Will I get a parking fine?

[TracyG]

Yesterday, I was parked on double yellow lines waiting for somebody. A traffic warden seemed to appear from nowhere and started walking around my car while typing in to his keypad. I drove off, though I am now worried that I will get a parking fine through the post. I have heard that a parking ticket is not enforceable until it has been put on the your windscreen. Is this true?

[Chutzpah]

I believe so, but I've never gotten one so don't know. It could be that he was making a note of your registration plate and would have come back a little later if check you were still there.

Despite what some people think, I think many traffic wardens are pretty fair. Obviously there's a few "hide in the bushes" types, but the majority are just keeping the traffic flowing and are more than happy to make a polite request for you to move in my experience, I've witnessed it loads of times around here

(I should note that they're never making the request to me, I hate parking in places I shouldn't, even if I'm sat in the car. I get very self-conscious that I might be causing a nuisance).

[Witch consumer]

Yes the ticket does have to be placed on your car windscreen and its highly unlikely a traffic warden is going to try that while you're sat in the car!!!!

The council ones are usually fair, it's when they are contracted out to private companies that they get a bit over enthusiastic.

[Chutzpah]

Yup, they're probably the "hiding in the bushes" type that will watch you walk off and then gleefully stick a ticket on your car.

Council wardens don't get commission.

[michael]

Originally Posted by TracyG

I have heard that a parking ticket is not enforceable until it has been put on the your windscreen. Is this true?

No, it used to be the case that to be correctly served the ticket either had to be handed to the driver or placed on the windscreen, ie if you drove off the PCN was not valid. That is no longer the case and a 'drive off' may subsequently be served by post.

[Chutzpah]

He's right you know:

Fight your parking ticket - how to appeal your fine | This is Money

They never put the ticket on my car
It used to be the case that if you received a Notice to Owner in the post, but no ticket was applied to your car, then you could appeal.
For a ticket to stand, previously it had to have been physically applied to the car. So if you return to your car and find that a parking attendant is in the process of writing a ticket, you could drive off without being pursued for the offence. The attendant might say 'I have already started writing the ticket', or may ask that you wait while he completes it, but you are not required to remain at the scene.

Note that this only applied when the ticket is being issued by a parking attendant. Police officers and traffic wardens can also issue tickets, although the overwhelming majority are handed out by parking attendants.

Changes in the rules for parking tickets in April 2008, meant that this defence no longer applies, and councils may now send you a ticket through the post. However, if this happens the first thing you should do is request photographic evidence of the contravention.

If the council cannot supply this, then you can argue the contravention did not occur. Check the photo carefully against the actual area. Has it been cropped to make it misleading, does the picture actually show a contravention, is it marked with date and time, does it definitely show your car? In many instances, there may not be sufficient proof.

[Rachelle]

I posted somewhere else in these forums about how I got a ticket for parking with the wheels of my car (or at least one of them) outside the painted box in a car park. I have written to them saying that I had had problems with mobility (true), was squashed in by the car next to me and had little option if I wanted to be able to get in and out of the car. I have had a letter back saying 'thanks for writing' and they're reviewing my case. So, keep your fingers crossed for me and TracyG, get your pen out!

Good luck. Let's start a forum entitled 'In these times of recession would you be a traffic warden to keep the wolf from the door' .... (sorry to any traffic wardens out there but the only people worse are bankers!