Drivers may get tickets refund over parking bay errors
Drivers given parking tickets may be able to claim a refund after it emerged the wrong measurements had been used for parking bays.
Leicester City Council workers are remarking many of the 240 bays in the city centre.
-
Council workers examining a parking bay in St George Street, Leicester
However, the authority has insisted it is only doing the work to make the bays clearer, and not because they are wrong.
It comes after a driver successfully appealed against a ticket he was given in a loading bay in the city because, he said, the dimensions of the space did not meet legal requirements.
The Leicester Mercury carried out its own checks on five random bays in the St George's area and found all were incorrectly marked out.
Under the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions Act 2002, lines marking out a pay-and-display bay must be 60cm long.
However, a slight leeway is allowed with gaps of a minimum of 60cm and maximum of 90cm between each one. However, in the city centre, several are not marked out in that way, which experts say makes them unenforceable. Therefore, tickets handed out are invalid.
The council. however, said if the experts' comments led people to believe they could get their parking fines overturned, that would be "raising expectations which will almost certainly prove to be unreasonable".
Richard Bentley, a former North Yorkshire police officer, is now an expert witness on the issue.
He said: "The format for parking bays is set out in law and those laws cannot be ignored.
"A mistake in law means any money they have taken in those bays has to be repaid. Any tickets issued must also be repaid.
"Put simply, if the lines are wrong the fine is wrong."
Mr Bentley said there was no time limited on appealing against tickets handed out in incorrect bays.
It is not known how many people might be able to claim refunds on tickets given since the city took over parking from the police in January, 2007, but it could be thousands.
Between July 2007 and July 2008, the latest figures show more than 62,000 fines were issued in the city and drivers handed over about £2.7m.
It is also not clear how many of the bays are incorrectly marked, but the council said it was repainting up to 95 per cent.
The bays in question are disabled spaces, loading bays and on-street pay-and-display spaces.
City council traffic manager Andy Thomas said: "A person argued a loading bay was incorrectly marked. It was not contested because the issue was ambiguous and not because we recognised we were wrong.
"This work has not been prompted by any appeal.
"My main concern is all bays are clearly and accurately marked. While we are repainting, we will also check they are correct."
Mr Thomas said if any bay was wrong – adding he did not know of any – the council could rebuff appeals because there was "clear intent" to police parking.
Parking rule expert Barrie Segal, founder of AppealNow.com which has successfully appealed 50,000 parking tickets across the country, said that argument was "rubbish".
He said: "This argument that because there is intent to police bays, even if they are wrong, is the same rubbish councils trot out in these situations."
Mr Segal said the fact the council did not contest the appeal against the loading bay ticket "shows there is clearly something a miss".
He said: "They are measuring and remarking all of them, which suggests to me they are not sure if they are right.''
When the Mercury put its measurements and the arguments of the parking experts to the council, a spokesman said: "If people feel they have been harshly treated, our advice is that they should register a complaint via the council's normal complaints procedure."
22 Comments
View all
by Piggy Malone, merseyside
Monday, August 17 2009, 12:57PM
“What an idiot comparing murders, rape etc to a parking contravention (or alleged) Your assumption would be that such a parking contravention is a crime....its is not, thats why its called Decriminalised Parking Enforcement. You seem to forget that the law applies to councils as well as the serfs of this country and if road signs and markings are not to the standard laid down in the TSRGD 2002 then the council is breaking the law. technicallity you may say but then whats the difference between their errors and appealing on a so called technicality. So you lot that are supporting the council ripping off the motorists need to look up the legislation, get your facts right and base your arguments on the facts not on the sentiments of thinking it it is OK for councils to bolster their income with illegal penalty charge notices”
by Shao Chan, Leicester
Wednesday, August 12 2009, 10:53AM
“I would have used to agree that it is doing the right thing that is important and those having got a parking ticket in this circumstance should not claim because of a technicality.
However, the council stoops to the same low morals and values by not updating parking bay signs in places like Walnut Street so that you can fall into the trap of getting a parking ticket outside the stated times of 7:30-9:30am and 4:00-6:00pm unknowingly because part time Controlled Zone enforcements are in place.
Whilst you might argue that its not obvious to the driver, they would simply argue that the Controlled Zone authorisation outweighs the parking bay restrictions and they do not have a duty of care to ensure that the bays are properly signed to ensure the driver is aware of the additional restrictions; that they only have a duty to enforce the regulations.
Fairness and doing the right thing isn't part of the philosophy of Leicester City Council and therefore the same expectation shouldn't be made of its residents.
Claim away on any technicality - morally right or otherwise!
Shao”
by Biddy, CocksPlace
Thursday, June 25 2009, 9:33AM
“Graham and Jatin.....there is only one way to settle this......
FIGHT !!!!!!!”
by J, Leicester
Thursday, June 25 2009, 9:30AM
“Jatin
1. Did you REALLY innocently think that you could park in the bay. Did you notice the measurements were wrong and think you could get away with it. Why would any motorist be mislead ?? Graham is absolutely right. These people shouldn't be driving
2. Are you condoning murderers, rapists and paedophiles getting off on a technicality - you seem to be
3. Why should n't you be charged for parking ? Who should pay for these spaces if not the users ??”
by Jatin, Belgrave, Leicester
Thursday, June 25 2009, 9:22AM
“Alan, mate, you hit the nail on the head mate! Theres already so many costs involved whilst driving a car such as fuel, insurance and road tax. Then theres the cost of maintenance and m.o.t.'s. After all that, I'm expected to pay to park my car aswell. Why? I'm not even using it if it's parked up!”