Why No Legal Action?

Millions of parking tickets are being issued illegally all over the UK, according to a leading expert.   An ex-head of the Metropolitan Dibble traffic division and a traffic consultant who advises councils on parking, said local authorities were issuing parking tickets in areas where signs were unlawful.  Defective signs he has identified include:

* Signs more than 60 metres apart, or simply missing.
* Road markings, such as parking bays and yellow lines, so worn they can barely be made out.
* Double yellow lines with no T-bar to show the end of the no parking restriction.
* "Swivel" signs that change restrictions without warning.
* Signs that are unclear or ambiguous.

Some examples of scummy tickets:

THE WRONG WINDOW

A motorist was issued with a £40 penalty charge notice because he stuck his pay-and-display ticket in a side window rather than the windscreen.
Peter Kirby, 78, had paid the right amount to park in Croydon, south London. He wrote to Croydon council, which waived the fine.
He said: "I don't believe the fine would have been enforceable in court as the ticket said 'Place on display in the windscreen' whereas the Penalty Charge Notice merely requires the ticket to be 'displayed clearly'."
A spokesman said: "The motorist provided evidence that on this occasion he had bought a valid pay and display ticket."
 
THE WRONG CAR PARK TICKET

A retired businessman was ordered to pay a £60 penalty for using a £6 day ticket, valid for long-stay car parks in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, in a car park which was short-stay-only during the summer.
Clive Dixon, 62, from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, said there were no signs informing motorists that the car park was for short stays only.
He appealed but Scarborough council refused to back down until Mr Dixon threatened legal action and produced photographs from every angle, proving there were no signs.
Eventually officials apologised and said a mistake had been made.
 
THE PHANTOM TICKET

When Peter Cook popped into his local butchers to buy sausages, he left his car on double yellow lines for a few minutes. He came back to find a parking attendant starting to issue a ticket.
"We had a brief exchange and she was trying to hold me in a conversation. I got in my car and drove off," he said.
Weeks later he received a letter demanding £60 for the transgression on Chaucer Road, Gillingham.
Mr Cook, 52, a business consultant and author, told Medway council he had never received an initial ticket giving him the chance to pay at the discount rate of £30.
The council replied with a statement from the parking attendant: "Ticket handed to driver at 10.53am".
The motorist disputed the attendant's account. Eventually the council agreed to waive the fine, saying the attendant may have forgotten what had happened.


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