Kerbed by parking fine

if your local parking regulations are causing confusion, is it okay to take the law into your own hands?

That’s what residents in one area have done for years, with no complaints from their local council. Until now, that is, when wardens suddenly decided to start handing out tickets.

Dawn Wilson, from Crystal Palace, London, told us she was furious after waking to find a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) stuck to her car – particularly as it was left in the same spot she’d parked in for years. But she wasn’t the only driver penalised, as a number of neighbours had been fined, too.

Dawn explained: “Our road is so narrow, you have to park your vehicle with two wheels on the pavement. There is a sign saying this is allowed on one side of the road. We assumed that rule applied to both sides. If it doesn’t, why haven’t we been ticketed before? We’ve always used our common sense about parking here, and never had any prob­lems up until now.”

We asked the council why it had suddenly changed tack. A spokeswoman for the auth­ority admitted it had made a mistake. She said: “Parking on the footpath is, in fact, allowed on both sides of this road. However, signs are only displayed on one pavement, which is an error.”

She added that the council had recently employed new agency staff who did not realise residents were permitted to park there. “These cars have been parked legally, and so any relevant tickets that we are made aware of will be cancelled.”

The spokeswoman also confirmed new signs have been ordered, which will be displayed on both sides of the road “as soon as they are ready”.

Dawn and her neighbours are nat­urally delighted – but the mix-up high-
lights the problems surrounding park­ing regulations. If you think the rules on your road need to be changed, you can contact your MP. But in the mean­time, you can challenge the fine.

To do this, your first port of call should be the issuing council. How­ever, if the claim is rejected, there are other options. London residents can click on a dedicated website – called www.parkingandtrafficappeals.gov.uk – which provides independent advice.

Outside the capital, unsuccessful appeals should be directed to the National Parking Adjudication Service. Log on to the www.parking-appeals.gov.uk website for more details. We’ve also listed various useful tips (see box) which may help when lodging an appeal.