A man was hit with a parking ticket and told to pay despite explaining to the council that thieves had stolen his van and dumped it on double yellow lines.
Although there was a 'police aware' marking on the windscreen of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, the local authority still enforced the parking charge notice (PCN).
It was only when a parking law expert got involved that the decision was overturned, WalesOnline reports.
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Shaf Jade, who is also founder of motorist assistance app Azolvur, said that the man, named John, was forced to battle it out with a London council over the ticket.
The van had been stolen from outside his home near the Woodford Green area of the capital.
John reported the theft to the police, and received a phone call later that afternoon informing him that the vehicle had been recovered and was ready for him to collect in Stratford.
After being greeted with a parking ticket, John phoned the council to have the ticket revoked, but to his surprise, they refused. They explained to him that despite being aware of the situation and knowing that he was not at fault, the fact remained that his car was illegally parked and he was still obligated to pay the fine.
Azolvur got involved and appealed the ticket relentlessly until eventually, it was cancelled.
Shaf said appeals are often rejected the first time because parking firms believe people will give up and pay.
"There were 5.2 million parking tickets issued across London from 2020 to 2021," he said.
"Only 0.6pc of those tickets were appealed, but 40pc of those that were appealed were revoked or reduced.
"The problem isn’t getting a parking fine, the problem is not appealing it. That encourages local councils and they start looking for a new hotspot to give out even more tickets”.
If you find yourself tempted to dispute a parking ticket, here are 3 quick facts you should know:
Parking fines are issued because they think you won’t dispute
Local authorities rely on the fact that most motorists simply pay the charges because they are not aware of the rules on signage and their legal rights. In a lot of cases, if you go through the dispute process for an unfair parking ticket, the fine is dropped.
You have nothing to lose disputing a parking fine
There is absolutely no reason not to challenge a parking ticket. Even if your dispute is rejected, there will be no extra cost incurred to you. You have 28 days to challenge a PCN. If you do it within 14 days and your challenge is rejected, you may only have to pay 50pc of the fine.
Disputing a parking ticket is not time-consuming
An overwhelming majority of people are intimidated by the convoluted process of disputing a parking penalty. This means that many people choose to pay rather than contest, even if they have been unfairly charged. But the process can be simple if you look in the right places.
