Appealing against parking tickets, your success?

[TheCleaner]

Got my first parking ticket today, and although its somewhat my fault, I feel they are cruel, and am appealing.

I paid for one hour parking on a small street, one ticket machine, so i parked up, saw the ticket machine, paid, and left on my business. Then got back to find I had been ticketed, but I had time to spare. Luckily had my camera on me so took pic's of the parking meter showing I was back in time.

I went straight to the civic centre to appeal, to find they can only be as helpful as to give me a form to appeal in writing, but they explained it was a 'Fixed daily charge' spot. And its been issued as a loading bay violation.

Now, that would be a conceding point on my case, but i went back, and noticed that the sign post which should have that info on it looked like this...



now i admit, the bay i was parked in, now looking back, was a broken white lined bay, but if the city cant be arsed mending signs vital to this case, surely they will squash the charge.

Whats your experiences? especially with appealing.

[Mopar Man]

If there was no sign, how were you supposed to know? for all you know that could've been a bus stop sign that was on that pole.

[zeoniks]

It depends whether or not you want to invest your time in fighting this ticket. Personally, if I have the time to do fight the ticket, I would.

I don't know what the process is in England, but if it is a non-moving violation, most people I know would pay it just because going to court is a pain in the ass.

[BlaRo]

Well, if you're right then you should have an easy appeal as the sign is clearly missing. But then again, you're in England, home of Health and Safety and the nanny state and obtuse village councils, so you have my sympathies in fighting the bureaucratic red tape.

Otherwise you could rip it up...thousands of parking tickets go unpaid every year, and the state won't waste thousands of dollars and manhours going after the $35 I got in Armory Square, Syracuse two years ago. Then again if it was electronic then I can't help you even more.

[mautzel]

If you don't feel treatened the right way, complain about it. Worked for me on my last holidays as well:

I got a ticket because they couldn't see the pay & display ticket in any of my windows...


So I went to the Council Office, filled in a comlpaint form, and 1.5 weeks later:

[Red_Bull]

It's almost cheaper and more convenient in Adelaide to pay the fine than to pay for a ticket.

[tigger]

I received a nice little parking ticket 2 weeks ago for "jay parking". That is, parking facing the opposite direction of traffic. I did this because there were still limbs down on the street (limiting where I could park), and I was freezing my ass off. But it wasn't worth my time to contest a $10 fine, so I paid it.

[MadCow809]

ive learnt my lesson the hard way.... just pay the fine/ticket. im tired of arguing with the traffic department, they take forever to process the paperwork, and if discrepency crept up due to the lack of communication between departments, they just blame it on you.... so at the end of the day, im paying the fines to save myself the time and trouble regardless if its was my fault or not.

its far easier to get money from issuing tickets & speed cameras than fighting crime. SA cops like to do things the easy way, and i know that they over fine ppl when they get a chance. Sad, but SA is really a corrupted country.

[klutch]

If its your first ticket, just dispute it. They'll waive the first offence.

I've wisened up; now I just park my motorbikes where towtrucks can't reach me, and switch license plates to an expired one. I've paid for parking once.

[Hidden_Hunter]

what was the ground marked as, some spaces have stuff written on the actual road here

[Dr. Sebastian Clarke]

Originally Posted by BlaRo

Well, if you're right then you should have an easy appeal as the sign is clearly missing. But then again, you're in England, home of Health and Safety and the nanny state and obtuse village councils, so you have my sympathies in fighting the bureaucratic red tape.

Otherwise you could rip it up...thousands of parking tickets go unpaid every year, and the state won't waste thousands of dollars and manhours going after the $35 I got in Armory Square, Syracuse two years ago. Then again if it was electronic then I can't help you even more.

Could have been worse. They tow on Marshall St. for the first offense, or so my SU friends have told me.

I say fight it. If you think you're right, go for it. The worst they can say is, "no, piss off" and make you pay it anyway.

[BlaRo]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sebastian Clarke

Could have been worse. They tow on Marshall St. for the first offense, or so my SU friends have told me.

You know what's funny? They have those weird pay boxes where you're supposed to insert your money and get a ticket to put on your windshield, but I never bothered to figure those out. Hence, I parked there for free every morning for an entire semester. Sometimes there are advantages to 8am classes.

[Dr. Sebastian Clarke]

Originally Posted by BlaRo

You know what's funny? They have those weird pay boxes where you're supposed to insert your money and get a ticket to put on your windshield, but I never bothered to figure those out. Hence, I parked there for free every morning for an entire semester. Sometimes there are advantages to 8am classes.

They are different than the ones from the NY metro area. I never bothered, as you can usually find a place off the street somewhere nearby, like Crouse.

[TheCleaner]

Well, the appeal has gone in, I wonder how long it will be till I hear from them. Did it as professionally as possible. will update when I hear back from them.

[A.Fonz]

Originally Posted by klutch

I've wisened up; now I just park my motorbikes where towtrucks can't reach me, and switch license plates to an expired one. I've paid for parking once.

[jack_christie]

Have you pix of the road markings. Might be worth checking if the markings add up to what is required for a loading bay.

You might find some useful info on
http://parkingappeals.co.uk/
heard these guys on Ian Collins on Talksport one night. They also featured on a Ch4 Dispatches programme.

[tone76]

Originally Posted by Red_Bull

It's almost cheaper and more convenient in Adelaide to pay the fine than to pay for a ticket.

Funny you should say that. The average parking ticket in Adelaide is around $19 (about USD $17). The last time I parked in a garage expecting to be there all day (i.e to use the 'early bird' special) and I had to leave in the middle of the day to attend to some urgent business, it ended up costing $23 for 5 hours.

I'm just grateful that my work pays for my parking for me (fines notwithstanding).

As for appealing parking tickets, I had to do that last week. Got a ticket in a 'pay and display' area for not displaying, even though I had purchased a ticket and - to the best of my knowledge - said ticket was on display at the time. The council claimed that their inspectors take photos of offenders before issuing a fine, but I've never seen a parking inspector armed with a digital camera or camera phone before. Long story short, they waived the $19 fine as a 'one-off'. No forms to fill out, no real problems at all.

I am now uber-careful when it comes time to pay and display ...