Illegal parking tickets in Nottingham

Drivers could have received illegal parking-tickets

(Left) PARKING UP THE RIGHT TREE -- Ray Bramley by the 'No Waiting At Any Time' sign

Hucknall Dispatch
Published Date: 12 March 2010

A HUCKNALL man who has had a parking-ticket quashed fears other drivers might have paid fines when they didn't need to.
Ray Bramley, of Braunton Close, parked his car on a strip of land outside the Green Dragon pub car-park on Watnall Road last May. He received a ticket from a warden working for Notts County Council. But Mr Bramley believed he had done no wrong because he was parked on private land.

A traffic-penalty tribunal agreed with him and the £70 ticket was dropped last October. But now a 'No Waiting At Any Time' sign has been put up on the land by the county council, leaving Mr Bramley confused.

He said: "How can the council get away with putting that sign there? It is private land."Even after a tribunal ruling, the sign is still there."The council just seem to push things as far as they want and get away with it. They use bully-boy tactics."I wonder how many other people paid a fine for parking where I parked, when they didn't have to."How much money have they made from this land? Will they pay any back?"And why did my case go on for so long? I proved early on it was private land. It is just plain ignorance."
They rejected two appeals and I had it hanging over me for six months. The appeal process needs revamping."

The land, which sits between the pavement and the wall of the pub car-park, belongs to Trust Inns, who run the pub. The firm was surprised to hear the 'No Waiting' sign was there -- because it had told the council to move it last October.

Lyn Perry, of Trust Inns, said: "We did not give permission to the council to put the sign there. We wrote to them saying we wanted it removing. We sent proof of ownership of the land and photographs."We will be writing to them again as we did not know the sign was still there until you told us."

When contacted by the Dispatch, the council was unavailable for comment.