In December, I stayed at the Premier Inn in Camberley as I have done for many years whilst visiting my brother for Christmas. There is a service area opposite the hotel which has permit holder only parking from Mon-Sat 8am-6pm. We usually stay on a Saturday Evening and so if there is a parking space here we utilise it, if not we go and park in the Atrium and walk through the town with our cases.
We parked from around 9pm on the Saturday Evening, when we arrived there were two rows of cars (as there has been for many years) and pulled in between two vehicles that were already parked. There was another space diagonally opposite us & as my parents were also staying at the same hotel we let them know and they parked in that space a few minutes later. All good, or so I thought!
The next day we headed to the shops (Sunday morning) and then when we went to leave a lady pulled in next to me & asked if she was OK to park there, to which I replied, yes, it's fine on a Sunday. Then as we drove off imagine my surprise when seeing a yellow plastic wallet shoved under the windscreen wiper almost under the bonnet with a PCN notice inside. When I saw the contravention listed 01 - Parking in a restricted street during prescribed hours I was really confused, I looked at the signs again, definitely Permit Holders only Mon-Sat 8am-6pm, therefore I sent an email to Surrey CC to advise that their Enforcement Officer must have made a mistake as he issued the ticket on Sunday morning at 9:26am and this was clearly outside of prescribed hours.
This is the response I sent:
Service Area 1 is clearly signposted as being designated for permit holders only from Mon-Sat 8am-6pm. We parked there from approx 9pm on Saturday 14th Dec to 1pm on Sunday 15th Dec. We have done this in many prior years (when an appropriate space has been available and if not parked within the Atrium) due to its proximity to the premier inn and having cases to carry. This area is very often full outside of the permit holder only hours. There are at least two large signs stating that the parking is restricted to permit holders only during Mon-Sat 6pm-8am so we have only ever used this area outside of these times, there was no signage indicating that this is no longer the case and due to this I dispute the Penalty Charge Notice that we have received for parking in this area without a permit when it is very clearly signposted that permits are only needed Mon-Sat 8am-6pm and the PCN indicates that we were parked in Service Area 1 on Sunday 15th December 9:19-9:26 and that we had contravened code 01 - parking in a restricted area during prescribed hours. It is quite clear from the photo of the signage that we were not parked during the 'prescribed hours' as indicated on your signage.
I will now give you their response:
PCN No: RR02526067
Amount Due: £35.00
Date of Contravention: 15/12/2024 at 09:26
Location: Service Area 1
Vehicle Registration No: Bxxxxxxx
Contravention: Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours
Dear Mrs xxxxxx
Thank you for your correspondence received on 15/12/2024, in which you challenged the
above Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).
We have carefully considered the evidence you have supplied and decided not to cancel
your PCN.
You were parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours, the PCN was served
correctly. In the area where you were parked at the time the notice was served the double
yellow lines are clearly visible meaning `no waiting at any time`. The restriction of double
yellow lines is applicable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
I note from your correspondence that you state Service Area 1 is clearly signposted as being
designated for permit holders only from Mon-Sat 8am-6pm. We parked there from 9pm on
Saturday 14/12/2024 to 1pm on Sunday 15/12/2024.
Please be advised, the area in which you parked was not a designated permit bay, however,
your vehicle was parked in an area covered by double yellow lines. The double yellow lines
cover all aspects of this area when not parked within a marked bay which includes foot paths
and verges and extends to the boundary line therefore your vehicle was in contravention of
the restriction. Furthermore, the permit holder restriction you are referring too, is only
applicable when parked wholly within the marked bays. Therefore, as your vehicle was
parked outside of the bays and in contravention of a waiting restriction, a notice was
correctly issued.
I am satisfied that the sign at this location is clear and visible to motorists. Upon parking in a
specific location, it is the driver’s responsibility to consult all signs which are in place and to
make sure that they fully understand any restrictions stated. It is ultimately the responsibility
of the driver to make sure that their vehicle is parked correctly prior to it being left
unattended.
I have reviewed the evidence available to me and unfortunately, on this occasion, I have
found no valid grounds to cancel the PCN.
Please see the images below, which were taken by the Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) at
the time of serving the PCN.
What happens next?
Because we have rejected your representations, we require you to choose one of the
two options outlined immediately below:- Pay within 14 days of the date of this letter at the 50% discounted amount of £35.00 and
the case will be closed (see the How to Pay section at the end of this letter). OR- Pay within 28 days of the date of this letter at the full amount of £70.00 and the case will be
closed.
If you do not agree with our decision, you should:- Wait to receive the Notice to Owner (NtO). This is a statutory notice which will be served
upon the owner / registered keeper of the vehicle following the expiry of 28 days from the
date of this response.- Once the Notice to Owner has been issued, the owner/registered keeper will have a
statutory right to make a formal representation against the PCN. The Council has a statutory
duty to consider all formal representations received and also to respond within the statutory
timescales.- If you are the owner/registered keeper of the vehicle and are intending to make a formal
representation, you should not pay the PCN at this stage.
If the registered keeper does make a formal representation then:- The Council will investigate the formal representation and respond to him or her within 56
days from the date of receipt.- If the representation is rejected thereafter, the Council will provide details in their response
of the next stage in the appeal process, which is an appeal to the Independent Parking
Adjudicator. We would also confirm that appeals to the Parking Adjudicator must be made in
writing within 28 days from the date of service of the formal notice of rejection of
representations.- If the formal representation is rejected, the full amount of the penalty charge would be
payable.
Howto Pay?- Online at
https://surreyocm.itsvc.co.uk selecting the Pay option.
- By telephone Credit / debit card payments only. Automated payment line 03301
755930 (24 hours / 7 days a week). Please have card, vehicle registration and PCN number
ready.- Cheque or postal order made payable to 'Surrey County Council'. This should be sent to
Surrey County Council Parking, PO Box 335, Sheffield, S98 1ES. Please include the PCN
number with your payment. Allow 2 working days for 1st class post and 5 for 2nd class.
Yours sincerely,
Parking Services Manager
Now I agree from the photos that our car was not within a marked bay, however at the time we parked it was very difficult for us to have realised this, the actual bays have faded lines and where we parked there was some litter on the floor / white marks that we wrongly assumed were faded markings and as we parked in a row of other vehicles on the Saturday evening had no reason to believe we had parked incorrectly. Even the following day I had not realised because every time we have been to Camberley in the past decade there have been two rows of vehicles parked in the service area. In a bizarre twist, the space which was available for my parents was a marked bay, we would obviously had parked there if the signage and road markings were clear.
They have included four photos of our vehicle on the Sunday morning and now the other vehicles have gone and it is daylight, it does look more obviously out of place/ not in a marked bay but by the time we got back to our car following shopping it was in a row with cars parked either side (well one space where a lady pulled in & asked me if it was OK to park there!!)
You can see from the photos that the marked bays lining is faded. I don't know if I have grounds to appeal or not, all I know is that it feels very unfair and that I did not even understand why we had a ticket at all until they replied to our 'informal appeal' I tried to contact them again after this to explain the above but you can't even speak to a human and because I had done my 'appeal' even though I didn't know what I was appealing I haven't been able to explain the above issues. Do I have any chance of winning this? I've now missed the opportunity to pay £35 and it will be £70, it just feels like I didn't even get a chance to properly appeal and have a second stab at paying the £35 because all I got was a computer says no response. I feel like the 01: Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours was very misleading. If it had said not parked in a marked bay in an area outline by Double Yellow Lines I would have had more opportunity to have actually understood what I did wrong. I will work out how to use imgur and upload photos asap. Thanks for reading, I'm sorry it's a bit long.
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