Safiya Hussain, legal consultant at NoParkingFine Ltd, states that ‘It is perhaps unbeknown to both the public and parking wardens; but following traffic laws, any parking fine that is issued on a road where the compulsory road markings have been covered by snow and thus not clearly visible, is not likely to be legally valid, even if there are visible signs nearby. Parking wardens should not be issuing fines in these areas. It is wholly unfair and drivers who park innocently should not pay but rather appeal.
With parking wardens desperate to issue fines, some are even sneakily scraping away the snow with their shoes to uncover road markings in order to take photographs that show a driver has in fact, parked in a restricted area. Others ruthlessly wait for the snow and ice to thaw during the nights and catch out motorists early in the morning whilst they sleep. Some have also been known to issue parking fines for ‘failure to display a permit, disabled badge or parking ticket’ when such have been covered by snow on a windscreen. Some of these methods, despite lacking integrity, work for them, so drivers need to be warned.
If anyone has received a parking fine in these snowy conditions, NoParkingFine Ltd advise that they immediately take a few photographs showing the obscure conditions and appeal.
Parking fines on snow-covered roads could be invalid
- By Fleet News
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- 23 December 2010
Pauline Smith - 22/01/2013 21:32
Please find below my appeal against a parking ticket issued in this weather. Unfortunately I never took any photo's with all the chaos I didn't think. Can you tell my what you think my chances may be??? I wish to appeal against the penalty charge notice issued to me on Monday 21st Jan 2013 because I had broken down on the hill in extreme road conditions. I was travelling alone up Charlton Lane very carefully following the tracks made by other vehicles in the snow and ice. The hill had not been gritted and driving conditions were very dangerous, I almost reached the top of the hill when I had to pull over off the tracks to the left hand side into the snow and ice to allow another vehicle to pass down the hill. When I tried to pull back out into the tracks my vehicle was sliding all over the road, I tried several times to pull back on the tracks but I kept sliding and stalling the car and then my battery died. I was really scared as the front end of my car was almost horizontal across the road and I was frightened that another vehicle may run into me. A couple of passersby helped me to push my car into the curb as far as we could, there was nothing else we could do, we could not push it into any of the side roads as they are all on inclines and extremely iced over, laden in snow and not gritted. I was not aware the car was in a restricted area as the road markings were under 3 to 4 inches of snow and the road signs said free parking. I could not put my hazards on as my battery was flat and I did not have a pen on me to write a note to say I had broken down. I rang my brother to come and help me at around 4pm and he said that he would be with me in an hour so I walked to the local shops in Charlton Village to buy myself a hot drink as I was freezing cold and shaken up. I was really upset to find a parking ticket on my windscreen when I returned to my car, it was bad enough breaking down in these freezing cold conditions and if the hill had been gritted I would have been able to make it up to the top of the hill in the first place and would not have to be making this appeal.