Parked my car down a residential street with no parking restrictions, about a month ago.

Came back to it last night, to find parking permit restriction lines have been painted around it, and 3 parking fines under the windscreen wiper (dated 18th, 19th, and 21st Dec). There was no note about restrictions being introduced or anything.

Spoke to a police man about it who said I should definitely appeal – which I plan to do.

Has anyone had a similar situation – did you appeal, did you succeed, and any tips?

Thanks,
Duane.

Firstly may I ask why you have a car?
Secondly may I state ianal so I cannot advise on the op.
However find it somewhat intriguing to have a car and not actually drive it.

…and this is why streets have residents parking only, cause people like the OP leave their car in front of someone’s house for a month 8)

Probably the appeal part is to state the facts and get on with it. You would have to assume that the residents of the street got notified of the restrictions. How far from your house is the street?

You left your car in a random place for about a month.

Maybe they put the restrictions in place because abandoned vehicles where becoming a burden to those the live there.

That would be my guess. 😆

I reckon his house is too modest so he parks in a posher street.

Haha, thanks for the replies. I appreciate why parking restrictions exist in residential areas, and will no longer park in this area.

FWIW, I’m happy to pay for 1 ticket but would rather not pay all 3!

Pro tip – buy a yellow car with black polka dots next time so you won’t notice all the tickets on it.

Tbf three tickets is taking the piss as they will know your car was there before the change.

Used to live on a street really close to the town centre and just accepted that people would, legally, pinch my spot, especially on Saturday. If it’s allowed there’s no point in getting upset about it.

The residents would have been informed by post, the council should have also put up notifications on the street and parking suspension signs before the work was carried out. It must be fairly rare for someone to not check on their car for a month, not sure what your chances are of winning an appeal.

There was probably notices of the plans for the lines on lampposts and local residents informed but I guesss you missed them.

Tbf three tickets is taking the piss as they will know your car was there before the change.

I reckon the person issuing the tickets had no idea as they wouldn’t have painted the lines.

No parking restrictions when it was first parked so the OP did nothing wrong, but….really annoying to leave your car there for a month. Without knowing the full story, I have no sympathy, and I hope you have to pay the full fine, and learn your lesson not to be antisocial with your parking. Happy Christmas!

need pics

I used to have some involvement with this sort of thing.

First off, local streets are NOT for local people. Everyone has the same right to road side parking, which, unless there is a Traffic Regulation Order permitting said parking, is none at all.

Typically when a new Traffic Regulation Order is proposed, residents would be consulted and copies would be available to view at thew council offices and in local paper(s).

A notice would be posted on site a number of days before a Temporary Traffic Regulation Order came into force which would keep the highway clear to allow the road painting to be carried out.

If your car was there and not moved during any of this, then you will win your appeal.

However, the Civil Enforcement Officer will have noted, and probably photographed you can in situ and recorded the valve positions (this is a useful way to tell if a car have left and returned or not left).

If this goes to appeal, ask to see that valve positions have been recorded and if they haven’t, ask why not as it would have been useful information in this case and if they’ve not done it, they should give you the benefit of the doubt.

In my experience, the local authority will try and bully you out of an appeal, however, if you stick to your guns and it goes to adjudication, i would expect you to win, provided what you have said is try and you haven’t just missed a legal notice posted on the lamp column next to your car.

It’s three tickets as they can issue a new one each day, but they should all be overturned.

A MONTH….. I’m surprised you have a car left !

First off, local streets are NOT for local people. Everyone has the same right to road side parking, which, unless there is a Traffic Regulation Order permitting said parking, is none at all.

No one is saying they legally couldn’t park there, it’s more leaving your car in front of someone else’s house for a month not really being cricket.

Neither is parking on both sides of the street making it virtually impassable, or parking on the footway obstructing pedestrians but it happens all the time.

I’ve been called in the past to deal with two neightbours screaming at each other in the street about who’s parking space it was. After years of that, I’m admittedly overly sensitive about people getting on their high horse about parking when they typically know very little about it other than what they want it to be.

But this is STW after all. 😉

However find it somewhat intriguing to have a car and not actually drive it.

Did 2,500 miles in my car last year. It went 4 months without being driven once when I lived abroad. My car, my choice what to do with it.

But this is STW after all.

I’ll have you know I park my high horse on those fancy jaggy lines in front of schools. Always seem to be clear, which is nice. I always get other motorists shouting words of, i assume encouragement, when I do.

Did 2,500 miles in my car last year. It went 4 months without being driven once when I lived abroad. My car, my choice what to do with it.

Context, was it parked outside your house, or 3 streets away in a congested narrow road?

It happened to me as a visitor once for resurfacing, but their on street notification was poor, there were no cones or anything in place and the reception I got from the road crew despite moving it as soon as I was informed meant I had a good case. Take pictures.

I leave my car where I like. If people have Territorial attitudes to road outside their house that’s their problem. I still anticipate and try not to step on anyone’s toes Though. Unless they are dick about it. Kicking your door in though….we moved house after that.

You left your car in a random place for about a month.

He left his car legally parked on a public road for a month.

Everyone has the same right to road side parking, which, unless there is a Traffic Regulation Order permitting said parking, is none at all.

Huh?

You can park where you like for as long as you like unless there are restrictions to the contrary, surely? Have I misread / misunderstood?

FWIW, I’m happy to pay for 1 ticket but would rather not pay all 3!

I wouldn’t be.

Cougar, that’s the common misconception. Technically, you can’t park unless something says you can. Not the other way around.

The public highway is dedicated for the purpose of passing and repassing only.

Do you have any recommended further reading? (I’m not doubting you, I’d like to know more.)

It’s people like the OP and their parking that gets areas turned in to resident parking areas, whether it’s appropriate or not.

I live on the junction of two roads, my drive is accessed from the road on the side, the front is double yellow lines. Resident parking is being introduced on all of the local roads except the road at the front, but because I live on a road that isn’t included in the restrictions then I’m unable to buy a parking permit. I lost an appeal for planning permission to extend my drive, because the area is in a conservation zone.

So thanks for abandoning your car, the knock on effect is other people have to suffer the consequences.

Cougar, 4 year working in traffic management for a local authority developing such schemes and writing traffic regulation orders Is how I come to know about this stuff.

However, fortunately I’ve forgotten exactly which bits of legislation as I’ve not done any of that for over 6 years now.

Surely it would be obvious to the warden by the fact the lines will be broken at either end of the car? Just take a picture of the broken gap and you should be good. I’d be surprised if the road crew hadn’t logged the fact the job wasn’t completed.

Do you have any recommended further reading?

IME three questions under s137 Highways Act 1980 (other legislation is available 🙂 ):
1. Is there an obstruction?…apart from a minimal time, yes, there will be
2. Is it accidental?…not wilful
3. Do you have lawful authority/excuse?…permits/licences like what Onzadog said
Having said that, where should people park?
I think that a lot of the cases these days relate more to public gathering rather than parking, here’s a brief explanation

And some additional light reading, crops on highways, skips, etc

It could have been worse

In the good ole days when I was commuting to Twickenham in a maxi and street parking where I could, I came out of the office one evening and the car had gone, also the road had been retarmaced, they decided to retarmac the road and not bother giving anybody any warning, luckily an old boy saw me looking around in a somewhat irate state and told me they’d unlocked it and moved it round the corner so they could get the tarmacing done, car was undamaged (and locked) and a 1 year mot cheapie so off I went

So thanks for abandoning your car, the knock on effect is other people have to suffer the consequences.

The car wasn’t abandoned. And we all suffer the consequences of people who drive more.

As said, some will leave a car for weeks or months when going on holiday / work abroad etc. Find a convenient free parking residential street that’s not far from an airport / tube stop, for example.

Op, was the spot outside your house free?

All you lot going on about ‘not leaving your car outside someone’s house for a month’ – get real!

As someone who lives in a city centre RPZ, there’s no such thing as ‘my spot’ or ‘being able to park in front of my house’ – I’m lucky if I get to park on my own street, never mind in front of my house – and I’m fine with that. Nobody expects to be able to park in front of their house and it’s not unusual for cars to not move for ages. OK, I don’t need a car every day, but I still need a car, so mine might not move for a while.

And for those not familiar with Residents Parking Zones – they aren’t really designed for the benefit of residents, they are to discourage people from commuting into cities in their cars, in order to reduce pollution.

So to the OP – you have my sympathy. There weren’t any signs up anywhere when our local RPZ was implemented, and if the street you actually live on wasn’t part of the new scheme then there’s no way anyone could assume you’d have been aware of it.

Had something similar(ish) happen to em in a council mutistorey car park in Plymouth years ago. Was visting a mate in the uni halls one weekend and arrived late Saturday evening so parked up in the car park and paid for the time left before it became free on the Sunday. Got back to it on Sunday evening to find a £90 ticket on it and that they had changed the signage to make Sundays chargeable! Thnkfully I’d taken a photo of my mate dicking about in the car park when I arrived and it had the old sign in the background clearly saying it was free from the time I’d paid up to. Took a bit of fighting but the council eventually backed down.

BUT as having lived in a city street that had problems with long term car parking by non-residents that while you were legally correct in parking your car there for a whole month it’s a bit of a dick move. It’s these kind of things that lead to (usually annoying and dickish) residents putting cones out to save ‘their’ space etc then to permit areas.

Surely if you parked there before the restrictions came into force you can’t now be liable for any parking fines as when you originally parked you were not violating any parking restrictions.

Common sense would be for traffic wardens to have noted which cars were already there as the restrictions came into force and subsequently not ticketed them.

Seems very unfair and I’d be rather peeved also.

It’s these kind of things that lead to (usually annoying and dickish) residents putting cones out to save ‘their’ space etc then to permit areas.

This wouldn’t happen where I live. People don’t expect to be able to park outside their house.

Wouldn’t happen where I live as no one would leave their car outside someone else’s house for a month.

Don’t you live in a rural area though 😆

I think you’ll be able to get it cancelled on appeal. Standard procedure these days seems to be – fine first, let the ‘customer’ appeal. See also, private parking ‘invoices’. They seem to rely on people being too busy/scared about credit ratings to contest them. How many times, even on here do you see the advice “just pay it, life’s too short” etc? Always worth fighting it, if only for the greater good 🙂

And why shouldn’t the OP leave his car somewhere for a month? Nobody has anymore right to the road outside their house than anybody else. Fair enough if he’d left a huge luton van outside someone’s house and it was blocking out the sun…