Last October 18th I drove my registered technically blind daughter to Sutton so that she could buy a mobile phone suitable for use with her impaired sight. The store was based in the High Street but I could not find this location (even my satnav did not feature this) so when I saw a postvan and a postman emptying a postbox outside the main post office I stopped to ask him for directions. Would you believe he did not know where the High Street was, so I drove off and then parked in a disabled bay as my daughter has a disabled blue badge and we walked around and eventually found the High Street that is a traffic free area. Around a week later I received a Penalty Charge Notice from Transport for London charging me with an alleged parking contravention: '46: Stopped where prohibited (on a red route or clearway'). I sent an email to TfL confirming I was the driver etc but had stopped only to ask for directions that according to their photos took all of 39 seconds from start to finish. I duly received a response stating they had considered my representation that was rejected as I did not establish suitable grounds or reason for the penalty charge notice to be cancelled. According to the letter I received, I was issued with a penalty charge notice because I stopped in a 'bus cage' (yet the initial charge was 'stopped where prohibited on a red route or clearway') so I am unsure as to what I am being charged with? I stopped because I saw a postman and a postvan partially parked in the 'bus cage', and where we live in West Surrey we do not have red routes, clearways or bus cages so I had no idea I was breaching any regulations. The penalty charge notice states only buses are allowed to stop in a bus cage yet the postvan was stopped in the cage !! I have formally appealed and have asked for a personal hearing as I can ill afford to pay a £60/£120 fine being a senior citizen in my mid 70s, and in any case 39 seconds to ask for directions seems an innocent event in my opinion. I have also appealed to Mayor Boris Johnson and asked him to intervene but to date I have yet to receive a response from his office. We sure do live in a 'Big Brother' society and for 39 seconds of ignorance on my part I could end up being £60 or even £120 out of pocket. If you are able to offer any advice please feel free to do so.