Take a read of the following. A recent court case has determined that many of the parking restrictictions in the west end of London are illegal, and you may have grounds for appeal of for your fine to be refunded. It backs up advice I have given previously on parking tickets :oops:
In a landmark case at the London Parking Adjudicator, Barrie Segal, the founder of AppealNow.com, got the Controlled Parking Zone for the central zone of London’s West End declared illegal.
Barrie represented transport company, Keystone Distribution UK Ltd in a case against Westminster Council where he claimed that the Council’s massive F3 Controlled Parking Zone in the heart of the West End was illegal and that no parking tickets could be issued to motorists on single yellow lines in that zone. Barrie’s argument was that Zone F3 did not have the correct signs at each vehicle entry point and therefore the zone was illegal. After a site inspection the Parking Adjudicator agreed with Barrie.
The effect of the decision (Keystone Distribution UK Ltd –v - City of Westminster Case 2080274557), is that every single yellow line must have a time plate showing the parking restrictions along its length (The Department for Transport recommends every 30 metres). As hardly any single yellow lines in the area have these individual signs no parking ticket can be issued to vehicles parked or waiting there.
The F3 Zone is bordered by the whole of Oxford Street to the south, Edgware Road to the West,
George Street /New Cavendish Street to the North and from Centre Point northwards to the East
In a statement Barrie said” This is a victory for motorists in their fight against over-zealous councils. This decision will affect motorists throughout the United Kingdom as I believe that hundreds if not thousand of Controlled Parking Zones are not properly marked as required by law. It is clear to me that millions of parking tickets have been issued illegally in London and the rest of the UK. For years councils have unfairly penalised motorists for trivial contraventions like parking slightly over a parking bay and have said “that’s the law”. Well this is the law and the council failed to comply and must suffer with the consequences”
Barrie’s advice to motorists who have received parking tickets for parking on single yellow lines in the F3 zone in Westminster is to contest their parking ticket quoting the “Keystone case – PATAS number 2080274557) ”
Legal Background.
1. The legal requirement for signs in a Controlled Parking Zone is governed by the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002.
2. A Controlled Parking Zone must have at each vehicular entrance to the Zone a sign in the form of Diagram 663 0r 663.1 which specified the restricted parking time.
3. If the Controlled Parking Zone is valid then the council does not need to have a time plate at 30 metres along each single yellow line. As a result the council can issue Penalty Charge Notices (parking tickets) to any vehicle waiting on that single yellow line (unless they are exempt – e.g unloading goods) during those restricted hours without the need for individual time plates running along the length of the single yellow line.
4. If Controlled Parking Zone is NOT valid then no parking ticket can be issued to a vehicle parked on a single yellow line UNLESS THEY HAVE THOSE INDIVIDUAL TIME PLATES! As few yellow lines in Central London do then any such parking tickets have been issued illegally.
5. The F3 Zone is bordered by the whole of Oxford Street to the south, Edgware Road to the West, George Street /New Cavendish Street to the North and from Centre Point northwards to the East. See Westminster website http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/docstore ... prices.pdf
6. Extract from decision of the Parking Adjudicator
“Despite three adjournments I have not been assisted by any information from the local authority concerning the Controlled Parking Zone described as “F3”.
Controlled Zone F3 has no signs in the form 663 or 663.1 at any of the entrances . The definition of its being a controlled Parking Zone under Regulation 3 and Direction 25(2) in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 is not therefore made out therefore
In consequence, if the local authority wish to enforce parking restrictions on any of its streets in that neighbourhood and in particular, Regent Street [My note – this where this parking ticket was issued] it will not be able to rely upon the signing concession in Direction 25(2) and will need to ensure that the requirements of Direction 25(1) are complied with.
The signing is therefore unlawful here and the appeal is allowed.”
For anyone who has been given a parking ticket in London
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