Parking Ticket Madness

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sgtbob

Active Member
Joined
May 2, 2008
Messages
125
Location
NW England
Car
1999 T C230K
On sunday morning i drove into my local town with my girlfriend to do some christmas shopping. As the 'new' big multi-story car park is always full and would be chokka on a sunday this close to xmas, i decided to park in the old multi-story, which is one of those old, cramped ones, just outside the town centre. It was free parking on sundays and the lower levels where full, so i decided to go up to one of the very top levels, which were quiet and only had one or two cars parked there. Having spent 2 hours the previous day cleaning and polishing my car, (and discovering numerous 'new' scratches etc on the doors - grrr), plus only a month ago having practically one whole side of my car re-sprayed due to scratches, stone chips and rust (on wheels arches), i decided to park slightly across 2 spaces, as i was fed up with inconsiderate obnoxious people hitting the car when getting out of theirs. Using my better judgement, i decided that because it was a sunday (no income to council due to free parking), and the fact that there were hardly any cars parked on the upper level then it would be ok.

To my utter surprise and subsequent disgust i came back and found a sticky parking notice on my windscreen. Upon opening it i found that i had been fined £50 for parking over 2 spaces!!!! I could not believe it! I was fuming and looked around and drove around the whole car park looking for notices that said it was illegal to park over 2 spaces,....and found none! In fact i didnt find any notices/rules at all!

I am so utterly annoyed and am wondering what to do. Im currently draughting a letter to the council, and am in the right mind not to pay it. However i am going into GMP next march, and dont know if this would eb a good decision. I am a law abiding citizen, and have since getting my liscence in 2001 never ever broken the law/got a speeding ticket/parking ticket/been pulled by the police etc. I pay all my road tax/insurance along with all the other extortionate taxes the goverment see fit to burden us with and this just broke the straw etc.....
I know loads of people (with cheaper and more expensive cars), who park across 2 spaces all over the place, in order to keep their pride and joys; of which in most cases cost them an arm and a leg (and a lot of time and effort) to maintain and keep looking nice, only to be fined for trying to pre-empt the people who like to carlessly knock/chip and scratch their cars in car parks etc.

Am i right in what i am saying? Where do you think i stand with my appeal to the council? Or should i just shut up and be a law-abiding 'sheep' and pay the fine??

Thanks, (and sorry for the long post!!)
 
Am i right in what i am saying? Where do you think i stand with my appeal to the council? Or should i just shut up and be a law-abiding 'sheep' and pay the fine??
Sorry, but you won't win. Pay up, learn the lesson, move on.

RH
 
Sorry, parking across parking spaces, even by a little amount is just asking for it. You won't win.

Also, parking across spaces is probably liable to get your car keyed anyway because oddly enough people don't like it.
 
i decided to go up to one of the very top levels, which were quiet and only had one or two cars parked there.

Don't see the need (ever) for taking two spaces especially in light of your description of the top floors.
 
selfish

Although I understand your reasons for doing it, I have no sympathy for you, one car, one space. If you want two spaces then buy two tickets.
 
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Although I understand your reasons for doing it, I have no sympathy for you, one car, one space. If you want two spaces then buy to tickets.

He woudn't need to buy one ticket, let alone two, as he stated it was free on Sundays.

I understand where you are coming from, and I have had to park like this myself due to previous cars being parked over so I have done the same, but when they leave, your car is left behind looking like you couldn't park! I don't know what the best course of action would be, but good luck in any case.
 
Although I understand your reasons for doing it, I have no sympathy for you, one car, one space. If you want two spaces then buy to tickets.

mmm, and where would you put the other ticket? On your imaginary car that was taking up (half) your second space?:crazy: I agree with you insofar as it's a selfish act to take two spaces but not sure that you could get around it like that
 
selfish

Two tickets on the windscreen would show that you paid for two spaces !.
 
not selfish, as i already posted, OP said it was sunday so no need for tickets whatsoever
 
Although I understand your reasons for doing it, I have no sympathy for you, one car, one space. If you want two spaces then buy to tickets.

Two tickets on the windscreen would show that you paid for two spaces !.

And welcome to you Scot - interesting first posts on the forum that you've only joined today!!

Is there something in the air today - so much angst about......
 
I had a near miss on this last month.

Parked Land Cruiser in multi story and returned to find a couple of uniformed muppets gazing at the rear end. To cut a long story short they were pondering if they should issue a ticket because my rear bumper and door mounted rear wheel were slightly overhanging the parking space behind. (which was happily occupied by a Polo)

After a pointless and ill judged conversation they wandered off after warning me of the evils of occupying more than one space.

Nowdays tactical as well as technical parking skills are required. Watch out for the "extra wide" spaces that are in some places limited to use by cars with child seats and those with a disabled badge (yet are not Disabled spaces) nor carry obvious warnings to that effect.

Expected to clock a single notice on the way in that said "Bays painted Blue on floors X and Y are restricted to use by......" Grrrr! :mad:
 
Sorry, sgtbob, but if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen, or in your case, if you don't like parking in the old multi-storey, don't park there. Take your pride and joy elsewhere, somewhere safer.

Getting my car scratched by others really annoys me ... as do people who think they are more important than everyone else and 'need' 2 spaces.
 
OP said that there were few cars on the level he used. If this situation pertained during his complete stay a more appropriate action might have been to give him a warning notice as no-one else was inconvenienced. If the park filled up then I’m afraid a fine is justified, but £50? Penalties are less for shoplifting!

I quite often park in a car park near to some local shops. As I have a large car I try to park on the end of a row with my wheels actually on the white lines. I do this for two reasons, (a) to lessen the number of parking dings and (b) to make it easier for others trying to park. On one occasion I found a warning notice on my car reminding me to park in the marked bays. I discussed this with the, what transpired to be, sane and reasonable parking attendant. He understood and as I wasn’t inconveniencing anyone, hopefully the reverse, I have continued to park in this manner with his blessing.

This guy actually helps by directing people to spaces, helps them back in / out and so on.
 
On sunday morning i drove into my local town with my girlfriend to do some christmas shopping. As the 'new' big multi-story car park is always full and would be chokka on a sunday this close to xmas, i decided to park in the old multi-story, which is one of those old, cramped ones, just outside the town centre. It was free parking on sundays and the lower levels where full, so i decided to go up to one of the very top levels, which were quiet and only had one or two cars parked there. Having spent 2 hours the previous day cleaning and polishing my car, (and discovering numerous 'new' scratches etc on the doors - grrr), plus only a month ago having practically one whole side of my car re-sprayed due to scratches, stone chips and rust (on wheels arches), i decided to park slightly across 2 spaces, as i was fed up with inconsiderate obnoxious people hitting the car when getting out of theirs. Using my better judgement, i decided that because it was a sunday (no income to council due to free parking), and the fact that there were hardly any cars parked on the upper level then it would be ok.

To my utter surprise and subsequent disgust i came back and found a sticky parking notice on my windscreen. Upon opening it i found that i had been fined £50 for parking over 2 spaces!!!! I could not believe it! I was fuming and looked around and drove around the whole car park looking for notices that said it was illegal to park over 2 spaces,....and found none! In fact i didnt find any notices/rules at all!

I am so utterly annoyed and am wondering what to do. Im currently draughting a letter to the council, and am in the right mind not to pay it. However i am going into GMP next march, and dont know if this would eb a good decision. I am a law abiding citizen, and have since getting my liscence in 2001 never ever broken the law/got a speeding ticket/parking ticket/been pulled by the police etc. I pay all my road tax/insurance along with all the other extortionate taxes the goverment see fit to burden us with and this just broke the straw etc.....
I know loads of people (with cheaper and more expensive cars), who park across 2 spaces all over the place, in order to keep their pride and joys; of which in most cases cost them an arm and a leg (and a lot of time and effort) to maintain and keep looking nice, only to be fined for trying to pre-empt the people who like to carlessly knock/chip and scratch their cars in car parks etc.

Am i right in what i am saying? Where do you think i stand with my appeal to the council? Or should i just shut up and be a law-abiding 'sheep' and pay the fine??

Thanks, (and sorry for the long post!!)

The parking was free - I would believe that they actually have no right to ticket you at all.

Get a copy of the T&C's for that particular car park (from the council) and see what they give tickets for.

Good luck
 
I have to say that I am struggling over this one.

On the one hand, I agree that it could be seen as selfish to straddle lanes.

But on the other hand, if the bays were of a reasonable size and the car park owners took account of or even accepted some responsibility for potential damage to cars due to undersized bays, then things would be rather different.

Most car parks have a disclaimer saying you park at your own risk. They charge you for an inadequate space which then unsurprisingly causes your car to be damaged because the neighbouring car door couldn't be opened without making contact. In the US there are different sized bays for different sized cars and each bay allows for a car door width.

When one steps back and looks at things from a birds eye view, its not the OP who's being selfish, its the greedy car park owners for choosing to ignore the needs of the customer over maximum profits.

For them to issue a penalty to someone who's only trying quite rightly to park his car as safely as possible, someone who's chosen to go to an empty floor of a less popular car park in order to protect their investment seems particularly harsh.

The car park owners shouldn't be able to have it both ways imho. They should provide adequate sized bays or they should be liable for damage caused to customer cars due to the poor spacing.

What is the code for the parking infringement on your ticket? It would be interesting to look this up.
 
The Vito is a fairly tight fit in car park spaces (both length and width). I aim to park in an empty area if possible (don't mind walking a bit extra), failing that I try for an end space or one with a barrier / pillar / etc. on one side - in theory 50% less chance of being dinged :D

If mother & baby spaces are available those are fine ... we do get funny looks sometimes (till we produce the toddler & pushchair). But those are generally full of SUVs and BMWs without any children on board :rolleyes:
 
So the bays change sizes during chargeable times? :confused:

I'm confused as to your point here?
 
I'm confused as to your point here?
Surely 'not charging' is at odds with 'maximising profits'? Just a thought.........

I agree that the penalty is harsh for what transpired, but
1) If the car park is nearly empty, why is there a need for 2 spaces?
2) If the car park is fairly full then it's selfish.
3) Most people know that parking like that is asking for aggravation

RH
 

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