UK Parking Ticket Appeals
One of the greatest issues around parking in the United Kingdom is the fact that such a large population is crammed into such a tiny space. Forty or fifty years ago, when not all families owned cars, we managed to park in most small to medium sized towns and cities without much of a problem. These days when most families seem to own a minimum of two cars, the problem is huge.But there is another problem in our major towns and cities, and that is the invidious presence of mindless parking wardens, unsympathetic local council officials and road planners who seem to take no account of the fact that all moving traffic must at some point need to become parked traffic.In the now "golden age" of traffic wardens who were employed locally but under the supervision of the police, traffic laws, including parking restrictions, were upheld fairly and the enforcers of those laws on the whole acted with integrity and discretion. We moaned when we got a parking ticket, but by and large we knew we deserved it.Today, parking regulation and enforcement is in the domain of local councils. Where once parking restrictions were in force to keep the streets free-flowing and safe, they are now in force in order to produce an easy revenue flow to the council. What is more, in many cases contracts are outsourced to private companies with a huge incentive to make money and no incentive whatever to act in a fair and reasonable manner.In London, there is an appeals procedure for parking fines whereby the hapless recipient of a parking ticket, having unsuccessfully appealed first to the local authority issuing it, may then appeal to the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service. The whole process is long-winded, and there are time limits which must be strictly observed. But it is worth the effort. An amazing seventy percent of all appeals are upheld - proof indeed of the lack of integrity and fairness in issuing them.Other procedures apply to different areas, and a very useful and free help service is available by visiting moneysavingexpert.com. Either follow the link here or navigate your way toParking Ticket Appeals.On-street parking can cost several pounds for just a couple of hours, and as economic hard times hit home, people are more and more prepared to park for free in residential areas on the edge of towns and walk or take a bus ride to the centre. This pushes the parking problem into the residential areas, whose inhabitants complain. Parking restrictions are then pushed further outside the city centre limits and the problem escalates. Meanwhile town centre traders lose out to those out of town super stores who provide free parking for their customers.If government took a stand and put all traffic matters, including parking enforcement, back in the safe hands of the police, British towns would not only have less of a parking problem, they would also be safer and less congested. But at what cost to the councils?
