4:43pm UK, Thursday June 22, 2006

Britain's parking system is a mess, and that's official!

MPs have declared it "inconsistent and confused". 

They saylines and signs to indicate parking rules are often unclear and that many drivers have difficulty understanding and complying with the law. 

Sounds familiar? Everyone seems to have their own parking ticket nightmare story to tell.

Here's a selection of your views. Thanks for writing.

After a sports injury I parked at a meter and put 20p in to go to the pharmacy to get my medication. The cashier was busier that I expected and as I was walking out I saw the warden walking to my car. I called him from across the street and told him that I was moving it. The meter must have run out less than 1 minute ago. As I was limping I couldn't run and had to wait for the lights to change. He slapped the ticket on my window and started to walk away as I arrived. I challenged him , but he said "I didn't issue that ticket it was another warden".
Ali Hamoud, Glasgow 

My tip, and it works; try it ask your traffic warden for their office number. Ring them up and say you have large amount of cash to be banked and they will let you park anywhere. They will radio the traffic wardens on the street not to ticket your car.
Irfan Patel

Rather than give wardens bonuses for the number of tickets they issue why not cut salaries in line with the number of illegal tickets they have issued. That way they will be much more careful in the way they conduct themselves. Having received a ticket issued incorrectly recently from Wandsworth Council, following a number of letters, I finally got a grudging reply with a tone more of 'you should count yourself lucky' than apologetic!
Paul, Sutton 

Some months ago I took my disabled wife to the local health centre to collect her repeat prescription. I parked in a nearby street, as we usually did. However, on this occasion we noticed there were signs stating 'No Loading', as future work was to start in that area. As the sign did not say 'No Parking', we displayed my wife's Blue Badge accordingly, as we believed this to be the correct thing to do. On our return, (we had only been gone five minutes or so), a traffic warden was standing near the car. He started writing out a ticket. I explained that we only went to collect a prescription and also that the signs only stated No Loading not No Parking. He said as far as he was concerned we were illegally parked, but that if we rang the council they would scrap the ticket. We were very angry, to say the least, but with an attitude like that, you could understand why we never bothered to ring the council. We just paid up the £30. We felt this was a dreadful and distasteful way for the council to boost their funds.
Alan Williams

The whole point of parking wardens is to penalise cars that are blocking traffic or endangering other motorists. In reality, all they really do is "shark" for business by waiting for meters to expire or looking for tickets that have just expired. The fact that most of them are incentivised with holidays and commission just proves they are not doing a public service but just a way of generating revenue for the various different boroughs or councils.
Alistair Evans, London 

I recently returned to New Zealand, having worked in London for the past two years. I worked for a local company with a small fleet of vans delivery to the event and hospitality industry. I estimate that a quarter of my time was spent in dealing with traffic infringement notices issued by the various councils (predominantly Westminster). I got off three-quarters of these simply because they were fraudulently issued. I believe a large percentage of people simply treat it as a one off and can't be bothered arguing so they pay the tickets whether or not they have been issued correctly.
Ben Norman-Larter

One traffic warden seemed to be very impressed with the way I parked - he even put a note on the windscreen saying 'Parking Fine'.
Andy Williams

Always appeal. And keep appealing. It only takes a few minutes to write a letter and you can find out all the 'legalese' from the interweb to back up your case. Don't be bullied by the threat of a rise in the fee if you don't win, I have won all of my appeals because these private companies don't want the hassle or the cost to keep the appeal process going.
Stefan Morris 

Parking wardens were introduced to keep the traffic moving, to keep roads clear for road users - they were NOT introduced to slap a ticket on anything and everything that slows below walking pace! I see them ticketing cars that belong to carers, while they help their elderly charge into their house, a matter of maybe three minutes. I've seen them ticket the cars of people WHILST they are unloading their baby, pushchair and shopping outside their house. Why not help them out, like traffic wardens used to, then the car can be moved and your job is done! The access is clear and you can go about your day happy that you've done a good job.
Andy Clark 

Let's have a vote in each town to get the double yellow lines removed.
Paul Mulhern

My partner was issued with a ticket even though he was displaying a ticket on his Range Rover's dashboard. The traffic warden explained that she was too small to see onto the dash, (she was 4ft 11') - it was not her problem and we should complain to the ticket office!
Emma Glass, Bedford

Any ticketing system that is motivated by quota bonuses is definitely open to corruption. And the councils turn a blind eye because they make the most money from it. Parking tickets are just another form of taxation on drivers, on top of extortionate road tax and petrol prices. I can't believe the government will do anything to sort it out, especially if Brown is Prime Minister, he gets the most income from motorists!
Clare, Derby

I parked two wheels on the urban road by a sign which permits you to do so. My car was about to be towed away. When I challenged the warden she defended the ticket because she said that I had parked outside the bay (but there was no bay for about 100 yards) and that was not the offence on my ticket. Finally, the council buckled at the last minute due to inadequate signage.
Adam Arkus, London

My wife is a nurse and was called out to a patient's house on an emergency call two weeks ago. She received a parking ticket and even though the NHS wrote to the local council to advise them that she was on an emergency callout they refused to cancel the ticket and she had to pay it.
Ed Martin

I used to work for a broadcast company installing edit suites, When we had to unload and load very heavy kit in the Soho area of London we would sometimes get tickets. The company would argue the case on each occasion, and over the year 50% of the fines would be cancelled. The whole idea of traffic wardens is to stop people blocking the roads and keeping the traffic moving. Putting a clamp on a vehicle doesn't do this.
Tim Leavy

Last year, my son drove me into Hemel Hempstead for a doctor's appointment. He parked in the municipal carpark in the town, He had a long van and parked between the lines. He was not in a disabled or mother and toddler space. When we returned he had a parking ticket (in a car park!) We couldn't believe it. I confronted the traffic warden and asked why he had issued the ticket. He said the car was illegally parked because the back wheels were not within the white lines. But the area behind our space was void as it backed onto the carpark boundary. I asked him to show me where it stated that straddling the white lines was an offence. He directed to the small print under the ticket machine.
Eileen Palmer

I once parked my car in Knightsbridge, London, bought a ticket and displayed as normal and went to my meeting. About 20 minutes later I saw my car on the back of a lorry being towed away. I ran out, saw a traffic warden and asked why. He told me the parking bay was suspended. I said to him where does it say that? He said on the lamp post, which was 15-20 meters down the road. I told him 'you expect me to see that, why didn't you display it on the ticket machine?' I took a taxi to the car pound and paid £200 to have my car released. I went back to the same road and took pictures as evidence. Eventually, I went to tribunal where my appeal was allowed and my £200 refunded, but after a lot of extra work and effort.
Harry Karim

I have had a few run-ins with traffic wardens or whatever they are called. I finally had enough of them when four of them approached my car while I was parked outside a police station. It was like a comedy routine - they all took out their notebooks and starting tutting and pointing at the car. I started reading a newspaper. After a couple of minutes I looked up and they were still at it. I growled 'that's it'... I have had enough of traffic wardens and got out the car showed them my pay and display sticker, then ran over to the police station and embarrassingly I shouted help! As I ran in the station door they all scarpered. I was beginning to be harassed by four Vultures! Yes, it does sound funny - but after you've had a number of parking tickets issued without proper reason it gets very annoying.
Robert, Glasgow

I received a parking ticket even though I had a sticker in my side window which I purchased 20 minutes before for three hours parking. They claim to have cctv footage that I didn't purchase a ticket which is complete rubbish as they don't know who I am. And I definitely did buy a ticket. They're just bullies.
Donna McCullough

What is it with Sky News - always so anti-authoritarian. Now your tirade is directed against parking attendants. If vehicle drivers cannot obey the law then it's up to parking attendants to issue a ticket - to someone breaking the rule. If it was down to me I'd increase the fines up to more than £5,000 per offence and if not paid on time clamp the vehicle until the fine is paid in full even for 10 years if necessary. Funny how people want to be tough on crime - but not on parking crime. Parking illegally is a crime. Those that disobey should be banged with a criminal offence record.
Tony Fellows, Birmingham

It seems to be the same situation as in Dublin, the parking wardens are sharks out for business, pure and simple, I have, like one of your other comments, appealed against every ticket and through pure stubbornness I have received my money back. Check out websites for good tips on getting your money back. Don't be bullied, thay are no better than muggers on the street - Fight back.
Michael Crean

I got a parking fine, even though I was correctly displaying a pay-and-display ticket. I wrote to the council complaining and enclosed the pay-and-display ticket. They wrote back telling me that they had considered the matter and decided that the fine should stand. They then refused any further discussion on the matter on the grounds I had no evidence because I no longer had the pay-and-display ticket. Thieves are more honourable.
Kevin Spinks

If you come to Newcastle-under-Lyme you can park on single and double yellow lines and on the pedestrian precinct in the iron market and all day without getting a parking ticket, and you can also park outside the police station right on top of the T junction were the police officers that are on duty park for up to 12 hours at a time. We have no traffic wardens to enforce parking. The council voted no so long ago not to take charge of this so there is 24/7 free parking.
A. Williams