Parking fine placed on car where permit was hidden by snow

[Chippy_Tea]

You couldn't make it up -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-42972197

A council has issued a £70 parking fine to a driver whose permit was hidden by the snow on his car's windscreen.

Oliver Claxton, from Chester Green, in Derby, who had been working away in London for a few months, was surprised when he returned home to find he had been fined.

He said he had never moved the permit from his car, so has challenged the fine from Derby City Council.

The council said it was looking into it and would respond to Mr Claxton soon.

Mr Claxton, who works at the BBC, said: "I thought it was odd because if I wasn't displaying it I would have got a parking ticket every day because I had left my car there while I was in London. I was thinking what could it possibly be that meant they couldn't see the permit on this particular day?

"When you go on the website they have the photographs they took and the reason the permit wasn't visible was because it had snowed overnight and the windscreen was covered in snow.

"I just laughed. It was ridiculous."

He added that if they had swept the snow away, they would have seen the permit.

Sue Meakin, who worked as a traffic warden for 30 years, said she thought it was "silly" he had been fined.

Derby City Council said: "We're not able to comment on individual cases but we are looking into the challenge and will be responding to the individual directly soon."

 

[Clint]

Nazi Jobsworths. ...

 

[Saisonator]

If in doubt, stick a ticket on it.
I guess they think it's worth a punt because the driver might not want the hassle of appealing and just pay up.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

They should sack the person who issued the ticket if they do not have the common sense to check if the vehicle is displaying a ticked (under the snow, frost or whatever) they really should not be in that job.

 

[Saisonator]

Yes they only need to carry an ice scrapper with them.

 

[foxbat]

The root of the problem here is that the company hired to enforce parking restrictions gets paid on tickets issued. That's fine, but only if the negative is also applied. That is, you lose 1.5x your fee if the ticket is succesfully appealed.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Yes they only need to carry an ice scrapper with them.

I assume the permit has to be placed on one side of the dashboard so a small window scraped in the side front window would be enough to allow the warden to see it.

 

[Gunge]

Maybe the traffic wardens thought it was imaginary snow, as the global warming nutjacks assured us that we would never see it again, about 10 years ago.

 

[Norfolk79]

I assume the permit has to be placed on one side of the dashboard so a small window scraped in the side front window would be enough to allow the warden to see it.

That involves doing something though. I'm sure there is probably some rule about not touching a car in case they damage it or something!

 

[Linalmeemow]

That involves doing something though. I'm sure there is probably some rule about not touching a car in case they damage it or something!

You're almost certainly right there - can you imagine how some idiots would react if they found a traffic warden scraping away at their car? There'd be bloodshed for sure.

That said, this case is daft and the warden has got it wrong.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Common sense has prevailed -


BBC News -

A driver who got a parking fine because his permit was hidden by snow on the windscreen has had the penalty cancelled.

Oliver Claxton, of Derby, returned home after working away in London for a few months to find a penalty notice.

He said his permit was always on display, in Chester Green, so he decided to dispute it.

Derby City Council has cancelled the £70 fine and accepted that snow and ice can obscure a permit's visibility.

Mr Claxton, who works at the BBC, said: "Common sense has prevailed and the challenge has been upheld - I don't have to pay £70, which is good news."

He said a letter from the council explained it was an administrative error, because the official checked Mr Claxton's number plate on a handheld device and it showed no permit was assigned to the car.

However, it later emerged the number plate had been recorded incorrectly, with the last digit stated as a zero not the letter "O".

'Just a mistake'

The letter stated: "I have asked the manager in charge of the admin staff who process the permits to remind them that British vehicle registration numbers do not end in a number but a letter, to avoid this happening again."

Mr Claxton said: "It is just a mistake isn't it?"

Derby City Council said: "Drivers are responsible for ensuring that permits are clearly displayed, but clearly snow and ice can temporarily obscure the visibility of a permit.

"Officers are advised not to touch vehicles to avoid possible complaints that they have caused any damage."

The council said it did not comment on individual cases, but all representations were duly considered and common sense applied.