Closed parking bay- but which 2???

[Elouera]

We park on the street with a local resident permit. Today I found 2 fines on the car. A pole nearby had a temporary parking suspended sign saying that 2 car space will be suspended for utilities works. The parking bay is along a road, can hold 5 cars end to end(our car being number 1 at the front of the 5 cars). There was no indication on the notice as to which 2 bays were suspended and closed though. No map etc on the notice. Do they normally have to provide more details on which bays are going to be closed?
AIBU to try appealing?

Probably beyond most of the brains on here and you'll be given a lot of conflicting advice. Personally I'd suggest you head over to Peppipoo with photos of signage etc and they will be better placed to help.

Probably beyond most of the brains on here

You do realise that you too are posting on here and are therefore one of the people you are insulting?

As for the op, did all the other cars have fines too?
I would argue it to be fair. If they aren’t making it clear then how are you meant to know.

Take photos of the signage with the details on for your records. If it isn’t explanatory which bays are suspended send an email with photos attached to the council.
Definitely challenge it!!

In London, they generally say “two bays of five from no.37”
No. 37 being the house number directly at the start of the bays.

You do realise that you too are posting on here and are therefore one of the people you are insulting?

Yes because I’m happy to admit I know sod all about parking fines.
And you know as well as I do this thread will just turn into lots of conflicting advice half of which is probably nonsense. Directing op to a site that actually specialises in her question seems the most sensible solution no?

Thanks for the advice re Peppipoo, I'd never heard of that! The bays arent numbered, nor was there anything on the signage to say '2 bays closed in front of house number 40' for example. I saw sprayed on arrows on the footpath, which was the only indicator I could see that could indicate the 2 bays.

Yes ours normally say something along the lines of 2 bays between lamppost 3 and 4 or outside number 31-33 (these could be buildings/offices/houses) but there should be some way of knowing which spaces they are referring to. Possibly the arrows you mentioned if there was nothing else on the road they could have used as a point of reference.

Yes, but you did know about peppipoo
@AdobeWanKenobi so you shouldn't be so derogatory about yourself. Learn to love yourself.

@Elouera Was your car parked there before the parking suspension notice went up? You can appeal the fine if your car was parked legally in the bays before the suspension notices were displayed.

You might want to check your permit to see if it has any terms and conditions about checking daily for parking suspensions. Ours (London) say that you should check every day by 8am and that you may be fined if you leave your car in a suspended bay. However, DS has been towed twice to a different spot because he was parked in a suspended bay but not fined as he was parked there before the signs were displayed. That said, I think even if it is a T&C, I don't think they can fine you because it is not a law just part of a contract but in theory they could take the permit away.

The sign also has to be clear which bays are suspended so you would also have grounds to appeal if it wasn't clear.

@goingoverground- Yes, the car had been parked there at least 5 days before the bays were closed. I have no idea when they put the notice sign up, but within the 5 days since we parked. I've read the T&C's for our resident parking pass (also in London) and it says nothing about checking daily at 8am. I'm glad they didn't tow the vehicle. Would spray painted arrows on the pavement negate the need to be descriptive about which bays are actually closed?

Did the bit where it says "Hollybush Gardens - outside number 10" give a clue to which bays it was?

Casper's right it states the road and house number

@CasperGutman- OMG!!! Thankyou. I can't believe I didn't even see that written underneath! I think I was so stunned to have 2 tickets!

@Elouera If you were parked there before the signs went up, then you should be fine, although I am not sure how you prove that. I think they take photos when they put the signs up here so you could ask if they did that.

Were you parked in the suspended bays or not? If you were, I'm surprised they didn't tow you so the work could be done. Are you sure they didn't tow you into one of the other bays that weren't suspended so they could do the work? That's what they do here, move the car to the nearest available resident's bay. You can use TRACE to see if they moved it:
www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/services/parking-services/trace-towed-vehicle-tracing-service

@goingoverground- thanks once again. I'm surprised it wasn't towed either, but its in the exact same space as we left it and not coming up on the trace website. We'd had it serviced last week, so know the exact date we parked it there. Would the council normally provide photos to show them putting the signs up?

Yes I would challenge it in the basis you were parked there before the sign went up. My friend had a similar issue (she was on holiday) and had to go to he second appeal stage before she "won".

I believe they have to keep a log of when the signs were put up and the reg no of any cars parked there at the time.