to contest a parking ticket

[Ulysses]

Not sure whether I should just pay up, but as a point of principle this has made me bloody angry but I don't want the emotional circumstances to get in the way of whether it's valid grounds for contesting it.

It was my gran's funeral on Tuesday, and two days before her DH of 63 years, fell and broke his ankle. He was taken into hospital and because of the severity of the break, he was sadly unable to attend the funeral.

I took some photos of the coffin and the flowers and went to visit him in the hospital after the service with my aunt.

I got to the hospital at visiting times 2.30 - 4 pm to find no parking spaces left despite circling the various car parks a couple of times. There is a car park at the foot of the hospital which I also tried with no success. By this time there was a line of cars parked up on the kerb by the roadside so put my car there too. It was only the next day when I noticed that I got the ticket as it was quite dark by the time I left just after 4.

This was genuinely one of the few areas left at the hospital - there are residential streets nearby but these are signed rightly so saying residents only.

It was a sad enough day as it was, but that ticket has just made me so angry, someone cashing in on peoples misery by issuing tickets at a hospital with woefully inadequate parking. I wasn't aware of any signs nearby saying parking forbidden, the kerb was a wide one by the roadside (used by ambulances, so a no no for parking on anyway) far away from pedestrian use who would use a much more convenient route to access the hospital.

I am going back to visit him this afternoon and will lookout for signage there. I see on my parking ticket I can request a court hearing but just wondering if it's worth going to that bother.

Thanks for your help.

I don't mean to be harsh and I'm very sorry for the circumstances but if you parked illegally then they had every right to issue a parking ticket.

Oh, poor you - what a very sad week.

Unfortunately I think parking with a wheel in the kerb anytime, anywhere, anyplace (unless the concil have specifically mrked a line along the pavement for parking on) is always a ticketable offence.

But I can see how this adds insult to injury after a bloody miserable week.

You usually get time to appeal, within which you can still pay the lower rate if your appeal fails...a miracel can always happen and they make take pity. But unfortunately most people parking by hospitals have difficult, sad and presseing need to do so .

Thanks for the replies. I think I need to direct my question as to where people are supposed to park when visiting hospital. There are no nearby alternatives.

Sorry that you are having a rough time but a sandstorm has said, if you parked illegally you should pay. It doesn't matter if 7 other cars were doing the same or not.

We have awful problems at our hospital for parking - so much so that the nearby Park and Ride does buses to the hospital now because parking on site is so difficult.

I'm sorry for your loss and please pass on our love to your Granda...however parking outwith the car parks was always going to be a risk.

I used to work for a car parking company who ran the car parks on the Hospital sites (10+ years ago)

They would never ever pursue tickets because it wasnt worth the hassal - their policy was 3 tickets and ou would be clamped BUT

i had a lady who came to me in tears because she had been clamped after rushing her relative in (they died) it was removed immediately and sensitively - we would never had pursued this

How much is the ticket? There was a program on watchdog the other day showing private parking firms wording their tickets to look like official police ones - the difference was the parking tickets were not enforceable

I wouldnt pay it

ouch - her car was on the street, not in a privately managed car park. I definitely wouldn't advise anyone to ignore-and-don't-pay a ticket issued by a parking attendant employed by or in behalf of the local authority. It can get expensive.

I would pay the ticket and try and forget about it asap. Parking on a kerb is never allowed, unless, in rare cases, there are on-kerb parking bays marked.

We've all had tickets we feel were unjust, but, if there is no technical reason for appealing (eg they got your reg. no, wrong or have ticketed you for the wrong infringement), I think it's best to put it behind you.

Like the others here, I can see why you were upset, but in reality you parked somewhere you shouldn't have, and they were perfectly at liberty to ticket you for it. Just chalk it up to experience, pay it, and try to put it out of your mind.

Hospitals can be a total pain for parking, but that doesn't mean people are entitled to just leave their car anywhere they like.

My DH used to be a traffic warden and I always see these things from his point of view.

How could the traffic warden tell from your parked car the very upsetting time you have recently been having. As far as he was concerned it was just another crap day at work with people being abusive to him walking miles in the freezing weather then coming across an illegally parked car and doing his job.

When you park illegally this is the risk you run.

Sorry for your loss but I don't think not paying the parking ticket will make you any happier, just pay and move on.

I think you should contact them and plead clemency, given the circumstances.

I have contested two tickets.

You have to contest first to the local council who have issued the ticket, then when they refuse, you contest to a government ombudsman. (The council should give you the details) I never had to go to court.

If you google, there are lots of forums to help you appeal (don't bother using any that charge you)

I was let off mine because there was no ticket physically stuck on my car but the law has changed and this no longer applies.

You could ask them to prove that you were parked illegally - they should of taken a photo/have cctv evidence. If they haven't then you may find the appeal goes your way.

If it was issued by a private contractor however, there is pretty much nothing you can do about it!

It is very annoying though isn't it when you make a minor mistake and get a ticket yet you see others blatenly parking on a crossing/school markings, double yellows etc etc and just never get done for it!

I dont think you can contest due to circumstances - there is a set list of options

No harm in trying. I once got a ticket and wrote a (nice) letter expalining the circumstances and they let me off. Good luck.

P.s. sorry about your gran

Thanks for the advice. I am rather a nice person (I think) and this was a real kicking a dog when it's down moment and I think I'll write to the Council in the hope I can appeal to someone's better nature.

Thanks also for the sympathy for my grandparents. Gran passed a 2 weeks past Sunday there and the funeral was arranged for the Tuesday the week after that. However, it had to get rearranged because she died within 24 hours of being admitted to hospital and the doc failed to carry out a post mortem at the time and this took another 4 days before they could do that. So it's been a very upsetting time all round, and I just think I need to vent my rage against the machine!

If the ticket is issued by a private company it's much easier to challenge it than if it's from local authority.

You can query it on the grounds that the fine is an unreasonable amount for the crime,(ie. 20 minutes over), and that you will contest it in court. Private companies continue to hassle a while by post - but rarely follow through to court.

Are you sure that it is a parking ticket and not a PCN or oaring charge notice which are legal
Ly unenforceable.

Do yup have to send payment to a council or a private company? If it is a company then google or look on moneysaving expert - you don't have to pay.

Thanks Animation but it was issued by the Council. I've never actually seen any parking wardens around there ever. My DH is a dialysis patient at the same hospital so has to use it 3 times a week and he was an inpatient a couple of years ago so I was visiting him twice a day and even then I never saw them.

If I knew there was a presence of traffic wardens there I would have to think of something else but genuinely the only parking available would have been on the nearby residential street as its all main roads on the periphery.

Parking at hospitals does tend to be dreadful during visiting hours; you just have to keep circling until you find a space. The other posters are right in that parking with your tyres on the kerb is not allowed.

It's always worth a letter pleading your case, however; if it's turned down then you'll still be eligible for the reduced payment if you pay within x days. They may cancel the ticket on compassionate grounds, particularly if you send documentary evidence of the date of your Gran's funeral and your Grandad's hospitalisation. You could phrase it that you had tried to get legitimate parking for x mins and panicked because you weren't going to make it in within visiting hours to show him the photos etc. It's worth the time spent writing a letter if it saves you £30.

Or you could just accept that you parked illegally and pay up!

I've contested two tickets issued by private companies - who were asking for about £60 - then it went up to £100 within a week. Someone advised me to reply - and say you were contesting it, and happy to settle in court. I got a few letters after that - but thought - well I'll see you in court mate - nothing to lose. It never got to that. Fizzled out.

I would perhaps consider complaining to the hospital (via PALS) about inadequate parking and the added distress it has caused your family - that is the real problem.