Free Traffic Legal Advice

I parked my wheelchair accessible van in the tail end of a taxi rank as there were no disabled parking bays available in the car park or on teh road (there are three bays on the road adjacent to the taxi rank).  I displayed my Blue Badge and clock as per the double yellow lines which run through the taxi rank, I knew I was taking a risk but I had no other option as I drive a Ford Transit Custom and it's too wide for most standard parking spaces.  The taxi rank in question very rarely has any taxis waiting in it because it is off the High Street with limited footfall, so only really used by private hire cars that have been pre-booked to pick people up, hence why I felt it was the safest solution rather than parking elsewhere on the road and causing more disruption to the traffic on a piece of road with multiple turnings and entrances for vehicles.  What particularly irritated me about this situation was that the parking officer pulled in behind my van (you can see it in one of teh evidence photos), inside the taxi rank themselves, in order to issue me a ticket for parking in the taxi rank as a disabled person who had no other options due to there not being enough accessible parking available.  I appreciate that technically I was in the wrong for parking in a taxi rank, but there wasn't anywhere else for me to park without causing significant disruption to traffic and there were no accessible bays available; in essence it was the safest place for me to leave my vehicle and be able to go about my day, plus as previously mentioned, it isn't a taxi rank that's generally used and the only vehicle I observed when arriving/leaving was a taxi minibus which was parked at the other end and unattended, ie clearly parked not just waiting for a fare, and then the enforcement officer's van as shown in the photos.

Thank you for your help in this matter, I'm aware I'll be appealing based on a judgement call and that there may not be a way around this but thought it was worth asking before I just pay the fine as I genuinely had no other safe options and it feels wrong that had I chosen to park elsewhere on the double yellows, which I am entitled to do, it would have caused significant disruption and blockage, yet would technically have been legal...

Kind Regards

Emma

Please find below the images uploaded in relation to the PCN, the PCN Number is: XP42646034 and it was issued at 12:05pm on 30/4/26.

PCN:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DfNeK7aYNF_3UrcvQVYWc7NzaOmY1bE3/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vp5gyL6WLEKDYERYgBY672BvlmW8rCaz/view?usp=share_link

Evidential Photos:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fyIOhJMNMs63qYKbVF-Z1_wmDBFsqVA0/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X898PaD3pel4fRMl0mOvtVbyhuWjsuxQ/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SxuXQWZVv0MKBGGuYxBgwHmz-bV2P2tQ/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tqsnbKWYrU2O6AL9xAnKgHidG94QTP-F/view?usp=share_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zrIsF_prdDoAf6udV0iB0FUl4YZa-JhR/view?usp=share_link