Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Fined driver takes on council and wins ... another Council falls

In March 2006 I predicted a national moratorium for drivers who had unpaid non-compliant PCNs.
The dominoes are toppling ... like nine pins ;-)

Havant and West Sussex
A MOTORIST took on a council over a parking fine – and won.

Stephen Taylor was fined £30 after his ticket slipped down the dashboard of his car.
Determined not to pay up, he took Havant Borough Council to the National Parking Adjudication Service.
And the motorist is today celebrating after the panel found in his favour.
It ruled that Mr Taylor, from Chichester, proved he had bought a ticket when he was fined in Emsworth in June.
He said: 'I appealed because I just thought they were being really petty.
'I have never failed to pay in more than 10 years of parking here.'
During the hearing the panel also found that thousands of parking fines handed out by Havant Borough Council were invalid.
Fines issued failed to include two dates – when the offence took place and when the fine was issued.
After a High Court ruling in August both dates must appear on the fine so the motorist – who has 28 days to appeal – knows how much time they have to challenge it.
Immediately after the ruling Havant council changed its parking fines.
Even though the authority had previously been handing out thousands of illegal tickets, it will not have to repay the fines.
Once a fine has been paid an individual motorist loses their right to appeal.
Gerry Facenna, a barrister who works for Monkton Chambers, said: 'Any tickets which failed to have two dates on them even before the High Court ruling are still considered invalid.
'In terms of challenging it, people have a very limited time, 28 days I think.
'Those who have already paid are unlikely to be able to claim it back.'
Havant council said it had changed its parking fines on the day of the High Court ruling.
Council leader David Gillett didn't want to comment on the issue, but a council spokeswoman said: 'The public can be advised that action against drivers who park in a thoughtless, dangerous or improper manner will be tackled by the council.'

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hmm,

"people have a limited time, 28 days i think"

Nice to know that the Barrister's so sure.

"Those who have already paid are inlikely to be able to claim it back"

Wanna bet? this chap needs to get with the times, we already have a number of cases of restitution. Class action next.

lastly:

council spokeswoman said: 'The public can be advised that action against drivers who park in a thoughtless, dangerous or improper manner will be tackled by the council.'

Well, a victim of Council law breaking said ' Councils can be advised that action against those local authorities who knowingly and thoughlessly break the law will be tackled by Neil Herron and his associates.

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