London Parking Tickets. How!!?!!

[Ruby5lipper]

I parked in C.London as a visitor last week in on street parking. It was operated by Ringgo and I had a few issues getting the payment set up and needing to update my bank details. I went into my hotel yo connect to their WiFi and within that 30 mins I received a parking ticket.

The next morning, I bought 2 hours parking, knowing I got an extra hour free with my Blue Badge. What I completely forgot was that I had been advised to hide the blue badge overnight so the warden would not realise one hour free.

Both tickets issued as appropriate but how on earth did they do it!? Within 30 mins each time of my parking not been covered, they came and issued me a ticket on windscreen. I checked afterwards and couldn't spot any CCTV and not once did I see a warden in the area!!! Absolutely puzzled!

I don't get the hiding your badge thing - surely you'd want the warden to know you had an hour free? Apologies if that's me being dense.

I imagine you were in an area where lots of people don't pay so they regularly patrol and you just got unlucky.

Obviously a warden came round in that 30 minutes. You didn’t see them because you weren’t there. Parking fines are a huge moneymaker so councils can afford to hire plenty of wardens, they will get the cost back ++

I think she was hiding it overnight so it didn’t get nicked, and that means the warden obviously didn’t see it and realise about the hour free.

Where I live in east London, there's one particular warden who's out like a whippet at the mere sniff of a possible ticket

They're on commission I think, not sure, but they love it

I think they have quite small patches as the turnover of cars is so much. As above, councils make a lot of money from parking fines so employees lots of wardens. So they will have a “beat” that takes them down the same street multiple times an hour.

You might be able to appeal the one you got when not displaying the blue badge as the badge must have been registered with RingGo if it allowed you to buy 2 hours for price of one?

Was the hiding the badge thing in case it gets stolen? I have heard they can be very valuable.

"Over-zealous" parking wardens used to be all the rage in the papers, some twenty years ago. I do sometimes wish that real crime (and littering) was tackled with the same zeal as parking. Yes, I know, impractical as hell, whereas "meter maids" are cheap. But in London, apparently they wear stab-proof vests.

And if parking enforcement makes pots of money for councils, why is council tax still ever so high? I think one Welsh town tried a parking amnesty for a short period, with no enforcement; the result was Armageddon, apparently.

Yes hiding Blue Badge was advised due to lots of thefts in the area. Parking Warden Ninjas it must be then!

We are London, but not central London. We are not particularly near the station, high street etc, and live on a cul-de-sac. We have a traffic warden around 3-4 times most days, and I have seen them as early as 6 in the morning.

They patrol really regularly in much of London.

Indeed. I used to work in Milton Keynes which had a myriad of parking regulations. There was one spot where you had to have a permit to park before 8, but not after (it was near the station). Wardens used to actually hide behind the pillars of a building until the misinformed person had left and then ticket them.
If you parked wrongly anywhere for the working day (or ringgo didn't work etc) you'd have a 90% chance of a ticket.
Where I work now, people pull into spaces outside the post office to nip in. The second they are in the door, the traffic warden starts writing the ticket and looks at their watch. Bang on the 5 mins it's on the screen and they then vanish!