Below is an email I sent to the Camden Council.
My inquiry concerns a parking attendant (parking attendant number C1790). On Monday 12th February, I drove my wife to the Royal Free hospital for performing amniocentesis. We were in a rush to get to the appointment on time. I parked the car in South End Road NW3 and walked past the above parking attendant saying I have parked there just now and I am off to buy a parking ticket. Having paid 4 pounds 80 pence for the maximum 2 hours at 9.54am, I placed it clearly in the car. After the surgical procedure, I came back and to my horror there was a penalty charge notice marked 10.02am.
The parking contravention was: parked in a residents' parking space without clearly displaying a valid residents' parking permit. (Code 15).
I have checked on your useful website that it does seem to be permit holders only (a map showing this would be useful). So in this respect, I have made a terrible mistake (another suggestion is to identify the difference between the pay and display and permit holders perhaps by markings on the road).
However, I am disappointed to say the least about this parking attendant C1790. He could have easily warned us about the parking being only for permit holders. He knew very well that we were not permit holders because I told him that I am buying a parking ticket.
It is tragic that this incident has disturbed my wife very badly when she should be peacefully resting. I am looking forward to a reply from you that we hope will bring an amicable resolution to this horribly insensitive incident.
Yours sincerely,
Dr Julian Hartley
Many of you may have similar or even worse stories about parking attendants. I would really appreciate you to share your experiences with me.
Some other horror stories that I have heard are about the parking ticket not being displayed properly and receiving a penalty whilst you are buying a parking ticket. Another form which is possibly more common around the world is a coin machine allocated for each parking space (I suppose they should be all like this so you won't have problems of whether it is a pay and display parking space etc. Councils are cutting costs by having one machine that serves many spaces. If they are reportedly making a lot of money, they can afford to do so. This money must be spent on other things.). You have not many coins to buy enough time to park so you put a few coins that you have and go back in the restaurant for some more. You put more coins in to buy the amount you intended. All the time, the parking attendant sees this and yet a penalty is issued because of overfeeding (practice of topping up the parking meter so that you can park longer than the maximum length of time allowed).
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I received a reply after a week (19th February) stating that the parking attendant needs time to check the rules for the parking bay I parked. So I still have to pay. The only good thing was that I have 14 days from the 19th to pay the penalty.
I wrote back detailing how the parking attendant did not need to check the rules because he was already issuing a penalty charge notice to a car adjacent to mine. The email I sent is:
Dear Mr X,
Thank you for your email reply concerning the parking attendant C1790. I think my previous email did not make everything clear to you so I would like to try again.
I parked my car around 09:52 and walked past parking attendant C1790 who was issuing a penalty notice to another car which was adjacent to mine (meaning he was fully aware of the parking scheme). I told him that I am going down to the machine to buy a ticket to display in my car. I did this because I have heard worse stories about parking attendants issuing a penalty during the time the driver is buying the ticket. I paid 4 pounds 80 pence for the maximum stay of two hours. (09:54 to 11:54). I placed this ticket in the car perhaps around 09:56. Now I left the scene rushing to the hospital to be with my wife who was having a operation. C1790 waited it seems between 09:58 to 10:02 and issued the penalty.
C1790 knew very well that he could issue the penalty to as soon as I mentioned that I would be buying a ticket. (Since the car he was issuing a penalty to and my car were adjacent and having checked that that stretch of road is all resident's parking space). I am extremely disappointed that he did not have the moral decency to tell me that a parking ticket here would not apply. He did not do this because he is being paid by the number of penalties he issues. So I am also annoyed with the company that pays their parking attendants like this. I am also very disappointed that the council will employ such a company that pays their employees this way.
I do hope you can see that morally speaking, the parking attendant has been despicable. For this reason, I feel you should reconsider your decision. I am fully aware that I should not have parked there because under close examination it is a resident's parking space. If I had not talked to a parking attendant issuing a ticket right next to my car, I would not be writing this email to you. I would have paid by now.
I have the above described parking ticket as proof.
Yours sincerely,
Julian Hartley
It has been over a week and I have not received a reply yet.
Since the date was getting close to the date after which the fine doubles (they allow us two weeks), I paid it off. Then I receive an email from them on the first day after the two week deadline:
____________________________
Dear Dr Hartley
Thank you for your letter received on 19/02/07 regarding the above Penalty Charge Notice (PCN).
I have read and fully noted the comments of your letter.
However it should be noted that you are no longer able to make representations against the charge. This is because our records show that the Notice was paid at the £50.00 discount level on 28/02/07.
I understand you may be disappointed by my letter, however the Road Traffic Act 1991 is clear in that the mechanism to make payment at the reduced £50.00 is in order to bring the matter to a close.
It also states on the penalty charge notice that in order to make representations that if payment is not made after 14 days a Notice to Owner document will be sent to the registered keeper of the vehicle should they wish to appeal.
By paying the discounted amount for this penalty charge notice the case has been brought to a close and this now prevents the authority from sending a Notice to Owner document to the registered keeper of the vehicle to allow them to make representations. The payment was accepted in full and final settlement. Consequently since the matter has been brought to a conclusion and no further action is required.
I have noted your comments with regards to the Parking Attendant conduct. I can confirm that a high standard of customer care is expected and required from all of our Parking Attendant’s. However, the Parking Attendants are advised not to get into disputes on street over the validity of tickets. For their own safety they are instructed to advise the driver that they may contact the Council and when there is no other course of action, to walk away. While this may unfortunately give the impression that the Parking Attendant is being dismissive or unhelpful, this is not the intention. As outlined in the High Way Code it is ultimately the driver’s responsibility, not a parking attendant’s to ensure that they are aware of the restrictions in force and parked accordingly.
Yours sincerely
Ms Y
__________________________
Ms Y says that since the fine has been paid off, they cannot resolve my issue.
It appears that the local councils are lacking in moral values as well. I don't suppose this is a great surprise at all.
You may not know this but on the penalty charge notice, they have something carefully written down to sound like a threat. You must pay 100 pounds but if you pay within two weeks, you just need to pay 50 pounds. Their tactic is to get people to pay without complaining. They really want people to think that they are so generous in giving us a 50% discount. If they are committed to listening to complaints, they should at least give us enough time for correspondence.
I wish the local councils (Government) can adhere to good moral values. We really need the Government to set good moral values for society to improve.
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