Free Traffic Legal Advice

I was on holiday in Hastings and making use of RingGo to pay for my parking each day. On the day in question, I parked in the underground Carlisle Parade Car Park (17150) and tried to access the app on my phone before leaving. Due to a lack of reception underground, I made a mental note of the car park's reference number and opened the RingGo app again on gaining a signal at street level.

The weather was awful, and it was pouring with rain, but I managed to complete my parking transaction and thought nothing more of it until I returned to my car to find a PCN (scanned into my google drive - anyone with link access) attached to the windscreen.

On checking my RingGo app, it appears I paid for parking at the roadside bays above the underground facility in error. They have very similar names and location numbers!

- Carlisle Parade Car Park (17150)
- Carlisle Parade (17015)

I lodged an informal appeal with the council on this basis, stating that I had made an error with the locations, highlighting that their designations are very similar and pointing out that I honestly believed I had paid for my stay.

Here is their negative response: Redacted PDF. The PDF also contains an image of the sign at the location taken by the CEO. Part of their refusal to accept my appeal is that the two locations are managed by different councils. I wonder if they would have accepted if they managed both?
 
I have access to further images taken by the CEO that show my vehicle in a bay (which would have still been the case had I got the correct location). Happy to link to these if there's any relevance. There is also a very blurry one of a ticket machine at the location.

Looking at other threads on the forum, I'm now wondering if the contravention they have issued this ticket for is valid. "Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher". Parking orders can be found here: https://hastings.gov.uk/parking/orders/ (I believe the generic off-street parking one would apply here.)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, Incandescent,

Yes, there are cash/card machines, too.

Thanks, Incandescent.

Yes, the tariff board depicted is situated below ground in the car park. I don't believe there are any above ground linked to this location. It's a huge space, so I can't say with certainty that the whole car park gets no signal, but it was certainly my experience that I couldn't get the app to work until I was walking along the street above on that occasion.

When I first visited FTLA, I saw a couple of other threads about RingGo where "failing to display a ticket" PCNs had been successfully challenged, causing me to wonder if it's worth pursuing on that basis.

I'd attribute my confusion to a couple of factors:

- I made a mental note of the location name and number.
- The RingGo app defaults to showing 3 nearby parking locations.
- I had no knowledge there was separate surface-level parking with the same name.
- On seeing "Carlisle Parade (17015)" as the first option, I assumed I had the order of the numbers slightly mixed up in my head (17150).
- I'm not 100%, but I'm not convinced the correct location was offered in this nearby list. I'd like to think I could have picked the correct location from only 3 options.

It's not like the numbers run sequentially, so it strikes me as a very unfortunate coincidence the respective locations have codes that could easily be mixed up.

Yes, I could have ultimately done more to ensure accuracy, but it was pouring with rain, my partner was in a rush to get our little one to our destination without getting soaked, and I just wanted to get the parking sorted — upon gaining a signal — before venturing too far from the location.

I'd chalk it up as a lesson learnt, but it's slightly aggravating that the council has been unwilling to budge despite me showing them my receipt for parking paid at the wrong location and explaining the situation.

It's typical of large parts of Kent where we live, poor or non-existent mobile phone signal. Yet they urge us to to do everything by "app". They fail to consider some of us older people who are not au fait with all the intricacies of smart phones. Places like Hastings, Dover and Folkestone often latch on to French mobile phone signals as the reception on UK signals don't fall over the edge of the cliffs.

They fail to consider some of us older people who are not au fait with all the intricacies of smart phones.

I have and will always take issue with councils' misdeeds, but I will also call-out any incorrect narrative. There is no requirement for anyone to have a smartphone, the sign in this case says this:



There are many reasons to criticise the council in this case, but the suggestion that they are forcing anyone to use an app or a smartphone is simply not correct. A £10 dumb phone is more than adequate for these purposes, indeed if you happened to park near a public phone box you wouldn't need a mobile phone at all (not relevant here, but on-street this would apply).

Council photos:





















@Winningblue please can you show us the back of the PCN?

Also are you the registered keeper and do you have the V5C? If so, is the address up to date (don't assume, physically check it please)?

I think an argument can definitely be made that the location code should be provided at the above-ground pedestrian access to the car park, wherever that is. It is ridiculous to suggest people should make a note, mental or physical, of what the location number is.

Lastly here's a searchable copy of The Hastings Borough Council (Off-Street Parking Places) Order 2015.

The rear of the PCN is not compliant with the regulations cited on the front. In particular, this section of the regulations that mandate information on challenges: -

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2022/9780348232752/part/2

In particular, on Chapter 1, 3(1)(c) is totally missing.

An appeal with this alone may not win, (although it should, being legally mandated info), but its another arrow in your quiver.