Parking tickets - Court hearings - anyone know ?

[ShapeShifter]

Got a question for someone in the know regarding court hearings.

A police ticket was issued to me for "unnessecarry obsruction" when I parked overnight with her back end hovering over a corner.

I asked for a court hearing as it was issued at 04.40 am and no controlled parking zone or anything. Also there are great problems with parking there as its almost city center and all the workies in town use our road to park for work resulting in nowhere for residents to park when they get home.

The cuncil are putting a CPZ in place in the next 6 months and hence my request for a hearing.

But I acted on impulse and realized that I havent updated my address on my reg doc / insurance - idiot that I am.

Anyone know if this will become an issue at the hearing ? What can I do ? I fell a bity of a pleb now and am worried for the worse!

[The Typsey Russell]

It is an offence not to update your details promptly. Whether this will cause you a problem will depend on the definition of promptly and others opinions.

Causing an obstruction is one that use a lot. It would depend on the circumstances, but in general, it is used to stop people parking in a manner that would impede emergency services carrying out their tasks.

Also, it is an offence not to park correctly ie. in parking bays or a correct distance from a junction etc. Do not know the measurements in question of the top of my head, but I am sure a little bit of research should cure that.

Good luck

[ShapeShifter]

Thanks for the reply,appreciated and beleive me it wont happen again, but do you know if they check the reg docs for a hearing of this nature ?

[Koi]

Thanks for the reply,appreciated and beleive me it wont happen again, but do you know if they check the reg docs for a hearing of this nature ?

They will have done a PNC check on your reg.
If they want to be funny then they could pull you on this one as well (depending how long ago you moved). Best bet is to send it off now and offer complete apologies that you completely overlooked it when you moved what with one thing and another you just forgot and hope that works.
It really all depends on the person that checks the details, like all things some will warn you and others will throw the book at you. It will be noticed as a descrepency as the cars registered elsewhere and you have obviously given your current address on the parking form for the hearing.

[ShapeShifter]

Thanks Koi.
Very informative .

Sending the docs today and praying ! Oh what a foool I am sometimes.

[ShapeShifter]

Just spoken to a solicitor and he tells me that they wont bring this issue up as no one has asked to see my documents.

He said that they would only concern the offence of parking and not anything else.

I hope he is right.

sending my ammended docs now and will be more vigilant in future.....

[kitesurf_phil]

For future reference here is a little ploy I have used in the past. Immediately you spot a ticket on your windscreen, go to the nearest car accessory shop, garage etc and buy a power steering belt. Appeal against the parking fine on account of the fact that you had broken down, the car was dangerous to drive and you needed to source the part. Send photocopy of reciept with the paperwork. Dunnit twice now

[Dave O`Donnell]

150 Yds From A Junction

I think this is the distance or it used to be, pain in the arse people that park on corners, i know it might not sound very nice but i used to drive trucks for a living and you wouldnt belive the times i could not get round some corners.
And just before you say it was a residential street/road, its it a bit like double parking... HOW DO PEOPLE EXPECT FIRE & AMBULANCES TO GET THROUGH..

[Elvz]

Most people including me are just going to pay coz life's too short etc. but if you want to go to court you'll probably win easily because it isn't enough to say "the vehicle was parked on a corner and causing an obstruction"

You probably were committing an offence but in order to prove that your car was illegally parked the police would need diagrams, measurements, photographs even, which they almost certainly don't have. You could easily put them on the spot by asking in court how many metres from the corner the car was parked how they measured the distance and what reference points they used.

As far as the documents go - you got documents so what you worried about?

But as I said... life's too short for this sort of stuff

[stara]

I think this is the distance or it used to be, pain in the arse people that park on corners, i know it might not sound very nice but i used to drive trucks for a living and you wouldnt belive the times i could not get round some corners.
And just before you say it was a residential street/road, its it a bit like double parking... HOW DO PEOPLE EXPECT FIRE & AMBULANCES TO GET THROUGH..

15 yds, 150!! prob a typo m8

[da SLUG man]

more than likely they took a photo... all the traffic wardens carry cameras now... and they're not stupid enough to go to court with no evidence!... you've got no chance... best off paying the ticket and saving on court costs... if you were over hanging the junction then there's no doubt you were obstructing it!

[The Duke]

take him down!!

[stara]

more than likely they took a photo... all the traffic wardens carry cameras now... and they're not stupid enough to go to court with no evidence!... you've got no chance... best off paying the ticket and saving on court costs... if you were over hanging the junction then there's no doubt you were obstructing it!

highly highly unlikely it was a traffic warden at 4.a.m., more likely a jobsworth copper who had managed to solve all the crime in the area and then decided to boost the share value of POLICE ENTERPRISES PLC. go for it, i been on jury service a few times, and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing a 12yr old copper being ripped to shreds by a smartass barrister.

[Dave O`Donnell]

yEAH tYPO ERRA...Sorry my mistake

[Elvz]

".. and they're not stupid enough to go to court with no evidence!"

....of course they're not. They have no intention at all of going to court because they're assuming that you'll pay or just ignore the summons - 95% of people will do one or the other.