Motoring Discussion > Man fined for being one second over parking limit Miscellaneous
Thread Author: VxFan Replies: 14
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New Sat 14 Apr 18 21:06 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - VxFan
A man has been fined £70 for being one second over his parking limit at a hospital.

he had stopped in the car park to take a distressed woman to hospital, and sat with her as she waited to go in.

But weeks later he received a letter telling him his VW had overstayed the 20 minutes free parking limit, because he was 20 minutes and one second over.

The hospital car park camera caught him arriving at 12.19 and 53 seconds - and leaving at 12.39 and 54 seconds.

www.itv.com/news/wales/2018-04-13/man-fined-70-for-being-one-second-over-his-parking-limit-at-hospital/
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New Sat 14 Apr 18 21:16 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - Duncan
Don't worry. I've got a shilling that says they will cancel the ticket.

Any take the bet?
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New Sun 15 Apr 18 07:16 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - R.P.
Parking at our local general hospital is a disgrace. It's free, this means that stupidity reigns supreme with no enforcement. I was leaving the Pathology dept on Friday after dropping off my second set of specimens, the route out takes me along an Ambulance priority route. Parked across the red painted box junction was stupid. An occupied 17 plate XF and a Citroen DS - the female driver of the DS was clearly staff was smoking, neither would move - so it was squeeze through with the Sprinter - I reckon that someone employed to enforce there would make their own wage easily.
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New Sun 15 Apr 18 09:35 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - Bromptonaut
>> Don't worry. I've got a shilling that says they will cancel the ticket.
>>
>> Any take the bet?

Ticket presumably issued automatically. If circs in which he was there are as reported it will be cancelled.
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New Sun 15 Apr 18 09:45 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - Duncan
>> Ticket presumably issued automatically. If circs in which he was there are as reported it
>> will be cancelled.


Typical civil servant. Never actually answer the question.

Are you taking my bet?
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 16 Apr 18 at 01:55
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New Sun 15 Apr 18 10:23 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - Zero

>> Typical civil servant. Never actually answer the question.
>>
>> Are you taking my bet?
>>

He said No.
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New Sun 15 Apr 18 12:36 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - No FM2R
I'll take the bet.

Surely overstaying is overstaying. If overstaying a little bit is ok, then how big is a "little bit"??

I think they should enforce they fine, and I suspect that they will.
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New Sun 15 Apr 18 13:41 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - tyrednemotional

>> Surely overstaying is overstaying. If overstaying a little bit is ok, then how big is a "little bit?

...for most 'council enforced' on or off street parking in England, it is 10 minutes...... ;-)
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New Sun 15 Apr 18 13:50 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - Cliff Pope
>> If overstaying a little bit is ok, then how big is
>> a "little bit"??

De minimis non curat lex.
The machine only records to whole seconds, so "a little bit" could be as small as 0.5 second.
Even at a whole second that's the time it would take to travel 7 feet at 5 mph, or half a car's length. If it registers the front numberplate on entry and the rear on exit, then the accuracy of the measurement is limited by that discrepancy. That's assuming that numberplate recognition is triggered at a precise distance regardless of the light, is the same for front and back, and that the definition of "entry" and "exit" is precise as to which part of the car is specified and detected.
If Mr Loophole called a technical expert to testify I'm sure the case would collapse.
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New Sun 15 Apr 18 18:27 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - Dulwich Estate II
If it was indeed an entry / exit camera that got him then surely he wasn't parked for as long as 20 minutes - it took him time to get away from and then get back to the camera.

I suppose it depends on T&C, but I understand 'parking' to involve the car being stationary. Also, 'parking' may require the vehicle to be unattended.

As others have said - he'll get off.
Last edited by: Dulwich Estate II on Sun 15 Apr 18 at 18:27
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New Mon 16 Apr 18 02:03 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - VxFan
>> As others have said - he'll get off.

Did you not read the article?

“I was surprised to find that they rejected my appeal. I went to POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals) but they rejected my appeal too and even wrote, 'by the defendant’s own admission, he stayed in the area.'

“Of course, I admitted to it. I was telling you what happened.”

Kevin, of Penarth, near Cardiff, has "reluctantly" paid the fine as he does not want to incur any further costs.
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New Mon 16 Apr 18 02:22 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - No FM2R
Ha ha ha, no I didn't.

But the decision was inevitable. The amount of time was not relevant, it was simply "overstay, pay". If they start allowing exceptions to overstay/pay then they are lost.

Everywhere I know which is busy with free, controlled parking is utter chaos. Anywhere in the world. Parking control is a [very] necessary thing. And the line has to be drawn somewhere.

If the time limit was 6 hours there'd be someone arguing that 6 hours 5 minutes was ok
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New Mon 16 Apr 18 09:40 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - tyrednemotional
...as I said above....

www.gov.uk/government/news/government-delivers-on-parking-promises-to-help-local-shops

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New Mon 16 Apr 18 10:41 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - VxFan
If he'd gone to www.moneysavingexpert.com and sort some advice, then most likely he could have had the fine cancelled.
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New Mon 16 Apr 18 13:15 
 Man fined for being one second over parking limit - Bromptonaut
>> “I was surprised to find that they rejected my appeal. I went to POPLA (Parking
>> on Private Land Appeals) but they rejected my appeal too and even wrote, 'by the
>> defendant’s own admission, he stayed in the area.'

When it was first set up the POPLA appeals service was run under contract by the Parking and Traffic Appeals Service (PATAS)* which provides the Tribunal for parking and other infringements in the London Boroughs. It is now provided by The Ombudsman Service, a private company that runs a number of consumer Omduds schemes. Presumably its remit is limited to the facts of the infringement and it cannot, unlike tribunals dealing with council regulations, recommend the use of discretion.

This case should never have got near POPLA. Unless there is doubt about Kevin's story it should have been cancelled by the Hospital. They still have the option now to 'do the right thing' and refund him.

*I have met professionally in past with staff and Adjudicators at PATAS. They were almost certainly far too independent for the members of the British Parking Association for whose places POPLA is run.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 16 Apr 18 at 13:18
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