Car Parking Ticket

[DebDebster]

Hello.

This is my first time posting, so I hope I am doing it correctly and you will please bear with me...

At the weekend I went shopping to Aldi with my husband. Parked the car in the car park. Noticed the big signs saying free parking for one hour with displayed ticket. Dutifully displayed said ticket.

Came back an hour later to find a parking fine ticket... we had parked in a residents’ bay. Then we discovered the tiny sign telling us this.

What would you do?
Pay it?
Write a stern letter/email/social media rant?
Thank you all in anticipation of your much needed advice.

How tiny exactly was the sign? Even that said there was a sign so I'd pay as it's your error.

Take pictures of the area and try to dispute if you genuinely didn't see it
Otherwise pay up I'm afraid

Hello.

The signs indicating free parking were many in number and big. Probably A2 in size. The residents warning sign was probably A5 in size.

A5 isnt really tiny though is it? Standard council parking signs on the hight street near me are probably half that size.

It feels a bit unfair but i dont think you would get very far with a complaint.

Read the instructions on the ticket to appeal it, perhaps?

Or you could just write a stern social media rant to show how you parked without due care and consideration and see if that works?

Diagram of car park/resident parking?

You are correct. A5 is not particularly small, until you compare it to the large signs indicating free parking. Then they paled in comparison.

Go on Money saving expert parking charges forum. They have the letters there to help you appeal it.

You just need to print it off or copy and paste in to email.

There are two points of law to appeal it on, use both. That the charge amount is unfair and on the signage issue.

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=4816822

I wound just pay it and I say that as someone who would quite happily set fire to parking companies offices.

They’re absolutely on top of all the advice from MSE now, they have case law and they know how to use the civil court entirely to their advantage. They’re absolute animals.

Who issued the ticket? Assuming council which it probably is if it’s a residents bay you can appeal but probably won’t have a leg to stand on. Aldi use private forms and you usually get a letter through the post and not a ticket on the car.

That's not true @cherrycokewinning

They still get hundreds of tickets scrapped every month.

The OP can read and can decide for herself.

Oh good point @idontlikealdi

Is this a parking charge or a parking fine op?

It is a parking charge.

My aldi do tickets on the car and it’s the same set up (flats above the shop) I’m sure Op would be able to see whether it was council or not very quickly.

Then you can follow the advice in the link I gave you.

Thank you Blackteadrinker for the link.

I got two tickets scrapped. One when I had a receipt and I got a ‘left car park’ ticket. The other when I perused it to the overseeing organisation. So what Bkacktea said :)

@Cherrycoke that's not true, I used templates on MSE to get parking charges cancelled.

Parking companies do mostly reject appeals but you then have to appeal to POPLA, who are more sensible and cancel alot of charges.

But you have to have a reason for appeal- the OP doesn’t seem to have one (having information about residents bays smaller isn’t one?)

I’m assuming OP wants it cancelled because she doesn’t believe it to be enforceable, not because she contests she parked incorrectly. If she does, then it’s obvsiouly an appeal to them.

The reason for my appeal would be because the sign was not clearly displayed. Yes we parked incorrectly in a residents’ bay but this was because the relevant sign was not clearly displayed, in comparison to the free parking sign.

Then the appeals process is on the letter?

Don't try writing your appeal yourself, use the templates. They have all the legal jargon in them.

Don't forget to also appeal on the amount of the charge being unreasonable. They can legally only charge for losses, but they don't have any in a free car park.

They will deny your appeal then you appeal to Popla who know the law very well.

Again, thank you Blackteadrinker77. Very good advice.

And thank you to you all.

I am now doing a lot of reading...

And according to POPLA the signage had to be appropriate and clear.