Hi,
Apologies if this is not the correct format for creating a post. I am new to this site and appealing parking tickets in general.
I received a Leeds City council PCN while parked in Leeds City Centre (Bedford Street) on 25/11/25, which I have already appealed and has been rejected as of 16/12/25.
I am not familiar with Leeds so was not aware of the new electronic payment methods now in use. There were no ticket machines - only some signs stating how to pay by phone or by app. We were running late for an appointment, so although we tried to pay by phone as soon as we arrived, it appears that the payment may not have gone through the first time. I have evidence to show that I did phone the number listed on my mobile phone as soon as I arrived.
We left for our appointment as we were in a rush. We also had a disabled person with us and had a blue badge, and a person was left in the car to explain the situation if any parking officers arrived. We had no intention to not pay and would have had more time to check whether payment had been successful after coming back.
A parking officer arrived and despite explaining the situation printed a ticket anyway as they couldn't find payment details. Afterwards, we rechecked and realised the first payment had been unsuccessful and therefore payed again before leaving.
I explained the above situation and the fact that payment had been made, and that there was a blue badge displayed - however they rejected the appeal on the grounds of: "I do not feel that you have made grounds for cancelling the PCN. The PCN was issued at 16.01pm
but parking rights weren’t activated until 16.45pm. It is the motorist’s responsibility to ensure parking rights are activated before leaving
the vehicle unattended."
I just wanted to ask - what should be the next steps I should do regarding this? Would I be likely to get this charge cancelled if I was to proceed with making formal representation (which I have never done before, and am not sure what this entails?), given that - even if late - payment was made and a valid blue badge was displayed? Or should I just consider paying this now and be done with it?
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
