Had a ticket in Ealing ... better read this and tell your friends

Ealing's Councillor Taylor says: "We have to draw the line somewhere ..." May I humbly suggest that he gets permission AND legal advice first. Ealing Council is already in enough trouble drawing lines where they shouldn't!

Ealing Council could be investigated by police for fraud
10:38am Thursday 11th December 2008
Ealing Times
By Alex Hayes

POLICE could be called in to investigate Ealing Council for fraud after it refused to hand out refunds for cash taken on unlawful box junctions.

Cops are investigating a north London borough where 73 tickets were handed out by the local council on one unlawfully marked box junction.

This number is dwarfed by the 59,728 penalties handed out by Ealing Council in the past two years on six junctions which were finally taken up earlier this month, following advice from the Department of Transport (DfT).

Ealing Council has agreed to repay people sent £100 tickets from the junctions in Southall, Hanwell and Ealing Broadway, from June 20, when it was revealed last week the council was told the markings were wrong by the DfT.

However, campaigners are now pushing councillors to refund every penny dished out by drivers since the junctions were put in place in 2004.

Jim Douglas, a campaigner for the Motorists Legal Challenge, an organisation set up to challenge councils over incorrect road markings, said the group was considering calling in police to investigate Ealing Council on grounds of fraud.

He said: "The principles of British law have shown the money is refundable from when it started to be taken unlawfully, and not from when the council was told it was wrong.
"This has been proven in court with banks found guilty of mis-selling policies. They offered to pay back cash from when they discovered products were being mis-sold, but were told to pay back the whole lot.
"We still want the council to admit its mistake and pay back the cash, but until it does this it will have dirty money on its books."

Mr Douglas also said police investigating the other box junction had admitted it was a sensitive area, because of their close working relationship with the local authority.
Ealing Council has spent thousands of pounds putting 50 extra Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) on the streets, and also works closely with officers in areas such as trading standards and envirocrime.

He continued: "Obviously, this problem could present itself in Ealing as well, and so we want to know whether officers from Ealing would be investigating.
"There is a conflict of interests here, so perhaps it would be better if it was looked at by people from another borough who are independent."

He said the group would be contacting Councillor Phil Taylor, who is in charge of parking, to lay down its position before pursuing the case any further.
Cllr Taylor said the threat would not change the council's stance on the issue.
He told the Ealing Times: "We have to draw the line somewhere, and if we kept going back over history the council would never be able to move forward in anything it does.
"We still believe those junctions were legal, but the DfT weren't happy with them so we took them up."
Anyone interested in joining the campaign for a refund can send an email to: ealing@motoristslegalchallenge.co.uk

What do you think of Ealing Council's position? You can post a comment below or contact Councillor Taylor on his blog here

Ealing Council and its unlawfully marked bays

Last week the Ealing Times ran a story about Ealing Council admitting technical errors with the markings of its parking bays as the reason for the Council pulling out of an adjudication hearing.

This week the Council has responded with an arrogant refusal to change its unlawfully marked bays.

This kind of scenario is exactly where the problem lies & isn't isolated to Ealing. No due diligence on the part of the local authority & now it has publicly stated its intention to continue to enforce unlawful restrictions in the full knowledge of its actions being likely to bring the Council into serious disrepute amongst the public, but more seriously how long will it be before this becomes a police matter?

Ealing Times - Council refuses to correct parking bays

EALING council says it will not change parking bays in line with Government regulations.

Last week the Ealing Times exposed the fact a number of parking bays around the borough do not conform to Department for Transport (DfT) regulations, set out in a handbook issued to all councils.

In a front page story, the Ealing Times reported the confusion that could be caused with the bays after Ealing Council pulled out of an appeal hearing over a parking ticket due to a ‘technical problem’ with the bay concerned.

Since then the paper has been inundated with calls from people across the country saying they have suffered a similar problem where they live. Bays used extensively in the borough for residents parking and pay-and-display which do not have individually marked spaces inside them, should only be marked at either end with a single line. But some in Ealing actually have double lines.

However, despite clarification from a DfT spokesman that these types of bay should be marked with a single line, as shown in the diagram taken from the handbook, Ealing Council is refusing to make the simple change.

Claire Parker, a spokesman for the council, said: “Ealing’s controlled parking zones are clearly marked and we will continue to enforce them.

The council has no intention of spending taxpayers’ money on re-drawing zone lines when the present bays are entirely clear.

“The possible changes being called for by the Ealing Times would significantly reduce parking capacity across the borough. Bearing in mind the huge demand for parking in this borough this does not strike us as entirely sensible.”

However, the owner of the TicketFighter website, who works in the industry, said the claims that changes would be very costly or reduce the number of spaces are “nonsense”. He said:

“All the council needs to do to bring these bays into line with regulations is to get rid of one of the lines, that can be as simply as painting over one.

“It does not have to be costly and it certainly would have no effect on capacity, these claims are nonsense. “I don’t understand why paid professionals in the parking department have been unable to look in a book and spot there was a problem.” He continued:

“If the council continues to take money from people in these bays they could be open to legal action and the police should look at what has been going on. “People who have been ticketed in these bays and had their appeals rejected before should ask the council for a full refund.”

Council law-breaking a 'technical problem'

Motorists break the law and ignorance is no excuse.


Councils break the law and it is a 'technical problem.'

This is the most telling extract from the article ..."Claire Vranch, a spokesman for Ealing Council, said the markings on the road were consistent with other London Boroughs."



We will shortly be revealing the extent of the 33 London Borough's 'technical problems' but in the meantime Parking Appeals.co.uk will show you how to spot an illegal bay and how to successfully appeal a ticket every time.


Council admits 'technical problem.'
29th August 2008
By Alex Hayes

A DOUBLE white line on the end of parking bays in the borough could lead to parking chaos.
Many residential bays are among those affected, meaning any tickets given to people parking there is effectively unenforceable.
The lines are on parking bays which have no individual bays marked inside them. Guidelines say these should be marked out by a single white line at either end, but in many cases workers have painted two.

Last month Ealing Council pulled out of an appeal hearing over a parking ticket because it acknowledged the bays the driver was parked in were improperly marked.

Nazma Begum, 21, was slapped with a parking ticket in Warwick Road, Ealing, last November when she bought a pay-and-display voucher but put her car in a residents bay accidentally while she went into Thames Valley University to hand in an assignment.

However, the Airline and Airport Management student came across the website www.ticketfighter.co.uk and found the council’s marking mistake.

She said: “I didn’t realise I was parked in a residents’ parking bay and I couldn’t believe it when I came out and saw the ticket, as I had only been gone for a few moments.
“When I appealed to the council they refused it, so I took it to the parking adjudicator and the day before the hearing the council wrote back to me saying they were pulling out and were sorry for any inconvenience.
“To be honest I think they knew all along they were wrong but they still pressed me for money. It seems like a deliberate tactic from them, and I want to know why they haven’t stopped enforcing these bays if they know they are wrong, it’s been a month now.
“If we do something wrong we are punished for it, but they do not want to take responsibility for their actions and will not admit they are wrong. It’s very unfair.”

The man who runs the Ticketfighter website, who does not want to be named as he is an industry insider, says Ealing Council should stop enforcing all wrongly marked bays until they are sorted out.

He said: “These bays should only have one line. The council has got it wrong and it means they are unenforceable.
“Motorists have to abide by the law and so have the council.
“They can’t just go around putting down whatever road markings they want to. If they know it is wrong and are still enforcing it that is obtaining money by deception and is completely illegal.”

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, the Labour transport spokesman, said he would be asking council officials what they intended to do about these parking problems. He said: “Now that this issue has been highlighted with the council, I want to know what action it will be taking to answer all its parking bays are properly marked.
“They will need to find out how many of these bays need repainting, otherwise the council opens itself up to further risk.”

Cllr Mahfouz also said unless the council acts fast to address the problem it risks allowing people to start parking in restricted bays and getting away with it.

Claire Vranch, a spokesman for Ealing Council, said the markings on the road were consistent with other London Boroughs.

She said: “Although we believe the bays in Warwick Road are marked clearly, we have reviewed this individual case and found there may be a technical problem with this particular bay, which we are investigating.”

Is Ealing Council going to refund motorists?

ParkingAppeals.co.uk will assist with obtaining justice for motorists unlawfully fined at this location. For more information visit our website where we will not only give you the defence but show you how to go about seeking restitution.


Drivers’ rage at £1M money box
By Alex Hayes
Ealing Times

Cllr Bassam Mahfouz at the Ruislip Road box junction which the council stopped policing after it was declared too big by a parking ombudsman.

A CONTROVERSIAL box junction in Southall has netted Ealing Council more than £1m in just 12 months.

Nearly 19,000 motorists were fined after being caught on CCTV while stopping in the box junction between South Road and St Joseph's Drive, despite two rulings by the Parking Ombudsman saying it is too large.

Two other junctions, situated within 200m and of the same design, have also netted the council thousands.

Jim Douglas, who runs consumer website Moneybox Junction which gives advice to motorists who believe they have been unfairly charged, said Ealing is the authority he gets the most complaints about.

He said: "It's disgusting. The council is not obliged to enforce these junctions, but the fact it does so vigorously suggests it is using this as a tax farm, a cash cow to top up its revenue.
"It wouldn't take much for the council to change the junctions to bring them in line with the regulations, but to do that would cost it money in fines, and it would also be admitting it is wrong.
"However, it continues to send out tickets like confetti and whenever someone takes it to appeal it does not contest because it knows it is in the wrong."

Last week the Department for Transport (DfT) advised councils to pay back money which had been raised through unfair enforcement to motorists.

Now Councillor Bassam Mahfouz (Lab, Northolt Mandeville), is urging Ealing Council to refund thousands of people caught stopping in a box junction between Mansell Road and Ruislip Road in Greenford, which was also ruled unlawful and is no longer enforced.

He said: "There were lots of complaints about this junction last year. The council's blunt response was that residents should pay up or appeal.
"The problem for residents is when you appeal you risk doubling the fine and that's one thing many couldn't afford - and hundreds were pressured into paying fines that should never have been levied."

Father-of-two Parmjit Jassal, 43, has sent the council his own bill for a fine he paid on the junction between South Road and Cambridge Road in Southall in April.
Parmjit, a customer services manager, said: "I have increased the amount I'm asking for to £120 as the council has not responded. I am playing it at its own game. All it is interested in is taking the money.
"I was in hospital having treatment for my slipped disc when the fine came ten days after I was photographed, and my wife paid it because she did not want the stress of it hanging over her.
"The reason I stopped is another driver had pulled out in front of me and was blocking the road, but it was only a matter of seconds."

Claire Vranch, a spokesman for Ealing Council, said the council has received no information from the Department for Transport (DfT) that the Greenford junction is unlawful and will not be issuing any refunds.

She said: "Box junctions do not need DfT consent, and the council and our specialist highway design consultants are confident box junctions in Ealing meet all the necessary guidance."

Have you been caught out on one of these box junctions and would likea refund?

If so e-mail us at enquiries@parkingappeals.co.uk and head it "Ealing"