Free Traffic Legal Advice

You don't seem to have posted your PCN.

The letters M/C are in common use throughout the UK to indicate a space for motorcycles. However, I would have thought the council would have put up a sign by the bay. If you're still in Torbay, could you get a photo of the parking conditions board for us ?

My opinion is that a sign is needed to say "Motorcycles Only". The only reference to motorcycles on the board is to say that motorcycles can park free in bays designated for them, but must pay if parked in other bays. I assume you paid to park.

You could try this submission as an informal challengem post up their reply when you get it:

Dear Sirs

Re PCN <number> served on <dd/mm/yyyy> at Freshwater Car Park

I deny liability for the above PCN penalty on the grounds that the contravention did not occur.

On the day in question, I drove into the car park and parked in a vacant bay. I then paid for parking and left the car park.  When I returned I found the PCN and was initially puzzled because I had seen nothing to indicate the bay was reserved for motorcycles; certainly there is no sign saying "Motorcycles Only" and the car park surface merely has the letters M/C, there is no word "only". If bays are to be exclusively for use by certain classes of vehicle then it is encumbent upon the council to make this clear; it has failed to do this.

I therefore request that the PCN be cancelled in the circumstances I describe.

Yours faithfully

Photographs are not a legal requirement, it is between you and the CEO who is believed if you get to adjudication. However most councils get their CEOs to take them and put them on-line on their website.
Torbay council have a facility to look at the evidence, but I entered your details and nothing is found, so they may not yet have entered the photos and PCN yet,

https://torbay.tarantoportal.com/PCN

There is no point in requesting photos as this just delays matters and anyway they are under no legal obligation to provide them. I would just submit the informal rep I gave as a suggestion.

Further support for lack of signs is the fact that the coash bays are tarmac-marked "coaches only" (my underline, and there are other bays with "Reserved bays" on the tarmac. I would make this clear by adding this fact into the draft reps.

GSV Street View is unfortunately not sufficiently up-to-date being July 2019.