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Leeds City Council: Driver’s parking fine victory
LEGAL BATTLEGROUND: Dave Radcliffe in the parking spot.
A parking fines judge branded Leeds city centre road markings “confusing and misleading” as the council lost a 10-month legal battle.
Adjudicator Clifton Barker made the comments after Ferrybridge man David Radcliffe took Leeds City Council to a Traffic Penalty Tribunal over a disputed ticket.
Mr Radcliffe, of Pontefract Road, was fined £70 for parking in a bay on South Parade shortly after 10pm last August 26.
The council claimed the bay, which had road markings indicating it was ‘loading only’ during the day, also had signs showing it became a taxi rank at night.
But Mr Radcliffe, 43, argued the road markings broke Department for Transport guidelines and suggested restrictions only applied during the day.
Mr Barker agreed. Quashing the fine, he said: “I have reached the conclusion that the appellant is correct and the carriageway is incorrectly marked.
“I accept the appellant’s contention that the marking of this dual-purpose bay is not in accordance with the Department for Transport’s statement and that, as it stands, it is confusing and misleading.”
Mr Radcliffe said the decision could have implications for other city centre bays marked in the same way.
He said: “The council has refunded my ticket but now they just want to brush it under the carpet. They are ripping people off.
“They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it.”
The council said another adjudicator had ruled the markings were acceptable. A spokeswoman said: “South Parade is a busy city centre street and the signage at the parking bay used by Mr Radcliffe clearly states that it should only be used as a loading bay during the day and a taxi rank at night, not for public parking.
“We have previously had a judgment stating that the parking regulations were correct in this bay, so it is unclear which interpretation is correct.
“Since the judgment we are now seeking legal advice on the interpretation of the guidelines.
“Any changes to the current regulations following this advice do not apply retrospectively, so previous parking fines were issued correctly.
“In the meantime we will continue to enforce the existing parking regulations at this parking bay.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Comments
There are 6 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
Drewdude2010
Friday, July 29, 2011 at 09:42 AMI find it unfortunate that you all still feel the need to bring your cars into Leeds City Centre. Fair enough a ticket after 10pm is pretty harsh and i can understand using a car that late at night but if i had my way there would be no traffic in the city centre. I get sick of crossing what are effectively motorways on my way to town by foot or bike but it is still always quicker than driving.
whirlygig
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 10:34 AMAfter parking outside the Grand Theatre yesterday I'm not surprised Leeds Council lost this case. The signs are so confusing about when parking is and isn't allowed I doubt they could understand it themslves.
kevsheram1
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 10:31 AMWell to Dave Radcliffe on winning the battle i know it's been dragging it's heel but a good possitive result weldone mate just show's you you got to fight these council's no matter what they do well i for one is going to keep this link that was sent to me for futre refrance but you watch they done somthing about when it come around to me ?
dave radcliffe
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 12:32 AMThere are about 20 of these bays in Leeds and they are all signed incorrectly,so how can they keep issuing tickets on these bays, the evidence i produced at the hearing was the book by the dept of transport "Know your signs" which clearly shows that the council have marked these bays incorrectly. Why are the council still ticketing these bays if they have any doubt that the bays are not legally marked they should not be still issuing fines. Surely the council must have a highly paid executive that can work out how to sign a multipurpose bay in accordance with the legal requirements ? If anyone else has been fined for parking in these bays for parking on a taxi rank and it says "LOADING ONLY " ON THE ROAD THEN THE BAY IS ILLEGALLY MARKED...take the above book to the tribunal they cannot argue with this then walk out having cost the council for a tribunal and time. The way people who use the city center are robbed by the extortionate parking charges, and then to top it all have to put up with the council's shambolic system of dealing with their own errors when they get it wrong, its no wonder people generally pay the fines as it isn't worth the hassle trying to argue with the stupid impermeable system they have in place Maybe the uniform of the C.E.O. should be a cape and a three cornered hat!
s1234
Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 12:32 PMIt's astounding how many previously free parking spaces in Leeds have become "loading bays" and more recently "taxi ranks", gives the parking wardens a bit more to do doesn't it? I have seen many new so called taxi ranks and the joke of a "buses only" space on Great George Street barely used, whilst the blackwhite cabs in lower Briggate continue to double park, cause traffic jams, whilst running their engines all the time they're sat there... it seems LCC is happy to bend over backwards to accommodate taxis, whilst denying, fining and ultimately putting off joe public from coming into the city and shoppingspending money.... it's time the shopsbars that pay LCC huge amounts in rates starting making some noise.
loveleedshatebates
Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 10:11 AMLove it, I got the council to abolish their old ticketing system through the high court in London and they still wouldn't admit they were wrong despite the ruling making every single ticket they had issued was invalid. LCC just think they are a dictatership when in truth they are a bunch of losers who couldn't make it in the private sector
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