To think my local council are absolutely heartless?

[Esmediamond]

I am regular, have name changed.

Have a ds (7) with Austism, he is diagnosed etc.

I usually drive him to school, park outside and drop off and am in and out before 9.00 am when charging for parking starts.

One day last term he had a huge meltdown as I dropped him off, there is no way I could have left him. I had to stay with him to calm him down, no-one else can do it when he is like this. Eventually managed to calm him and left, got out to my car at around 9.20 am to find a parking ticket on the car. Fair enough I thought, I will appeal it. Later that day another parent told me that they had spoken to the Parking Attendant and said the Mother who owns that car is inside with her disabled child, please don't ticket the car, he did anyway.

So I appealed the local council explaining this with a supporting letter from school. The reply comes back today, the answer is no and not only that but instead of the original £60 it is now £120 as the appeal did not reach them within two weeks of the penalty notice.

I am gutted, I am on my own with dc so this is a massive dent in my finances.

How can they sleep at nights I will never know.

is the sign covered or difficult to read etc - the thing with parking tickets is it needs to be tec there fault - from what I have heard from others,

Could you go to the local paper and aks if they would like to do an article...?

Could you apply for a disability parking permit to avoid future issues?

I am thinking about that actually. I don't mind shelling out when I am at fault but this just could not be helped. They don't give disability parking badges for Autism even though going into school to support him probably costs about £10 - £20 for parking but won't even make an allowance in a case like this.

I just think this is morally wrong and just another way of screwing over someone with a disability.

You are right it does noeed to be their fault but how could I have done this any other way?

YABU - I can't imagine they let people off fines for personal reasons. I totally understand why you couldn't possibly have left him, but you must have known there is a possibility of you having to stay with him longer therefore know there is always the possibility that you may not be back out in time to get the car moved before charging starts.

A parking attendent tickets cars thta are parked where they shouldn't be - -if they listened to excuses (albeit yours was a very valid reason) then they'd never give any tickets out, I'm sure loads of people have perfectly valid reasons why they parked for a few minutes with out a ticket.

If the council let this ticket go they would open the floodgates for loads of other appeals having to be granted.

I gues syou need to park somewhere else.

When I phoned to ask about the Permit as soon as I said the word Autism she interrupted me and said "we don't give them for that", we get a lot of parents with this issue but I wouldn't even bother to apply if I were you".

Would the school allow you to park in the staff carpark for the few minutes it takes you to settle him?

I'm not sure the council will relent unless you make it public and shame them into reaching the right decision.

YABU but I feel for you. I hope that is patronising.

There is nowhere else to park, all streets in my area charge for parking. I cannot always leave my car at home either as ds sometimes won't leave the house unless it is to get straight into the car.

I think yabu in a way because everyone knows parking attendants don't accept any excuses and will always just put the ticket, so it is normal although annoying and may seem unfair but like the person above said if they accept one excuse they will have to take everyones

I think they do that thing so that appealing takes you over the £60 time limit on purpose you know. It seems that way anyway.

Btw I already pay £120 a year to park in an area the size of about 6 streets. As soon as I leave that area I have to pay again, usually around £2.40 an hour.

You're taking it too personally (understably) but no one is screwing you over because your child has a disability - they have ticketed your car simply because it was there after 9am.

I would still apply for a disability badge or if not can you walk from further away where there is no parking restrictions in case this happens in future?

The ticket I get, fair enough, after explanation still saying No you have to pay is what I am angry about. I explained earlier that they do not give disability badges for Autism where I live.

YANBU

The person ticketing could have not given one and just had a heart. But in my experience parking attendants or whatever they are called ticket all they can to meet their targets. Surprised it went up though - where I live it stays the same level until appeal is decided. Worth checking the small print?

No, you explained that a woman on the phone said "I wouldn't bother if I were you". That is not clear guidance and the daft lass may not know what she's talking about and may not be the decision maker.

Apply and get mumsnetters to help you with the application. It may be worth it

The person who ticket you is not BU because they have no proof your child is desabled..it could have been a friend covering your butt.

But for them to say no on appeal and charge you more was pretty nasty and YANBU to beupset. I'd do liek previous posters have said and speak to your local paper

You might right but given the attitude shown already both in that conversation and over the ticket I am not holding out much hope.

You say the appeal did not reach them within two weeks of the penalty notice - that's why it's gone up, not because of the time taken to hear the appeal itself. Did you not appeal in time, or have they lost it in their offices or lost in the post somehow so it's not anything to do with you? Did you keep proof of when you posted it?

Yes, the ticket I totally get but to turn down my appeal is what is upsetting me. I told his SENCO and she immediately offered to write me a letter explaining the situation as did his teacher and 1:1, they all realise I could not have left him in the state he was in.

YANBU. If it has never happened before, then councils need to show some heart and give people a second chance.

I object to the entire concept of having to pay to park on public roads, and believe that people should only be ticketed/clamped/towed by traffic police when they are parked dangerously.

No, I hand wrote it as our printer was broken but I did do it within two weeks.

Write to your local paper and embarrass the Council.

YABU as the rules are the rules but I understand why you did it.

yabu. It's unfortunate, but rules are rules.

Do you know what I don't even mind paying for my parking permit? I am aware that people cannot just go parking wherever they want here in London, it would be chaos but in some boroughs, you buy a permit and it is borough wide so you can park anywhere in the borough and then in others like mine you can only park in a very restricted local area.