Safe Speed Forums

Hi there, new user to the forum, prompted by an incident in Edinburgh Sat evening. Would appreciate anyone who has experience sharing it with me as I do not know yet whether to appeal.

Friday night I came into Edinburgh, came down western approach, onto Lothian Road and went to make a right towards castle terrace car park, right turn blocked. So got funneled up over princess street. Anyway, I was at a loss where to park as I was going to Bar Roma near Charlotte Square. I ended up on Alva Street and parked where I thought it was safe. After I got back, the car was gone! Called the Police who let me know it has been taken away and I went to the pound to get it released, for £136. Bummer. So, why did it get lifted? The answer was, it was in a resident parking bay. So some key points:

1 - I parked just behind where a single yellow ended.
2 - Upon closer inspection (after car was lifted), there was no white lines marking the area out as residents only, must have worn away.
3 - Car behind me did have the a very faded line running past nearside (we were parked on right hand side of road against flow) and Residents parking was somewhat visible, though worn.

4 - Where the <censored> are you meant to park in Edinburgh when the roads leading to public car parks are blocked, and no road signs directing you to another one?!

So, I accept the area is actually resident parking, but as I reversed into it, there was no marking on the road at that point. for a distance of about 2-3m. As I was parked on side facing flow of traffic, I got out of the car onto the footpath, there was no way I actually saw the faded paint and writing on the road beside the car behind me.

I tried to take a photo, but it was dark and would have looked somewhat suspicious!

Any advice, help greatly appreciated.

Definitely take some photos, write up a long letter explaining it was impossible to see not only in dark but under shadow of other cars. Get some darker shots to prove your point.

I got off a ticket myself as I, like you, had genuinely not been able to make out any parking restrictions where I parked. It was apparently double yellow lined but was completely faded for approx 2/3 metres at the end of the street. Wrote a carefully worded polite letter explaining the error and ticket got rebuked, the yellow lines were also promptly repainted I noticed next time I was in the area (this is in Richmond, SW London, notorious Anti-Car borough with the parking permits more for higher emitting vehicles)

Your best bet is to post in the parking forum of PePiPoo. However what I can tell you is that you've got a very good chance of overturning the ticket (and getting all your money back) on appeal. Bay markings (along with signage) have to conform to requirements to be enforceable, and if the residents' parking bay was as worn as you say, that should definitely be enough for you to be successful. It's not a "technicality" as some might tell you; bays and signs have to be present and correct, otherwise it's not clear where you can and can't park, and your case (where you genuinely and reasonably thought it was OK to park) is a good example.

Once you get your money back, you could take the council to the small claims court and reclaim your costs (including the time that you've spent on the appeal etc). That would be what they deserved, since they neglected to maintain the bay markings properly, and then had the cheek to penalise you for their negligence.

Scan in the ticket, remove your personal details and post on PePiPoo. Also make sure you take some photos of the worn bay (in daylight if possible) as soon as you can, and in any case before you send in your initial appeal. If you follow the correct procedure (and you're telling us the full story) then I would say you were almost certain to eventually get your money back, and quite right too. Don't let them get away with their money-making scam! They rely on people in your sort of situation just paying up to make it go away, and all too often, people do just that. If everyone not only appealed, but took councils to the small claims court, they would stop routinely handing out unfair tickets on the basis that they had "nothing to lose". It's an appalling abuse of the system and here's your chance to show that you're not going to stand for it.

HTH.

_________________
Paul Smith: a legend.

"The freedom provided by the motor vehicle is not universally applauded, however: there are those who resent the loss of state control over individual choice that the car represents. Such people rarely admit their prejudices openly; instead, they make false or exaggerated claims about the adverse effects of road transport in order to justify calls for higher taxation or restrictions on mobility." (Conservative Way Forward: Stop The War Against Drivers)

This might be of help, but I don't know how different Scottish 'rules' are:-


http://web.mac.com/rmbscarb/iWeb/rmbcon ... lenge.html

yeah, I've just had a "not parked within bay" cancelled because a bit of yellow line leading up to the bay was missing. And that was camden, who are famous for throwing appeals in the bin- hint, recorded delivery/walk into office and request reciept/ or email it so you can prove receipt.

_________________
Fear is a weapon of mass distraction