How to...get out of a parking fine

YOU CAN TEAR THE TICKET UP IN

DISGUST, meekly contribute to the £2 billion councils make from parking charges every year—or you can appeal. You may have grounds, because many parking signs are plain wrong. “They must look exactly as set down in law unless the council has obtained special authorisation,” says transport consultant Richard Bentley. Five London councils now face repaying £5 million to motorists fined for parking in “unauthorised” bays, so check the following before you drive off in a fury. If any apply, write to the council within 14 days. Most appeals succeed, so it’s worth doing. 1. Photograph road markings, parking signs and anything obscuring them. Check Bentley’s website, rmbconsulting.co.uk. 2. There should be one sign every 30 metres in parking bays and one on every

lamp post by a single yellow line, unless you’re in a controlled parking zone. 3. Don’t expect to find parking signs

inside a controlled parking zone, common in town centres. But there must be signs warning that you’re entering the zone on every access road. 4. A single yellow line must end in a

T-shape unless it joins a pedestrian crossing or parking bay. 5. The parking bay should be 1.8 metres wide, plus or minus ten per cent. 6. Privately owned car parks make up their own rules, but they should be “reasonable”. Appeal to the British Parking Association (britishparking.co.uk, 01444 447 300) if they’re not. 7. If you buy a parking ticket, keep it as

proof of payment. “You never know what nasty surprise might plop through your letter box,” says Bentley.

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