by its members.
After Sunday, the round £1 coin can still be deposited at most High Street banks, which will have their own deadline – likely to be in about six months.

You can read more about the different tests that mail online conducted with the old round pound here

What can you do if someone parks on your drive without permission?

"pretty much nothing" - I know thats not what you wanted to hear!

Picture this situation: You've come home from work, only to find some random person has parked on your drive. What do you do?

.....Call the police?
.....The council must be able to do something, right?

Well, it turns out that you may have little or no legal recourse against this antisocial behaviour.

That's what one unfortunate homeowner in Bristol found out when a cheeky driver parked up on their drive - for FIVE DAYS. They said the police or authorities would not, or could not help, reports the Bristol Post .

Nobody knows whether the motor was left in someone else's driveway deliberately or mistakenly. But it was legal, taxed, insured, and had its MOT.

Avon and Somerset Police refused to comment and the city council said that unless a vehicle is blocking a public highway, officers have no power.

“Bristol City Council will investigate abandoned vehicles parked on public land or highway, but not on private land," said a spokeswoman.

"In order to be classified as abandoned the vehicle also needs to be untaxed for at least one month and left in the same location for a significant amount of time. There’s more information on the reporting process on our website.”

The police explained that the moment a car crosses onto your property, technically, trespassing has taken place. But it's a civil offence and holds no bearing in criminal law.
 

So what can you do?

It's a long and annoying process. You'll need to obtain an eviction notice from the courts. A solicitor would be able to get a civil court's permission to find out the identity of the legal owner, and a judge would then have to order its removal.

Now here's the ridiculous part. All this would probably cost you quite a lot of money. The court would process the order for removal, and that'd leave you with legal fees - perhaps thousands of pounds.

Is there an alternative?

You could simply park in front of the car, subsequently blocking in the vehicle in question. But doing this is only possible if you don't live on a main road with double yellow lines, and if your drive's big enough.

A quick solution is to hire a private tow truck (starting at around £100). But if the car gets damaged, you could be liable to pay for damages.

Certain circumstances

In some circumstances the police will be able to remove a vehicle, for example if the vehicle is in a dangerous condition such as:

• leaking petrol 
• contains dangerous items such as gas bottles

Either way, it's best to seek legal advice and alert the relevant authorities. The Citizens Advice Bureau would be the best place to start. Using a third party to have the car towed is not advised by the police.

“Don't damage or clamp the vehicle or have it removed by a third party for destruction or storage without first seeking legal advice," the police spokesman added.

"If you do any of these things, you may commit a criminal offence or the owner may pursue a civil action against you."

 Source:manchestereveningnews

Pensioner receives parking ticket for leaving her car across her own driveway

Rita Oystenan 82 year old pensioner has been left outraged after being slapped with a fine for parking across hew own driveway, having never had any  issues parking in the same location for over two decades.

After receiving the  penalty notice on March 23 she complained to the council.

Rita, of Bridlington, East Yorks., said:

“In the morning, I backed my car out and parked it across my drive – and I got a penalty outside my own house.

“I have done this for around 20 years and no-one has ever said anything before.

“Can’t I park across my own drive?

“I’m elderly and I don’t like backing out when it’s busy so I do it in the morning.

“It’s terrible parking in Bridlington as it is. We have got a new traffic warden, but I don’t know if it’s her [who gave me the ticket].

“My daughter-in-law has a chalet and when she has come and parked across the drive no-one has ever grumbled.”

However, the East Riding of Yorkshire Council are refusing to waive the ticket.

A spokesperson said: “The resident was issued with a penalty charge notice for parking outside of the bay marking.

“She submitted a challenge to the serving of this parking penalty notice (PCN) but that challenge was rejected by the council.

“She has further opportunities to appeal which have been explained in a letter.”

Rita added: “It says in their letter that I can challenge this by writing again, but I can’t be bothered with that.”

Source Sun
 

Dyslexic driver fined after mixing up a zero with the letter O in car-parking app

A dyslexic man has been locked in a battle over a parking fine for £100 after mixing up a zero with an O.

Mr Nick Preedy said he had been parking in the spot in Nottingham for several months and using an app to pay when he was suddenly hit with a fine, despite having forked out the £8.20 for 12 hours of parking.

Nick said he had tried to appeal the fine he was slapped with last year by Excel Parking – but was surprised to be hit with a summons to the Small Claims Court over the matter.

He told The Sun Online: “I’d been using this app for well over a year with the same registration registered when I got a ticket.

“I said, I’m not paying, I’ve got proof, and carried on pestering them, and emailed them the proof of the parking ticket.”

The car had been registered under the parking app with an O, rather than a zero.
Nick added: “I didn’t hear anything back then the other day I received a letter saying I’ve got to go to court over it.”

The saga has been going on since January last year.

He said: “It’s been bad enough getting letters at the beginning, with them saying ‘we want the money’.

“It’s like being threatened and bullied.”

Speaking to the Sun Online, he said: “For me, it wasn’t as if I didn’t pay, I hadn’t of been thinking that I couldn’t afford it and that I would try to sneak in real quick, which people do.

“My partner said I should just pay it but I’ve already paid for the parking, I’m not paying for the ticket.

“I’ve tried talking to them, all they want is the money.”

A spokesman for Excel parking said Mr Preedy had to opportunity to appeal to the fine twice before the matter was handed to debt recovery.

They said: “Furthermore, he could have also contacted the Debt Recovery Agent who we engaged to handle matters prior to it being referred to our current ‘Agent. It was at this point, Mr Preedy made contact although no reference was made to his dyslexia.

“Inevitably, we have incurred additional costs in getting to where we are now and the matter could have been addressed much sooner had Mr Preedy contacted us early last year.

“However, as a gesture of goodwill, we will contact Mr Preedy with details of a settlement figure we are prepared to accept without the matter proceeding to court.”

But Mr Preedy said he was now willing to go to court over the matter, despite the offer on the table to have a one hour mediation to discuss a settlement cost.

He said: “It’s the principle of the thing.

“I’m not sitting there for an hour listening to them argue about money. If the court says I have to pay it, I will.”

A spokesman for Excel parking added: “We would always advise motorists to contact the parking operator as soon as possible if they consider they have genuine grounds to challenge a PCN, or have special mitigating circumstances they wish to be considered.

“Often motorists are misguided on bad advice given on some websites and take no action at all in the hope that the matter goes away.”

Source: The Sun

Crackdown on illegal parking as council take control

For years drivers in North Somerset have parked illegally without the fear of finding a parking ticket. However the council has now taken over enforcement of double yellow lines and disabled bays from the police.

 

The council is hoping a clampdown on the streets of the streets of Weston-super-Mare, Clevedon and Portishead will free up spaces for people who genuinely need them.

One wheelchair user said, "sometimes when you go into places like supermarkets, and people have parked in there, if you do go and tackle them, they can be quite abusive."

The wardens here have spent the last two weeks handing out over a thousand (blue) warning notices to people that have been parked illegally.

If the equivalent number of £70 fines were to have been given out, it could have netted up to £70,000 for the council.

 

Allan Taylor, Parking Services Manager for North Somerset Council, said "Invariably, we will be giving out more fines but I think very quickly the public will change their behaviour."

"Very shortly we will have places available for loading bays, for lorry drivers, for people to unload, disabled bays for disabled people and no parking where it could be dangerous or hold up traffic."

In the first few hours of the new enforcement rules, the team has issued 50 £70 fines. The council says it's a small price to pay for keeping these roads clear.

 

Court orders woman to pay £24,500 to private parking company

Story Source BBC Tayside and central Scotland

A woman has been ordered to pay a private parking company £24,500 in unpaid charges.

Carly Mackie ignored hundreds of parking tickets claiming that they were unenforceable. The tickets were for leaving her car at Dundee's Waterfront without a permit.

Ms Mackie said that she had a right to park in the area as she was living at a flat with her stepfather, who was a tenant and had a garage at the property.

Sheriff George Way said the charges were from a "valid contract" and she was liable for them.

Vehicle Control Services (VCS) took the 28-year-old to court last year after she failed to pay £18,500 in private parking notices.
 
Sheriff Way said Ms Mackie had parked outside the garage and would not accept the offer of a parking permit for a space nearby for £40 per month.

What does the law say?

Parking tickets issued by private companies in private car parks are not fines, they can be classed as parking charge notices. These are different from Penalty Charge Notices which are issued by council traffic wardens and the police. These are regulated fines, backed by legislation.

Private landowners and car parking firms do not have the power to issue Penalty Charge Notices
However, by parking in a restricted private area, a motorist can be considered to be agreeing to a contract with the landowner or car park operator, provided there is adequate signage warning of the charge.Failing to pay can be seen as a breach of contract and the car parking firm can take the motorist to court to recover their losses.


The sheriff said Ms Mackie had "entirely misdirected herself" on both the law and "the contractual chain" in the case.

He said: "The defender is bound by that contract and incurred the parking charge on each occasion.
"The defender refused to pay the parking charges not because she was unaware of the parking scheme or the terms of the notices or the financial consequences of parking at any time, but because she did not believe that the charges were valid in law.

"The parking charges flow from a valid contract between the pursuers and the defender and she is liable for them."

UK drivers could soon be fined £70 for parking on pavements

DRIVERS who mount kerbs and park on pavements could soon be hit with a £70 fine.

London has had a ban on parking on pavements since 1974, the practise is still completely legal in the rest of country.

But the Local Government Association hopes to change this by asking the Government to give councils powers to enforce a ban that could see drivers prevented from parking on any part of the pavement, including kerbs.

Streets are becoming dangerously congested and pedestrians are being forced to step out into the street to get round parked vehicles. This is particularly dangerous for blind or partially sighted people and mums and dads with prams.

 

How does the pavement parking ban in London work?

Parking on pavements has been banned in London since the 1974 Greater London Council (General Powers) Act.

The act forbids motorists to park on urban roads in the capital with their car’s wheels resting on footways, grass verges or land between carriageways. There are exceptions to this rule in some areas.

These are clearly marked with special blue parking signs, showing a car with one wheel on the kerb.
Other times, parking bays drawn out with white lines extending onto footways to show that parking there is permitted.

In areas where it is not allowed, the law provides protection for certain circumstances, such as drivers who are unloading goods, putting out a fire or saving someone’s life. Those who break the rules can be subject to a fine.

The Law Says:

 Pavements are for people to walk on. Vehicles parked on the footway can cause an obstruction and inhibit the independence of many vulnerable people, especially older or disabled people with visual or mobility impairments. And when pedestrians, for example families with pushchairs, are forced into the road and into oncoming traffic, pavement parking is simply dangerous. Pavements are not designed to carry the weight of vehicles, and the added maintenance cost of repairing cracked and damaged paving adds an unnecessary financial burden to already cash-strapped councils.