Parking Ticket!

nel

Boy am i p*ssed!!!!

I go to uni today....park in a parking bay, pay for my ticket, put it on the dash and go to uni. I Come out and there is a big sticker thing stuck to my car - a stupid parking ticket!!!!

Now the thing is i was in an actual bay and payed for the ticket. On the parking ticket it stated the vehicle was "not parked correctly" what a load of BS!!!

I took a look and my back passenger side tyre must have been an inch or two over the white parking bay and slightly onto the yellow line - IT WOULD OF TOOK COLUMBO TO NOTICE IT WITHOUT LOOKING!!!!!!

Has anyone had this kind of thing in the UK before (no doubt there will be millions). i mean i think fair is fair and if i didnt pay for a space or i just parked anywhere i could understand but for this? come on!!!

Anyone got any template to appeal against this kind of thing? i notice if i pay the £30 fine before 14 days it stays at that price otherwise it goes to £60. Any suggestions on what i should do?

Thanks,

a very p*ssed off motorist!

Slowhand

I've been down that road. I once got a speeding ticket for traveling 37 miles per hour in a 35mph zone. Something which would have gone unnoticed at any other time, but this was a day I guess there were quotas to fill. In the case of your parking issues, I think it's the same issue. Some meter-maid probably walked (or drove) the whole parking lot, looking specifically for anything and everything that could be ticketed for. They've got to get their promotions and quartely reviews somehow.

The sad thing is, if you go and try to fight the ticket, you'll probably lose on some technicality or another. There's very little you can do to "prove" you were ticketed unfairly, especially if you were within those four or five centimeters, or whatever it was. Just like with my speeding ticket, I was speeding, if only by two miles per hour over the limit, so it would have been a very difficult battle to get it reversed.

the_Grinch

Seems the meter maids in UK are like those in the US. In New Jersey one actually wrote an unmarked police car who was tailing a suspect for unauthorized parking with the detectives in the vehicle! They identified themselves and the meter person continued to write the ticket. When they tried to leave to continue following the suspect the meter person stood infront of the car to stop them so he/she could give the ticket. This promptly led to his/her arrest for interfering in a police investigation. I do think those charges were dropped, but boy do those parking people have balls to do what they do sometimes. I always think its a inferiority complex because they aren't police.

malcybood

nel,

I've had 2 parking tickets which were genuine mistakes and I just had to pay the fines.

They were both when I lived in Stockbridge.

#1 was the day i met the letting agent to view a flat to rent (which i ended up renting). I met them at lunch time and parked in what i thought was a pay and display area due to the big sign saying pay and display as i drove into the street. I parked opposite the sign went to go and view the flat and returned 10 minutes later to this gimp writing me a ticket (was already on windscreen). One side of the road turned out to be a pay and display with a big sign and directly opposite side where I was parked had a sign a quarter of the size 3 or 4 spaces along from where i was parked reading permit holders only.

I asked if he could give me a break and that he could see that i had purchased the ticket for pay and display and was only away for 10 minutes and he said "no because i've taken a photo and can't delete it"

I felt like causing some damage lol (getting angry thinking about it now lol)

I appealed and sent photos illustrating the difference in signage size and received a smug letter back saying there was adequite signage in the area. I just paid the £30 to avoid giving them the satisfaction of £60.

#2 Got home after football training and parked in a yellow line outwith restriction times overnight and forgot that i didnt start work until 10am the next day. I just paid up

The most annoying thing about this one was that I did have a parking permit for the zone but there were no spaces. There's more yellow lines than residence spaces in central Edinburgh!

Try appealing but don't hold your breath. You need pretty strong evidence I think.

Malc

tiersten

malcybood wrote:

gimp writing me a ticket (was already on windscreen). One side of the road turned out to be a pay and display with a big sign and directly opposite side where I was parked had a sign a quarter of the size 3 or 4 spaces along from where i was parked reading permit holders only.

I asked if he could give me a break and that he could see that i had purchased the ticket for pay and display and was only away for 10 minutes and he said "no because i've taken a photo and can't delete it"

For some of them, it is true. Once they've started writing the ticket then they can't get rid of it.

malcybood

tiersten wrote:

malcybood wrote:

gimp writing me a ticket (was already on windscreen). One side of the road turned out to be a pay and display with a big sign and directly opposite side where I was parked had a sign a quarter of the size 3 or 4 spaces along from where i was parked reading permit holders only.

I asked if he could give me a break and that he could see that i had purchased the ticket for pay and display and was only away for 10 minutes and he said "no because i've taken a photo and can't delete it"

For some of them, it is true. Once they've started writing the ticket then they can't get rid of it.

I'm not disputing that, but please elaborate, I'd be interested to know why.

Kaminsky

I once got a ticket for being late out from work by 5 minutes. Was written up 3 minutes after time and I got there 5 past they were nowhere in sight and I could see a good 200 yards in every direction.

At another office it overlooked the post office and people would regularly park on double yellows. We would watch them in the office hiding in our bushes and as soon as someone would pull up and run inside, they would pounce, write up the ticket and practically run away. There were a few of them in the bushes some times and I took great delight in going outside and telling them to get off the private property so their little scam was busted for that day.

They have a quota of tickets to get I am sure and they are such low lifes that that is the only job they can get and they don't care at all about others.

When I was young there was this old parking warden that would wait for you to return to your car and have a friendly chat with you but wouldn't write you up unless you were an idiot about it. Great guy and was famous in my home town.

tiersten

malcybood wrote:

I'm not disputing that, but please elaborate, I'd be interested to know why.

No idea. My friend's sister worked as a traffic warden for a few years and she said that they weren't allowed to tear up tickets. Once started, they had to complete it. If you want to try and convince them to let you off then it'd have to be before they started doing the ticket. Its all electronic now anyway so I've no idea how that would work now.

malcybood

Kaminsky wrote:

.................and they are such low lifes that that is the only job they can get and they don't care at all about others.

I'd be inclined to agree with this statement, but I'm just bitter about the tickets lol

Slowhand

I will add, though, I've gotten out of a ticket on the spot. . . ONCE. I parked my car, walked to the paystation to get a slip for my windshield, and came back to see a metermaid pulled up and in the process of putting a ticket under my windshield wiper. I gave her a look of death, holding up the payslip, paused, then walked over and opened the door to put it on the dashboard. When I went to give her another look, she swallowed hard, tore up the ticket, and scurried off to get back into her patrol vehicle.

nel

What a pain in the arse man!!!!

Im still fuming now. You should of heard me in the car driving back to work! I must of cursed that guy and the rest of his family more than they have every heard in there lives!

Looks like i'll have to pay the 30 quid then. Shame as i had my eye on fallout 3 or pro evo for the 360 too. Looks like that will have to wait now.

Btw,

i think they cant take back tickets once they've been issued because they dont have the power too. Im pretty sure ive read/heard this somewhere before or at least in the UK anyway.

Lets hope i dont see a parking attendant when ive got a bunch of eggs on the front seat ...now that would be tempting!

malcybood

ah well never mind, at least Newcastle won tonight which should cheer you up :P

nel

malcybood wrote:

ah well never mind, at least Newcastle won tonight which should cheer you up :P

AHEM - cough, cough, splutter, splutter (nearly chokin on my drink there)....hope you know that i am not a geordie and never will be - My family and friends would put me in the middle of a courtyard and stone me for that! haha

Kaminsky

It's the UKs mobile traffic cameras that really get my goat. They are a menace. If you suddenly see all traffic slam on their brakes for now apparant reason ( even if they are under the speed limit) then you can bet they have spotted a mobile camera ...

I think they have been banned from operating during rush hours due to this effect. There was one spot on an over pass that they used to love to hang out on near me that would cause chaos to those driving underneath. They don't do it anymore during rush hour as I saw them being screamed at one day by traffic cops threatening to arrest them if they didn't move on.

ahhh that was a good day!

SRTMCSE

I got a lovely ticket here in fantastic NYC back in June. $150.00 for parking in a commercial only zone...but it's only commercial only AFTER 7AM. Stupid signs here in NY are more cryptic than any other I've seen up and down the east coast. Right out in front of my building, sign read something like this

No parking except metered 7AM-4PM
Commercial Vehicles

I took that as...so long as I feed the meter after 7AM I'm okay. Since I work overnight's until 8AM, I just fed it at 6:45AM, got my receipt, stuck it on my dashboard. Turns out after 7AM, you have to be a commercial vehicle AND pay the meter. Lovely how I got hit with $150.00 on top of the $10 I paid for the meter. Should've read

"No parking except
commercial vehicles
metered 7AM-4PM"

Would fit on the same sign, same word count!!

I come out at 7:15 for a cigarette, turn around and she's writing the ticket. Crazy thing about it is, they use little computers so there's a near zero chance you'll get them before they stop b/c there's so little they need to punch in.

What I'm amazed is the vast difference in parking tickets between Manhattan and the outer boros and even more so other parts of the country. In queens where I live, same offense gets you a $50 ticket. I used to live in a small town in PA (Poconos), a parking ticket there for the same offense is like $15, and they'll only ticket you once within like 8 hours.

Here, if there's a ticket there and you don't notice, they can reticket you as soon as 20 minutes after. Some people have told me they've seen meter maids take tickets off windows, reticket it. Then you're stuck paying 2 tickets, one of which you pay even more b/c you didn't even know you had it!

Sorry for the rant just venting b/c even though it's been month's, it still pisses me off...b/c that $150 couldn't have come at a worse time for me financially. Also the woman was SUPER rude and I was soooooo polite. Here meter maids are technically a part of NYPD so they have a superiority complex rolling in their little Toyota Prius in their psuedo-cop uniforms

Lee H

I once ignored a ticket i got in scum land, had bailiffs knocking at my nans door were my car was once rigistered to, had to pay £110, was more pissed off at the stress it must have caused my nan that i was at paying out the fine

Theres nothing you can do to avoid parking tickets except move to a different country were theres always ample parking, sounds like a plan to me throw in some sunshine and am there in a flash, F**K the UK its too dam expensive

supertechCETma

pay the fine.

Mmartin_47

Slowhand wrote:

I've been down that road. I once got a speeding ticket for traveling 37 miles per hour in a 35mph zone. Something which would have gone unnoticed at any other time, but this was a day I guess there were quotas to fill. In the case of your parking issues, I think it's the same issue. Some meter-maid probably walked (or drove) the whole parking lot, looking specifically for anything and everything that could be ticketed for. They've got to get their promotions and quartely reviews somehow.

The sad thing is, if you go and try to fight the ticket, you'll probably lose on some technicality or another. There's very little you can do to "prove" you were ticketed unfairly, especially if you were within those four or five centimeters, or whatever it was. Just like with my speeding ticket, I was speeding, if only by two miles per hour over the limit, so it would have been a very difficult battle to get it reversed.

Heh I got a ticket in Berkeley, parking violation though. And my ticket got wet! About time we have that rain.