Towed!

[Mellotron]

Wanted to know if anyone had had any experience of this.

My BACK WHEEL was over onto a motorcycles only spot last night, just outside my house in Kemp Town (pretty much all restricted parking, I have a permit).

Have seen many cars park right across this space, as the motorcycles tend to be parked in other areas nearby. I have NEVER seen even a single motorbike parked in the area that I very slightly encroached.

Walk out my house at 10.30 this morning to find car gone, call the council to find it's been taken to the pound on Sackville Road, with a £140 "release fee". Anyone had any experience with this in terms of claims?

They probably have me bang to rights but still a bit of a kick in the teeth, especially the amount.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Similar thing happened to me a few years back. I was parked but the car overhung the bay by about 6 inches. I wrote a polite letter querying the reason for the bay markings: are they hard punishable lines which you literally cannot cross or, as I believe, serve as guide to show where you can and cannot park. I suggested I could not believe the first, so assumed the second and I was fully entering into the spirit of the council's parking scheme by parking where I had. They wrote a polite letter back and cancelled my ticket.

 

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Unlucky mate Hmnnn not sure about towing but with parking tickets I'm pretty sure that they have to take photographic evidence of it, so you could request to see this evidence and perhaps take it to a tribunal to have the release fee refunded. This is at least how it works with parking tickets in London, not sure about towing in Brighton

 

[El Sid]

Maybe a ticket for a very minor offence - but towing away is totally over the top.

Bastards

 

[Lady Gull]

Maybe a ticket for a very minor offence - but towing away is totally over the top.

Bastards

This bloody ridiculous!!!

 

[Westdene Seagull]

You should appeal - many council tickets ( including towing ) are incorrectly issued. You should go and register with PePiPoo: Helping the motorist to get justice and upload the ticket. There are experts there that will help you.

EDIT - *** awaits the usual "rules is rules" twatish brigade ! ***

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Seems over the top. Good luck in appealing the parking department are v unhelpful in my experience and I do not think they have an appeals/ombudsman system in place.

They happily ticket and tow people 100 yards down on London Road to me, but will never come onto our estate when people park illegaly blocking roads/garages, to me this seems to show its more about money making than common sense parking control.

 

[Triggaaar]

Similar thing happened to me a few years back. I was parked but the car overhung the bay by about 6 inches. I wrote a polite letter querying the reason for the bay markings: are they hard punishable lines which you literally cannot cross or, as I believe, serve as guide to show where you can and cannot park. I suggested I could not believe the first, so assumed the second and I was fully entering into the spirit of the council's parking scheme by parking where I had. They wrote a polite letter back and cancelled my ticket.

Have you got a copy of the letter you could email to Mellotron?

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

seems very harsh, but nothing less than i would expect from the parking officers in brighton. the vast majority of which display no common sense whatsoever.
parking in brighton....my pet hate

 

[Garage_Doors]

What car do you have? if its a smart car for instance then the distance from the the rear wheel and the back of the car is minimal, but if you have a mondeo it can be 2-3 feet.
The "car" must not encroach the bay rather than the back wheel.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Seems over the top. Good luck in appealing the parking department are v unhelpful in my experience and I do not think they have an appeals/ombudsman system in place.

They happily ticket and tow people 100 yards down on London Road to me, but will never come onto our estate when people park illegaly blocking roads/garages, to me this seems to show its more about money making than common sense parking control.

Just as long as it was a B&H Council ticket / towing then they have got an appeals system. The trick is not to let them bully you - go for adjudication.

 

[Comedy Steve]

Similar thing happened to me a few years back. I was parked but the car overhung the bay by about 6 inches. I wrote a polite letter querying the reason for the bay markings: are they hard punishable lines which you literally cannot cross or, as I believe, serve as guide to show where you can and cannot park. I suggested I could not believe the first, so assumed the second and I was fully entering into the spirit of the council's parking scheme by parking where I had. They wrote a polite letter back and cancelled my ticket.

Is the correct course of action / response

 

[Ninja Elephant]

When you get the car out of the pound, there'll be a ticket on the window and you can go on the Brighton and Hove website and see the pictures taken of your car when the ticket was issued. Towing out of a motorcycle bay is rare, you've been very unlucky there. Also, it depends what ticket code they used. If it was for being out of bay, rather than wrong classification of vehicle (car in an M/C bay), then you've got grounds for appeal straight away.

 

[BensGrandad]

The basic guidelines are to appeal every council issued ticket and stick with it and say you want to take it to a tribunal. In most cases it will be cancelled as it is not worth the councils cost and hassle to go to a tribunal, which incidentally doesn't pass the cost of the tribunal on to you, even if the council do win the case. The total cost to you is a little time to answer letters and a few 2nd class stamps.

 

[hitony]

This bloody ridiculous!!!

Please do not swear on NSC its not big and its not clever! ! This is your first and only warning, should you use any more filthy language like this I will have no alternative but to infract you!! :thumbdown:

 

[Westdene Seagull]

The basic guidelines are to appeal every council issued ticket and stick with it and say you want to take it to a tribunal. In most cases it will be cancelled as it is not worth the councils cost and hassle to go to a tribunal, which incidentally doesn't pass the cost of the tribunal on to you, even if the council do win the case. The total cost to you is a little time to answer letters and a few 2nd class stamps.

Is absolutely the correct answer but I wouldn't expect anything less from BG.

 

[Garage_Doors]

I will infract you!! :thumbdown:

Never heard it called that before ! gernalf, gernalf

 

[guster]

Was it raining at the time? Perhaps "Standing Water" was covering the lines when you parked meaning the lines werent visible.

 

[BensGrandad]

Is absolutely the correct answer but I wouldn't expect anything less from BG.

Still trying to trace the owner of the clamping company in Tunbridge Wells

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Still trying to trace the owner of the clamping company in Tunbridge Wells

Blimey !!!! That's taking some time.