When you say 'upside down', do you mean that the ticket was face-down (flipped over)?
If that is the case then none of the info on the ticket can be read and as far as the parking attendant was concerned - you had no valid ticket on display.
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I had a similar problem a few years ago with a flimsy parking ticket. It fell from the screen into a demister vent when I slammed (it was a very old car) the door.
I explained this in a letter to my local council and respectfully suggested this wouldn?t have happened if they had used a little adhesive.
About a week later I received a very polite letter cancelling the charge.
Clk Sec
Edited by Clk Sec on 03/01/2008 at 20:06
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Agreed - if you write to the council, keeping it polite even though that's not how you feel, you have a good chance of getting it cancelled.
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Agree with Avant. A nice rational letter to the Council including a copy of the ticket might be enough to get you off. Assume the quoted £20 is the discounted rate if you admit and pay up now. If the Council reject your informal representation you have to consider whether to chance it doubling if you loose an appeal to the adjudicator.
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However, if the ticket was not capable of being glued or stuck on display it could have been flipped over by the action of you closing the door. Worth a try at getting it cancelled, if you have kept the ticket and can prove you did have one, of course.
Edited by Armitage Shanks {p} on 03/01/2008 at 20:26
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Play them at their own game...
...give them polite, logical but firm reason to show that their employee could have made an error.
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Remember he/she may have photographic evidence.
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It's an unstated implication in all regulations about display that the notice, ticket, permit etc should be the right way up. I don't suppose the number plate regulations actually say the letters should be right way up. What about the tax disc?
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If the ticket was flipped over, i.e. only showing the back of the ticket and no information visibile, then it's your mistake and time to write a cheque for £20.
If the ticket was upsiode down, i.e. information is visible but upside down, then I would say its time to write a letter!
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Next time buy a Sticky mat for £2 and paste the ticket there!
www.sticmatz.com/Products.htm
I use it and quite handy.
Regarding your original problem, if the ticket was flipped over (i.e. text side not visible), then they have reason to believe that you didn't have a parking ticket as they couldn't see it.
However, since you did have the ticket, always worth a try. Hope they won't fine a good citizen.
Edited by movilogo on 04/01/2008 at 09:07
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What exactly does the penalty notice say was the offence?
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Further to my post above. The OP said the parking ticket was flimsy, but was there any adhesive on it? If not I suspect a polite letter will result in cancellation of the penalty.
Do let us know, Becster. I can?t stick around much longer.
Clk Sec
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i've sent off my letter today, recorded delivery, worth a try anyway, I'll let you all know the outcome, and thank you all for your advice, I really appreciate it.
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Good luck with your appeal, Becster.
It's a bit similar to the offence of 'failure to display' a valid tax disc, even though all details are (now) on the PNC. Discs too have a habit of falling down demister vents :-(
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And still the OP has not said whether it could be read from outside the car, i.e. was it face down. ??? Regards Peter
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And still the OP has not said whether it could be read from outside the car i.e. was it face down. ??? Regards Peter
I don't think she's listening any more.
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Yet another example of a low intelligence jobsworth it would seem.
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There are many different parking systems in force in the towns in northern Spain where I live and work. A few examples:
In most towns, you put the money in, take the ticket and keep a tear off portion as a reminder. Some don't have tear off portions (Doh!). It is always possible to pay for consecutive parking periods and the wardens tend to turn a blind eye, despite 1 or 2 hour maximums.
In Vitoria the maximum tariff is exactly 95c (why not 1 Euro?) and I obviously never have 95c in change.
Next level of sophistication is the meters with keypads - you have to key in your registration number, which means you cannot overstay. Bilbao had one of the first such systems, but had to change to a full keyboard after complaints about the sluggish "mobile phone keypad" which drove us all mad. Tourists and more than a few locals get bamboozled by the instructions which appear in Basque by default - the key to switch language is labelled in Basque, (Doh!)
In Getxo, you take the whole ticket with you as the wardens have wireless meters and can do an instant check. Also, a passing crook cannot look and see how long your car is going to be parked there, so breakins are less common.
Good luck with your appeal, by the way! As you can imagine, there are cases here of people keying in the wrong registration number, forgetting to leave the slip in the windscreen, the slip magically turning over (I believe you; the courts won't!) or "falling" out of sight with a fortuitous gust of wind as you shut the door. 1st prize for "worst alibi of the year" for the drivers who leave the parking slip under the windscreen wiper, where it gets nicked!
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