Tweet
Hi All
Please can someone advise on the below. I appreciate that I will probably get some lash back for parts of this but under the circumstances I will outline I believe I was justified parking where I did.
I parked in a disabled bay - I am not disabled.
My 82 year old father has recently moved into a cul-de-sac next to a very popular park in the area. The parking on the top end of the street where my father resides is residents permits only and a one disabled bay. The rest of the street is very narrow and in constant use, not only by residents, but their visitors and users of the park. You can only park on one side of the street and have to park up the kerb otherwise traffic will not be able to gain access.
On the day this ticket was issued 09/09/23, we had a heatwave. It was excruciatingly hot. Somehow, my father who is very unsteady on his feet managed to get himself halfway across town to food shop and in the heat was unable to get himself home. It just so happened that day, I was on my way to grab some food with my sister and spotted my father on the side of the street a good mile away from home, disorientated and hot, suffering from mild heat stroke. I have no idea how long he had been there. I quickly did a U Turn on the street bundled him in the car and drove him home. On the way home he was so distressed he soiled himself in the car.
I usually park 2 streets away as this is the closet location to his bungalow that you can park without getting a ticket. I received a ticket when we moved him into the property, not realising the area was restricted, and although I appealed that charge the council still enforced it, so I knew not to park on my fathers street. BUT, when I got to the nearest street to my fathers bungalow there was nowhere to park because there was an increase in users at the local park due to the weather and the streets were full of cars. I drove to my fathers street, and all permit holder bays were in use, not by permit holders, but people using the local park. Th park was noisy, loud music being played and the police had been called because of it. Its possible the police alerted the parking enforcers to come and ticket the cars parked in permit bays as a white car turned up and ticketed everyone who should not have been parked there.
As all permit bays were full (I do not have a permit to park in those bays either), I parked on the disabled bay. I needed to get my father home, I wasn't thinking about much else. I don't know how long he had been without water and he had soiled clothes on which I needed to get him out of.
I'm not sure how long I spent trying to get him settled, but when I came back out to move my car there was a ticket on it.
I have appealed the ticket and WCC have rejected my appeal. I can't believe that under the circumstances, my father's wellbeing being my main priority, that they are enforcing this ticket.
I want to go for a formal appeal, but I am also unemployed and live off less than £300 a month. I can't afford the £35 they want now, so if I lose another appeal and it goes up to over £100 I will be in dire straits.
I know I should not have parked in the disabled bay, but honestly if you had seen the streets that day, even on a normal day its difficult to find parking, you would see there was literally no other option. I'm bewildered as to how the council can make an area where it is predominantly elderly people living there a permit holder only parking when they know family need to get to those residents quickly and with ease. My father could very easily have lost his life that day. If the situation arose again, I would do the same, as I believe my actions saved his life.
Is there any chance that if I go to a formal appeal process that I could win?
I'm so sorry for parking in the disabled bay, I really am :-( but I wasn't really thinking about the consequences at the time. I just wanted to get my father home.
Please can someone advise on the below. I appreciate that I will probably get some lash back for parts of this but under the circumstances I will outline I believe I was justified parking where I did.
I parked in a disabled bay - I am not disabled.
My 82 year old father has recently moved into a cul-de-sac next to a very popular park in the area. The parking on the top end of the street where my father resides is residents permits only and a one disabled bay. The rest of the street is very narrow and in constant use, not only by residents, but their visitors and users of the park. You can only park on one side of the street and have to park up the kerb otherwise traffic will not be able to gain access.
On the day this ticket was issued 09/09/23, we had a heatwave. It was excruciatingly hot. Somehow, my father who is very unsteady on his feet managed to get himself halfway across town to food shop and in the heat was unable to get himself home. It just so happened that day, I was on my way to grab some food with my sister and spotted my father on the side of the street a good mile away from home, disorientated and hot, suffering from mild heat stroke. I have no idea how long he had been there. I quickly did a U Turn on the street bundled him in the car and drove him home. On the way home he was so distressed he soiled himself in the car.
I usually park 2 streets away as this is the closet location to his bungalow that you can park without getting a ticket. I received a ticket when we moved him into the property, not realising the area was restricted, and although I appealed that charge the council still enforced it, so I knew not to park on my fathers street. BUT, when I got to the nearest street to my fathers bungalow there was nowhere to park because there was an increase in users at the local park due to the weather and the streets were full of cars. I drove to my fathers street, and all permit holder bays were in use, not by permit holders, but people using the local park. Th park was noisy, loud music being played and the police had been called because of it. Its possible the police alerted the parking enforcers to come and ticket the cars parked in permit bays as a white car turned up and ticketed everyone who should not have been parked there.
As all permit bays were full (I do not have a permit to park in those bays either), I parked on the disabled bay. I needed to get my father home, I wasn't thinking about much else. I don't know how long he had been without water and he had soiled clothes on which I needed to get him out of.
I'm not sure how long I spent trying to get him settled, but when I came back out to move my car there was a ticket on it.
I have appealed the ticket and WCC have rejected my appeal. I can't believe that under the circumstances, my father's wellbeing being my main priority, that they are enforcing this ticket.
I want to go for a formal appeal, but I am also unemployed and live off less than £300 a month. I can't afford the £35 they want now, so if I lose another appeal and it goes up to over £100 I will be in dire straits.
I know I should not have parked in the disabled bay, but honestly if you had seen the streets that day, even on a normal day its difficult to find parking, you would see there was literally no other option. I'm bewildered as to how the council can make an area where it is predominantly elderly people living there a permit holder only parking when they know family need to get to those residents quickly and with ease. My father could very easily have lost his life that day. If the situation arose again, I would do the same, as I believe my actions saved his life.
Is there any chance that if I go to a formal appeal process that I could win?
I'm so sorry for parking in the disabled bay, I really am :-( but I wasn't really thinking about the consequences at the time. I just wanted to get my father home.
