Council spend 14 months chasing motorist over £1 parking ticket

East Sussex County Council is currently considering a £1 ticket having already spent more than a year and multiple appeals losing the case.

The council spent 14 months chasing voluntary worker Paula Woolven in a row over the ticket - which she said blew over on her dashboard.

Mrs Woolven, 44, from Telscombe Cliffs, was issued the parking fine and then East Sussex County Council refused to accept four appeals and ordered bailiffs to recover the debt before an independent adjudicator ruled in her favour.

The farcical case was described as like a “Monty Python sketch” and flew in the face of advice from the country’s most senior parking official urging councils to use more common sense over trivial cases.

Anyone who receives a parking ticket can appeal to the council that issued it, if their appeal is not successful they can then take it further to Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

Caroline Sheppard, chief adjudicator of the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, has repeatedly urged councils to show more common sense over enforcing minor infringements - such as improperly displaying tickets.

Ms Sheppard said: “I’d very much like to see a place where common sense applies and appeals are resolved without going to court.”

She said very often councils applied a one size fits all response to appeal rather than considering them “properly or fairly”.

She added: “Many councils are unwilling or unable to consider challenges based on mitigating circumstances.”

She suggested that motorists who are given parking tickets for petty breaches of the rules should be let off if they appeal against the penalties.

Mrs Sheppard complained that motorists were being punished for such offences as leaving one wheel over the white line of a car park bay, or failing to display their pay-and-display ticket correctly.

The latest figures from 2014/15 show the appeals service heard 19,624 cases and 65 per cent of motorists were successful in getting their tickets overturned.

Mrs Woolven’s MP Simon Kirby said: “Whilst it’s important that we all park responsibly, it’s also up to our councils to act in a fair and proportionate way. Clearly this hasn’t been the case this time.”

14 MONTHS AND SIX APPEALS OVER £1 TICKET AND £50 FINE

A COUNCIL spent 14 months chasing a voluntary worker in a row over a £1 parking ticket.

Paula Woolven was given a parking fine but, despite telling East Sussex County Council her ticket blew over in the wind, officers refused to accept four appeals, and bailiffs threatened to remove her £11,000 car before an independent adjudicator ruled in her favour.

Mrs Woolven parked at the Saxon Lane car park in Seaford on December 9, 2015 as she helped a group of disabled children put on a pantomime. She paid for a ticket but it flipped over on her dashboard.

A warden issued her with a £50 penalty charge notice but, despite her appeals and evidence that she had a valid ticket, the council refused to relent.

Bailiffs were sent to her home and ordered to remove her £11,000 Vauxhall Zafira or take payment of £400 on the spot.

After calling in her MP Simon Kirby for help Mrs Woolven was repaid the £400 bailiffs fees – only for the council to then start the case against her again, demanding she pay a £50 fine.

Finally she took the case to the independent parking tribunal and won.

“I did buy a ticket but for whatever reason they decided to make an example of me,” she said.

“For a £1 ticket, I estimate it’s probably cost them £1,000 in admin time and repaid charges – and the most the tribunal could have forced me to pay was £50.

“They refused to consider the mitigating circumstances. I can only estimate how much money they’ve blown on this. It is so ridiculous, it almost feels like a Monty Python sketch.

“To send round the bailiffs to take an £11,000 car for a £1 parking ticket is beyond common sense.

“I just dread to think how much money they wasted in administration time when the most they could have gained was a £50 fine.”

The adjudicator said: “I am not satisfied the council properly considered the representations made by Mrs Woolven.

“Failure to do so is a procedural impropriety on the part of the council.”

Caroline Sheppard, chief adjudicator of the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, has previously urged councils to use common sense over trivial cases.

Mrs Woolven has now asked the council under the Freedom of Information Act to divulge the cost to taxpayers of dealing with her case but was told by town hall officials that because it involved her personal data she would have to pay a further £10 charge.

The council told The Argus that the case had “not cost anything apart from officer time”.

A spokesman said: “Our traffic regulation orders are very clear that it’s the driver’s responsibility to ensure the ticket is displayed continuously while the vehicle is parked.

“Previous cases have been heard by the adjudicator and dismissed due to the pay and display ticket not being displayed.

“We have asked the adjudication service for clarification on this after the result of Mrs Woolven’s appeal.”

The council is now seeking clarification over the adjudicator’s decision.

East Sussex County Council provided the following statement on Monday, February 20.

The spokeswoman said@ "There were not costs incurred by the council in the appeals process. There were also no costs to us for the enforcement action. The costs and charges levied by the enforcement agents is governed by legislation.

“East Sussex County Council is one of the only authorities in the country that operates a warning notice system. This allows enforcement officers to issue a warning notice to motorists not properly displaying a pay and display ticket, instead of a ticket for the first offence.  If the motorist commits the same offence within a year of the warning, they will receive a penalty notice.  Mrs Woolven received a warning notice in March 2015.

“In December 2015, Mrs Woolven was issued a penalty charge notice after her car was parked without a correctly displayed pay and display ticket.  Mrs Woolven challenged the notice, but the challenge was rejected, she was asked to pay the £50 fine, and she was given information on how to make a formal challenge. 

“No challenge was received by the parking team at East Sussex County Council.  As is the usual process for non-payment of a fine, legal notices and further correspondence were sent to Mrs Woolven’s address and an enforcement agent was instructed to recover the debt. When the debt was received, it was bought to our attention that Mrs Woolven had in fact made an appeal to the courts on the registration of the debt but sent it to the wrong email address.  As this was a genuine mistake made by Mrs Woolven, as a gesture of good will the county council refunded Mrs Woolven and returned the case to a stage that would allow her to appeal.

“An appeal was registered with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal on December 23, 2016 and the decision was given on February 5, 2017. 

“Our traffic regulation orders are very clear that it's the driver’s responsibility to ensure the ticket is displayed continuously while the vehicle is parked. Previous cases have been heard by the adjudicator and dismissed due to the pay and display ticket not being displayed. We have asked the adjudication service for clarification on this after the result of Mrs Woolven’s appeal.”