Towed!

[marshy68]

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

agreed but thats why its best to park legally, however minor the infraction you will get nicked.... not trying to be clever or arsey just know that even if you are slightly over the markings they will issue a ticket.

 

[BUTTERBALL]

You've been unlucky. They have probably been out in much greater force due to Pride. Worth appealing.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

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.

I found the trick was to try and get them to even communicate with you? Would love the chance to have been bullied at least someone would be paying attention to my letters.

 

[glasfryn]

maybe some of you were not around when the famous/infamous tow away squad were around, they used every possible way to catch the motorist but will say the parking in Brighton was awful at the time(by the motorists) and has had the effect that most people from outside the city are very careful about how they park.
we lived just off the Lewes rd at the time and would see droves of people looking for the pound which at the time was in Bevendean one lot that got our pity was one guy with about a dozen scouts in tow looking for his Transit to take them home poor sod.
the officials then as now are rather pedantic and probably had a slow day
and I you find the there might be some way out of this
be lucky

 

[clippedgull]

Saw a few being towed away from George Street in Kemp Town yesterday morning about 9am. Plenty of No Parking notices due to Pride taking over the area displayed, so their fault I guess.

 

[smeariestbat]

i got a parking ticket in brighton once,i was parked in a marked bay displaying a alid disabled badge. didnt see the permit holders only sign 100 or so yards down the road. surprise surprise got a ticket. would of appealed but was going to florida the next day for two weeks so i just paid the 30 quid.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

The other day I saw a kiddies bike chained to a parking restriction sign in Campbell Road with some kind of councilese notice stuck to it. There's one heartbroken nine year old that's going without pocket money til they're about eleven.

 

[Del Boy]

Challenge it.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

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.

That's not my experience of B&H Council's parking office. When a good case can be made for cancelling a parking ticket, I've always found that a polite letter (or a visit to the Parking Shop at Hove Town Hall) has always resulted in the cancellation of the ticket. Sometimes with the proviso of "On this occasion ...", but nevertheless a cancellation.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

That's not my experience of B&H Council's parking office. When a good case can be made for cancelling a parking ticket, I've always found that a polite letter (or a visit to the Parking Shop at Hove Town Hall) has always resulted in the cancellation of the ticket. Sometimes with the proviso of "On this occasion ...", but nevertheless a cancellation.

I only ever had one ticket, near the cricket ground. I was three minutes over and the attentent was no where to be seen when I returned to the car. I wrote 7 e-mails appealing explaining I was pretty much there at the time, I asked what time did they allow before ticketing, were they on a motor bike i.e quick to get away, could I see any photo they took. Not one reply, so my experience is a poor one. Especially coupled with the inaction on our estate that is minutes away from London Road where they seem to have lots of enforment officers and parking meters at v high prices - hence loads of poor parking on our estate.

 

[Superphil]

They will have photographed it, ask them to show it to you, and then ask them to review their decision based on the evidence that will show it was a minor infraction into a space that was not in use. Fingers crossed they'll be reasonable and cancel the 'fine'

 

[BensGrandad]

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

The owner Ian Hunt is very allusive.

 

[LadySeagull]

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.

Mellotron, do as advised by BensGrandad.

As they say on pepipoo, appealing against a Council tow is always a no-brainer; you would be daft not to try. And we are not just talking about an inital appeal, going to adjudication over this is a must. It's one of the few cases where you have no extra penalty money to risk over it 'cos you have already paid - normally the Council get away with most PCNs because people see the bribe of the discounted penalty and pay. But with a towing you never had the chance to appeal so now is your risk-free chance.

Would recommend you start a new thread on pepipoo here:

FightBack Forums -> Council Parking Tickets Clamping and Decriminalised Notices

You will need to show the posters therre, photos of the bay and pics of the front & back of all paperwork. It is worth it because almost everyone who appeals a Council tow gets a refund when on pepipoo forums. And that's not just the tow fee, that's the PCN refunded in full as well, in almost every case. Start by going to that link and reading any towaway thread you see (any Council) and you will find some grounds for appeal that are always used.

Let us know on here when you get your refund.

 

[LadySeagull]

Surely the whole of the car has to be over the whole of the line for it to be outside the parking bay!?

Nope, not like football!

Only one wheel usually. But we don't know what contravention code is on the PCN, may not say 'outside of marked bay'. It's one of many things pepipoo will look at to help Mellotron win his money back in full.

 

[Garage_Doors]

Nope, not like football!

Only one wheel usually. But we don't know what contravention code is on the PCN, may not say 'outside of marked bay'. It's one of many things pepipoo will look at to help Mellotron win his money back in full.

I'd always assumed the whole car had to clear the line? , if your wheels we inside the bay but the back end of the car was over hanging the M/C bay then you were illegally parked. is this right or wrong?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

That's not my experience of B&H Council's parking office. When a good case can be made for cancelling a parking ticket, I've always found that a polite letter (or a visit to the Parking Shop at Hove Town Hall) has always resulted in the cancellation of the ticket. Sometimes with the proviso of "On this occasion ...", but nevertheless a cancellation.

Same here, as per my earlier post. I have had a couple of tickets where it was my fault and which I have taken on the chin. I wonder if this helped my case ie they could see from my history I am not a serial abuser with heaps of tickets to my and not one of those serial parking (or anti-parking?) appealers.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I'd always assumed the whole car had to clear the line? , if your wheels we inside the bay but the back end of the car was over hanging the M/C bay then you were illegally parked. is this right or wrong?

I think it's petty to look at it like this. The bays are a guide to show you where you can and cannot park; an arguement about centre metres over the line is crazy and from my experience the council see it this way as well. Maybe the parky in Mellotron's case was new?

 

[Garage_Doors]

I think it's petty to look at it like this. The bays are a guide to show you where you can and cannot park; an arguement about centre metres over the line is crazy and from my experience the council see it this way as well. Maybe the parky in Mellotron's case was new?

Not looking at a petty point of view, when ever i have parked i have always made sure that none of the car was over hanging as i was sure i would et a ticket for it, in fact its happened when after i have parked it and looked i have moved to find another space as did not want to risk the ticket.
If your sure its just the wheels we have to make sure are not on the yellow lines then that's great it will help me for the future.

 

[Chicken Runner61]

Mellotron

Look at this

Example Cases - Traffic Penalty Tribunal

 

[Mr Burns]

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.

Just pay them the money and damn their insolence