Can you Get a Refund on a Parking Ticket?

Many people suspect that parking fines are less about maintaining vehicular order on the streets, and more about generating money. Whatever your view, there is nothing quite so annoying as getting a parking ticket. So if you’re faced with a parking fine, what should you do?

There are ways to appeal, but there are several things you must remember. It is very difficult to get a refund for a parking ticket once you have paid the fine. If you intend to appeal the ticket, it is important not to pay it before the outcome of the appeal is known because the council will think you have accepted the fine and will withdraw your appeal.

The local council has a duty to act fairly when issuing parking tickets so it’s worth sending a letter if you feel you have a legitimate reason for appealing the fine. If the council did act fairly in issuing the parking ticket, you will have to pay the fine. It is very important not to provide false information when appealing a parking ticket, which is a criminal offence.

How To Appeal

When you get a parking ticket, there is usually a 50% discount for paying it in full within 14 days of the fine or “penalty charge notice”. If you want to dispute the parking ticket, write a letter of appeal to the local council within 14 days. That way if the appeal is unsuccessful, the 50% discount will be valid until 14 days after the date of the council’s written rejection. In any event, if you wish to appeal against the issue of a parking ticket and avoid paying the fine, you must do so within 28 days. If the letter arrives later than that you will almost certainly lose your right to have the appeal considered.

There are a number of statutory defences to a parking ticket, which are as follows:

• It wasn’t your car at the time, or it has never been your car. If you use this defence, you must supply the name and address of the person who owned the car at the time, if you have this information.
• At the time the vehicle was parked it had been taken without your consent. This is the ground to use if the car has been stolen, in which case you should also provide a CRN (Crime Reference Number) with your letter; or the car was not stolen but taken without your consent. Note that the latter does not apply if you lent your car to someone.
• The alleged reason for the parking ticket did not occur. There are many different reasons, for example, because you had a valid ticket, permit, badge, or because the parking ticket was issued before the expiry of the meter/ticket, or because there was a valid reason for the vehicle to be there, e.g. it was loading or unloading, or there was inadequate signage relating to the prohibition.
• There was no parking ticket issued.
• The Notice to Owner was served more than six months after the alleged offence took place (issued ‘out of time.’)
• If the Council has sent a ticket to your home because they say the Traffic warden was prevented from issuing a ticket at the time, you can dispute this.
• The Traffic Order was invalid. In practice this is hardly ever used as a ground for appeal because it requires the High Court to have found the law under which the ticket was issued to be wrong.
• The penalty charge amount is excessive: i.e. the demand for payment exceeds the fine for the alleged offence.

There are several websites that will lodge an appeal for you at a charge. However, it costs only the price of a stamp to write a letter and lodge an appeal against your parking ticket. Remember, there are hundreds of thousands of parking tickets issued every year – a surprisingly large number of which aren’t properly issued. The next time you receive an unfair parking ticket, appeal it!