Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi,



Hope you’re all well. I’ve been a bit naughty, but perhaps it might shed some light on a bigger problem.



I parked my car on a double yellow on Gordon’s Road in Ealing (https://maps.app.goo.gl/5mbruTYnKLC3sW2U9?g_st=ic). I realise I asked for it, but was wondering if I could get some input.



I’ve uploaded the some pictures taken by the warden as well as my own (pictures).



The whole street suffers from quite bad parking space utilisation. There are double yellows where you could very easily fit a medium sized car without blocking driveways. Some bays start/end extremely early, much before a dropped curbs. The lines have been recently repainted too - yet this problem remains.



As you can see in the pictures, my car had about 75cm (2.5 feet) of clearance from the first driveway and around 50cm (1.6 feet) from the second. The curb on the left also drops about 2m (6.6 feet) before the actual driveway begins, perhaps indicating the driveway was moved. Perspective affects the pictures quite a lot, making it look more squeezed than it actually was, but there are bays on the road with much tighter conditions. Yet, other looser stretches remain prohibited...



The car was parked between 1-3pm, within the allowed timeframe. I realise I was wrong to park on a double yellow, but I feel that this is a completely incompetent use of space by the council. And there are many more like that on the road…



Is there any leeway for an appeal or to gain traction, considering the above? Perhaps it took a parking ticket for Ealing council to realize they're severely underutilizing parking space - especially after freshly repainting the lines!



Any advice would be greatly appreciated,



Thank you

Not looking hopeful

Please post up both sides of the unredacted PCN, in case of errors in the 'small print''.

Damn, thank you!

Here are the pictures for the unredacted PCN:



Also not sure if this is relevant, but I'm planning on moving abroad in ~2 months.

Thanks for your time once again!

I will ask for the traffic order, but can you please confirm why you parked there, and for how long?

Thank you! I have a friend who had visited London for the first time so parked there for briefly 15 minutes to pick them up from Ealing Broadway station with all of their luggage etc. Was gone for maybe around 15 minutes. That road seems to be the closest I can park to the station.

How much luggage did they have with them? Could they have reasonably carried that luggage on their own?

Also if you were going to park on a waiting restriction, why not park here? https://maps.app.goo.gl/czsf85idQo1BgCw17

You weren't parked a million miles away but it's a bit surprising that Gordon Road was the closest place you could stop, and if this goes to the tribunal this question will be asked.

@kryba007 how easy or difficult would it have been for your friend to carry the luggage by themselves?

This is very fact specific: if your friend was a petite female it's one thing, if your friend is a 6'2'' bloke who's been training for the World Amateur Bodybuilding Championships it's quite another.

Also you should assume the council will reject everything you say, you only really get a fair hearing at the tribunal, but don't worry about that for now as we will help you with that if it goes that far.

@kryba007 did you actually help him carry all this stuff?

Two suitcases, a bag plus heavy equipment sounds like more than one person could reasonably transport by hand?

The council will not chase you internationally.

OP, you won't succeed with assisted boarding....because you could have parked in any of the parking places along the road FOC whose restrictions apply only 9-10am and 3-4pm...and as the PCN was issued at 13.57 then you had acres of unrestricted highway to choose from!

...unless you parked before 10am, in which case you were there for nearly 4 hours anyway.

Are you the registered keeper of the vehicle with current DVLA details?
If yes and you own the vehicle and are emigrating then you are likely to dispose of the vehicle before you go. If you do this to someone you know, pl make sure you give them a heads-up if this matter hasn't been resolved by then.

Thank you - I spent ~15 minutes looking for a parking spot in bays but Ealing is quite a busy place at times. Though I doubt it'd make a difference how long I looked for some spots...

On a side note, what if I'm moving country with my car. Do I still need to be aware of anything in particular? FYI yes I am the registered keeper and my DVLA details are up to date.

Thanks once again

On a side note, what if I'm moving country with my car.

Are you permanently exporting it and re-registering it in the destination country? If so, to be honest if you simply forget about the whole thing the council would have no real recourse against you.

Yes the new occupants of your address might get a letter from an enforcement agent, but all they need to do is confirm that you moved out on X date and that'll be the end of that.

I think you could have a fair shot at appealing this, but if the penalty cannot be enforced no matter what then that begs the question of whether you can be bothered for something that would be academic in any event.