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Make sure you check for a winning ticket
• I am writing the following in the interest of all
those suffering motorists who receive Fixed Penalty Notices
for parking violations.
This is the story of a famous barrister who queried a notice.
He wrote to the Fixed Penalty Clerk and received a formal reply
requesting payment whilst the matter was considered, which he
did.
Eventually, a further letter arrived saying his vehicle had
been illegally parked and the notice “correct in the circumstances”
but he would still get his cheque back, as the issuing officer
(warden) had made “an administrative error”.
He wrote asking for an explanation and received a reply saying
the office copy of the notice had been found to be incomplete,
the exact details of the parking restriction was missing. He
was also informed “upon receiving mitigation from a member
of the public notice is checked, if it is then noticed it was
in any way incorrectly completed it is cancelled”.
So now you know. If you do not query your ticket, they do not
check and you end up paying when there may be no legal need
to do so. So use the system and you may beat the system, even
if only by chance. You may save a lot of pounds for the cost
of a stamp.
The Borough of Camden issued 446,212 tickets in a year, if there
is only one error in every 200 issued you have 2,231 chances
of winning. You can request a copy of their office copy under
the Freedom of Information Act. Check registration, street,
postal code, etc. Good Luck.
J Ryan
Haverstock Road
NW5
• IS there no way Camden Council cannot find to squeeze
money from motorists?
I live in Aldred Road. Two signs went up on my side of the
road. They were about 50 yards apart. They warned that on March
21 our remaining large leafy tree would be serviced and that
cars should not be parked that day between the signs.
So on the evening before, I parked my car on the other side.
The following morning I went outside to watch the tree being
shorn down. A tree worker said that once they had finished,
the signs would not be needed, and that if I had a parking permit
I’d be alright to park.
I got into my car, drove to Tesco at Brent Cross, bought food
and necessities and parked outside my home. The two signs were
still up.
I took my shopping into my flat, made tea, went back into the
study, looked out at my car and… it had a parking ticket
on its windscreen.
Five cars were parked between the two signs. Two cars, mine
and one directly in front had been ticketed. The others, not
so. My crime? Being parked in a suspended bay. The work on the
tree was over so no car between the two signs was an obstruction.
I phoned Camden Parking and I learned something – I was
told the tree firm had been contracted by Camden Council to
do the job. “Alright,” I said “but in that case
the council should make it mandatory for the signs to be removed
even by the contractors the moment they finish their work. Otherwise
pensioners like myself are losing the rights we gained by forking
out money for the Parking Permits.”
M Beckman
Aldred Road
NW6
• I am writing to express my dismay and frustration
at the incompetence of traffic wardens patrolling the area including
Agar Grove and Cantelowes Road.
We have received two Penalty Notices:
1. Parking in designated disabled persons’ parking place
without clearly displaying a valid disabled person’s badge
(Blue Badge).
2. Parking without displaying a valid parking permit.
We have paid both of these unjust penalties and lodged a complaint
with the ombudsman.
A valid Blue Badge was clearly displayed on both occasions.
However, Camden Council has expressed the view that if the traffic
warden did not see it – it was not there.
On an earlier occasion, my daughter was walking towards our
house and stopped a traffic warden from issuing a ticket by
drawing his attention to the Blue Badge clearly displayed by
the tax disc.
On yet another occasion, a police sergeant happened to be on
the scene when we returned to our car to find a parking ticket
had been issued and agreed to confirm that a Blue Badge was
clearly displayed.
We have received another ticket since then. Although we will
have to pay this one as Camden Council mislaid our application
to renew our Blue Badge.
We have since been informed by Camden Council that we can can
appeal and have our money refunded when a notice to owner will
be issued and since they didn’t believe us in the first
place the charges will have risen to £100 each.
I am on long-term sick leave due to complications following
an operation last year and am therefore on half-pay and my husband
is having difficulty in working having both rheumatoid and osteoarthritis
therefore we can ill-afford to pay these maladministered charges.
Christine Parker
Agar Grove
NW1
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