Parking Ticket Question

[jrampton]

I got a parking ticket in Richmond Park last sunday, i was clearly in the wrong, big sign etc so rightfully deserved a ticket.

The ticket was issued by the police and i was with the vehicle and a few others taking photos at the time, the officer had a really bad attitude and he gave all the cars parked up £40 fixed penalty fines.

There were 2 possible offence codes that he could use in the park : 23 - unatended or 24 - wating

I was stood next to the car while he wrote the ticket and he gave me 23 which is unattended.

My question is : Does unattended mean the vehicle was left with the owner unavailable or simply that i wasn't in the car ?

[Parts-King]

Unattended MUST by definition be........well, unattended. If you were with the car it could'nt be unattended. I did find this about appealing parking tickets

Yes there is a right of appeal.The Road Traffic Act 1991 sets out six grounds on which you make representations to the Council. These are shown below:

a. The recipient was not the owner or driver of the vehicle

b. The alleged contravention did not occur

c. The vehicle was stolen at the time of the offence (documentary proof from the police will be required)

d. The relevant Traffic Regulation Order is invalid

e. The owner of the vehicle is a Hire firm and the hirer has signed a statement of liability for any Penalty Charge Notices. (In this case the hirer will be held to be liable and the city council will proceed against the hirer).

f. The amount of the Penalty Charge exceeds the appropriate amount. (In practice this has been correctly approved by the Council and the Department of Transport, so any challenge is unlikely to be successful).

Looking at the above, your only defence would be it didnt happen, and by that I mean the officer issued the wrong code. You could give it a try, but I think you are on sticky ground. The solicitor Nick Freeman gets his clients off using this very method!

Kingo