Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello, PLEASE HELP!

I have been on this forum in the past and you got me out of a private parking ticket, which I am eternally grateful for.

Yesterday, we parked in a disabled bay of a small car park. There were actually 4 'normal' spaces left but as it's a busy area, we left them for other users. I wish we didn't now! I was the designated driver but my dad is the badge holder. The bay is on double yellows. My 94 year old accidentally selected 7:30 instead of 17:30. He thought he saw the number 17 but it was actually 7. The PCN was issued at 18:49. The car park is free for 30 minutes and then totally free after 18:00. We arrived just after 17:30, so the car park would have been free regardless. We park there ALL the time. The road the officer has recorded us being on is actually wrong and the PCN states that we were "parked in a designated disabled persons parking place without displaying a valid disabled persons badge in the prescribed manner", but this is untrue. The badge was valid and in date.

I was planning on appealing with the following message:

On 03/09/2024, we received a PCN. The location was Victoria Road, which I believe to be incorrect as I know it to be Delamere Street. It also states that the vehicle was “parked in a designated disabled persons parking place without displaying a valid disabled persons badge in the prescribed manner.” The badge is in date, valid and was facing the right way up. However, my dad (the badge holder) is 94 years old and has very recently had a heart attack, so I was the designated driver. He didn’t have his glasses on but truly believed that he had moved the wheel past the 17:30 position on the blue badge. He must’ve hastily mistaken number 7 for 17.

This car park is actually free for 30 minutes and is free after 18:00, which means that our stay would have been free regardless. We were parked on double yellow lines, which means we get 3 hours of parking. Even if we did display the wrong time, we were back in an hour and within the 3 hour period either way. At the time of our parking, there were 4 free parking spaces available; however, we parked in the disabled bay to allow others to park in the other bays. 

I would be very grateful if you could kindly cancel this PCN on this occasion as a goodwill gesture. My dad is beside himself with stress and upset. Lessons will be learned going forward, and we will triple-check the badge before displaying it in the future.

As the photography evidence provided by the ticketing officer is clear, do you think I have any chance of them letting me off with a goodwill gesture here?

My only other concern is that on the sign (which we've never noticed before) says 1 hour, but I interpreted that to say 'within 1 hour' as I know you get 3 hours on double yellows. We arrived at about 17:40 and came back to the car literally as the warden must have walked off.

Thank you in advance for any advice.

Ahh yes sorry, I was supposed to come back and upload the photos as the files were too large.

This is the link for Google maps

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.195233,-2.8917635,3a,75y,8.21h,94.38t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFOskN5NDchrAV1NIoAC8xg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fcb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26pitch%3D-4.383478804636141%26panoid%3DFOskN5NDchrAV1NIoAC8xg%26yaw%3D8.208054480020316!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205410&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkwMi4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Thank you very much for any help.

PS. It keeps saying the attachment is full! Even when I upload one photo - any ideas please?

Hi,

Sorry again! I've uploaded the link to the photos now



https://imgur.com/a/h5iXusv

BW

Yesterday, we parked in a disabled bay of a small car park.

Why do you say car park? There's no evidence to support this so I suggest it's binned.

The location is on a road which is improperly marked. You cannot have DYL in any sort of parking bay on a road. End of.

I suggest that it's challenged on the straightforward grounds that for some reason the driver's 94-year old father (who wasn't driving but was being carried and who likes to display his own badge as a show of independence) set his badge incorrectly. He should have gone to Specsavers because he set the 24-hour notation clock at 7.30 instead of 17.30. I hope the authority would see that this was a genuine error and would exercise discretion and cancel the PCN.

This would avoid the need to examine why the council have marked this location unlawfully i.e. it is not permissible for double yellow lines and a parking place to co-exist because they are mutually exclusive markings: items 1 and 6 of the Part 4 Sign Table refer. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2016/362/schedule/7/made

You might want to leave the last para. until the NTO stage which you would hope does not arise.

On the subject of NTO, who is the registered keeper and are their DVLA details current.

For future reference, if you need to display the BB clock then the time should be set to the nearest quarter hour after arrival. Not earlier. So arrive at anytime between 17:31 and 17:45 then the clock should be set to 17:45. If you set the clock earlier then you are depriving yourself of some of the exemption, usually 3 hours, that you are entitled to.

Although at least one of the other signs for the non-disabled bays implies that there are no restictions after 18:00pm, this isn't what the disabled bay sign says. Confusing I would argue, and it might be the traffic order says something different.

Perhaps our hard working administrator @cp8759 can locate the traffic order?