Is there a minimum time to wait before you get a parking ticket?

[QfanatiQ]

Today paid and displayed (council parking)

I returned and saw i was getting a ticket, as i approached i asked why, i was told "I waited 4 minutes"

I took the charge, i did note he did take my paid ticket details as well. Can they issue a penalty as soon as the time has expired or is there a minimum wait?

All the times are printed on the both the ticket and pentlaty charge so it can be seen my fine is timed at 4 minutes after my parking ticket expired.

Does anyone know if this is a suitable course of action? If not then it is a lesson learned.

Cheers.....Q

[DJ OD]

I've seen the snidey fucks wait for the exact time of expiry then issue the ticket.

I doubt there is any minimum. but it may be parking/council specific?


DJ OD

[Fear345]

I thought they had to observe the car for 5 mins in case you had gone for a ticket or another ticket if it had expired.

[TwoPlAnKs]

This is a local bylaws issue, it varies from council to council and city to city

For a while here the bylaw had a loophole in it and every parking ticket they issued over the course of a few years was actually invalid - so everyone who didn't pay got off the hook.

[Roach-Rampino]

Being a keen author of "steaming letters" I contested a PCN that I received back in June that is quite relevant to your question.

My letter:

Spoiler:

Monday 22nd June 2009

Dear Sirs,
RE: PCN no. CR71285162
On Saturday 20th June 2009, I parked my vehicle (reg.DF01 REG) in a bay directly outside the tanning salon in Selsdon Road, South Croydon at 16:45hrs. I only had a £20 note and no change so I went into the tanning shop to ask the receptionist for some change so that I could buy a parking ticket. She gave me the change and I walked out of the shop to see CEO 332 putting a Penalty Charge Notice onto my windscreen. I immediately explained that I had only gone into the shop to get change for the ticket machine and even showed him the money in my hand. He said that it was too late but that he would make a note on the system if I wanted to write in to you to contest the PCN.

I enclose my ticket which I immediately went and purchased (as I intended too) from the machine which is approximately 30 seconds walk away from the last bay in the road, where my car was parked. As you can see I purchased my ticket at 16:49hrs so given that I was talking to the CEO for maybe 1 minute and it took me 30 seconds to walk to the ticket machine I was only on the space for no more than 4 minutes before I had a valid ticket displayed in my window.

I do feel that the CEO was over-zealous in this situation and would be grateful if you can give the PCN some consideration given these circumstances.
Thank you for your time
Yours sincerely

Roach-Rampino



Enc.

They responded by saying that I should have had the correct change before I parked, which was a complete cunts take on the situation. I had to pay the PCN.

A good site for future reference is this bad boy, it's helped me out of a few sticky situations with PCN's etc. It gives case histories so that you may get an idea of your success before you contest:

Penalty Charge Notice

[Ganty]

This site is a fantastic.

Im in an ongoing war with a private car park company, will let you know the outcome.

Roach - you should of stuck to your guns mate, I think with a few more letters you could of wrangled out of that one.

[Roach-Rampino]

Roach - you should of stuck to your guns mate, I think with a few more letters you could of wrangled out of that one.

I hear you mate but I was a bit bogged down at the time so just paid it, well got our accounts dept. as it is was one of my company's cars.

[QfanatiQ]

There is certainly some great structure in that that i will look to NICK!

However, my need is the time line. I will tomorrow ring the LA that governs that area etc and find out what if any time of wait period they have until they can ticket a vehicle.

I have not had any luck in pinning down any time infromation on any site for any area. My only concern on that is having somethign viewable instead of someone telling em and then finding it it is not correct.

If my assumption of a typical 5 mins is right then all is good, but i cant risk a dealyed response as i cannot afford (i have the money but not really affordable) to pay the full £80 and woudl need to take advantage of the forced early £40 instead.

Cheers.....Q

[super mike]

Should have gone and bought another ticket there and then. Contested the ticket with photocopies of the tickets and the PCN. I know this is of no help now and probably sounds condescending (it is not supposed to in the slightest), just hope it may be helpful in future.

If it is contested I thought the 14 day limit would roll until any disputes are settled.

[Eazi]

too late for you know but may be of use to someone in the future.

You mentioned returning and seeing the ticket being produced?

A ticket is not valid until fastened to the vehicle or handed to the driver. If it is in the process of being produced, simply drive away as the ticket is not yet valid.

[[wingnut]]

I once got stung for £40 in Taunton when I was 5 mins late. I just arrived at the car as the little Mrs hitler was ripping the ticket off her machine. I said I was sorry and that I had a case of the trotts which was why I was late (I genuinely did). She looked a little guilty handing me the tickets but suggested I contact the council to explain my situation. So I did and got off the fine.

[DJ OD]

too late for you know but may be of use to someone in the future.

You mentioned returning and seeing the ticket being produced?

A ticket is not valid until fastened to the vehicle or handed to the driver. If it is in the process of being produced, simply drive away as the ticket is not yet valid.

Don't think that still stands mate. In London some bays are monitored by cctv and such you don't even see the ticket until it drops through your door. There's some areas you pay by text, and if you fuck it up you'll get a ticket. I'm sure someone was also saying that once the ticket has been entered into their hand held machine it's valid, the note on the window is just to say you have been done, but the actual ticket comes in the post.


DJ OD

[Roach-Rampino]

"Most PCNs are issued by a Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) on behalf of a council. Under the provisions of the Traffic Management Act 2004, a council may now issue a PCN by post if:
• it believes that a penalty is payable on the basis of photographs or CCTV
• a CEO has tried to issue a PCN but someone prevented them
• a CEO had begun to prepare a PCN but the vehicle was driven away before they could issue it. "

http://www.penaltychargenotice.co.uk...idance/#thepcn

[QfanatiQ]

Got to pay.
Lamberth does not have a period of time after the ticket has expired that they have to wait. Apparently they coudl have issued a ticket stright after the minute it went.

Although he has written on his forms how long and between what times he observed.

Oh well, it happens. No new game for me this weekend!

Cheers.....Q

[Zippeyrude]

Make a request under the freedom of information act for a copy of the contract, ceos notebook and photographs

also ask for evidence of the calibration / servicing of the machine.

it may not result in much if you believe it was issued correctly but you can at least know about the actual requirements.

i actually did the same (lambeth) a couple of years ago, and was also quietly satisfied that my request had required the council to legally invest a resource in dealing with my request for information. although beware that if you elude to making a request just to waste their time you can be deemed 'vexatious' and your request can be rejected / refused.

iirc the contract i received had a waiting period and when i queried this they supplied a number of emails to the contractor that effectively represented a contract variation, removing the waiting time. this was a long time ago so it may have changed.