Parking ticket help please.

[taxisaint]

I received a parking ticket from a parking attendant working for my local council last August for parking in a taxi bay that has not been used for a good number of years. I had my mother with me and we used her blue disabled badge. We had no option to park there as there was no available or suitable spaces as my mother cannot walk any distance. We had been parked no longer than 10 minutes. We we returned, I found a parking ticket on my windscreen with a £30 fine which would increase to £60 if not paid in 28 days. I decided to appeal this ticket and sent off all the relevant details. By the time I had received an answer of rejection to my plea, the fine had shot up to £60 because it was after the 28 days. It stated I could take the matter further to the Parking Appeals Tribunal in Edinburgh.(the incident took place in Scotland). After a long wait the tribunal rejected my claim due to the council had a right to issue the ticket but they sympathised with my situation and advised I try to appeal to the councils better nature to recind the ticket. I did this with no success. I contacted the council saying I would pay the original £30 but would not pay anymore than that. I received nothing back until last week I got a letter stating the fine has now went up to £90 because of the non payment. They say they will use a debt collection agency to obtain the money. I dont deal with these people anyway and dont scare me. What do you think I should do. Just pay the £30 or do nothing?

[labman]

Re: Parking ticket help please.

I'm sorry, but I'm not familiar with Scottish Law and Parking Regulations. However, I have found a website where things seem to be explained, and what particularly caught my eye after reading your post was the section where you can get a free initial consultation with a solicitor:

Road Traffic, Motoring and Transport Law in Scotland

I hope this is some help.

[michael]

Re: Parking ticket help please.

I can't imagine it's that different from E&W, in that having lost at adjudication, that's the end of the road. It's pay up or deal with bailiffs clamping your car.

[labman]

Re: Parking ticket help please.

The law for disabled parking appears, from what I read earlier, to have been passed in 2009 and is significantly different to anything i've read here.

I can't help feeling that it might be better if the plea to the council's better nature were to be repeated, but coming from the disabled person. They may tread more carefully then.

[Shadowcat]

Re: Parking ticket help please.

Very harsh to put the fine up whilst in the appeal process. Regarding clamping a car with a disabled badge:
The Bailiff cannot clamp or immobilise a vehicle either displaying a valid Disabled Badge or, where there are “reasonable grounds to believe that the vehicle is used for the carriage of a disabled person”.

I would write again offering the original sum of £30 in full and final settlement and that in your opinion the amount of fine should have remained the same whilst your appeal was under consideration.

[bluebottle]

Re: Parking ticket help please.

If a parking ticket is appealed, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the issuing authority is not supposed to increase the fine whilst the appeal is in progress. Do you have the facility where you are able to take the matter to a Sheriff's Court? Although I am not an expert on Scottish Law, I am of the opinion that the LA involved may be in breach of the law by increasing a fine when they knew it was being appealed. As for clamping a vehicle owned by or on contract hire to a disabled person (Motability), any bailiff who decided to chance their luck doing so could be stirring up a hornet's nest not only for themselves and their employers, but the LA, too.