Parking infringement?

[Rohannus]

(Will upload a photo to illustrate my point)

Hi there,
I got a $40 parking ticket this morning for being 'parked on a footpath'. This particular space of pavement is out of the way, and attached to my workplace building, and I have been parking there 5 days a week for at least 3 months. Every day I see the traffic wardens walk past, have a look, then continue walking on, yet today, one of them kindly chose to stop and write me a ticket...

I was under the impression it was unwritten law that this kind of parking is acceptable provided you are courteous of other users - leave space for people to walk, use wheelchairs / mobility scooters etc.

There is about a two-metre wide gap for anything to get past, hell, you could probably drive a car through. I mean I tried to take up as little space as possible :p

Does anyone have a recommended course of action on what to do? This seems like a ridiculous fine that I am REALLY reluctant to pay... As I first mentioned, if I upload the photo I took minutes afterwards when one of my coworkers pointed out the piece of paper on my pillion seat, it'll illustrate my point.

*EDIT* The cars in the photo are in car parks that are perpendicular to the wall I park up against. It is on a side street of Jackson Street in Lower Hutt.

Cheers

[Squiggles]

Technically m/c's have just been getting away with it for ages, and occasionally one will lose out... up here in Auckland they got real anal about it last year

[Taz]

$40 for 3 months parking is pretty cheap.

[jim.cox]

This particular space of pavement is out of the way, and attached to my workplace building

Maybe your particular space is actually part of the building lot, and not the public road...

[FJRider]

So if you get away with it for long enough ... the law changes and makes it ok ???

You got lucky for a while .....

[gwigs]

We need pictures ...:yes:

[Kendog]

Type 'parking on footpath' into search and all will be revealed.

This (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=48386&highlight=parking+footpath)is a favourite of mine.

[The Stranger]

Interestingly the cars in the photo seem to take up more of the footpath than your bike yet no doubt didn't get a ticket for parking on the footpath.

[Lorax]

Interesting. Where is it in Wellington? Because in my experience the wardens let it slide more the further you are from the CBD.

You could try to challenge it (why not, the worst that can happen is a 'no').

And guess you'll be finding a new park too...

[Str8 Jacket]

So your the prick that parks there!

[Ms Piggy]

Wow! I've almost always parked on the footpath in Wellington.

Maybe you can find out why exactly you were ticketed. I'd be interested in hearing what they say.

[jaykay]

Ifyou want to fight it here is what you do.

Nothing............until you get the Reminder Notice.

I will almost guarantee that the Reminder Notice will be defective (ie illegal), so when it finally arrives post here again.

In the meantime if anyone else has a current Reminder Notice of any sort and wants to know the best way of fighting it, start a new thread.

Personally I wouldn't bother trying to reason with the council, they won't take any notice.

[HenryDorsetCase]

I will almost guarantee that the Reminder Notice will be defective (ie illegal), so when it finally arrives post here again..

Please elucidate: what about the reminder notice renders it illegal? How is it defective?

[Rohannus]

I called the parking line of the Council this morning, and they confirmed what I had already guessed - motorbike parking does not exist on Jackson Street, in Petone of Lower Hutt. So... because everybody I have talked to at work says this particular warden is a nasty piece of work, I'm just going to use a carpark for now - which, the side-street ones have no time limit or fee, but I wasn't using them because I figured it would be more considerate not to take up that amount of space with a bike... but if I'm going to get ticketed by one person in particular (who I've been assured is notorious for doing so without exercising discretion) then bugger that -__-

[Blackbird]

I called the parking line of the Council this morning, and they confirmed what I had already guessed - motorbike parking does not exist on Jackson Street, in Petone of Lower Hutt. So... because everybody I have talked to at work says this particular warden is a nasty piece of work, I'm just going to use a carpark for now - which, the side-street ones have no time limit or fee, but I wasn't using them because I figured it would be more considerate not to take up that amount of space with a bike... but if I'm going to get ticketed by one person in particular (who I've been assured is notorious for doing so without exercising discretion) then bugger that -__-

Try grovelling with a bit of humour, it got me off a parking fine and nothing lost if it fails. See my letter at post 14, http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=1018243.

[Scouse]

The fine wasn't for illigal parking it was for owning a hyoDUNG

[Max Preload]

...I'm just going to use a carpark for now - which, the side-street ones have no time limit or fee, but I wasn't using them because I figured it would be more considerate not to take up that amount of space with a bike...

Do you see error of your ways? Consideration of others is frowned upon...

If you can be bothered, check to see if the land on which you were parked is in fact public property. You may be pleasantly surprised.

[Disco Dan]

Looking at the photo the distance is hardly 2m... More like 1m. In fact an OAP on a mobility scooter would have difficulty getting past - especially if there was foot traffic.

However that footpath looks like a low traffic path and as such would no doubt see little foot traffic. Pretty much 50/50 in my view.

Most likely scenario - someone in the building tipped off the warden.

[Jizah]

It's you!!!! I used to park there all the time when I wanted to go to Muffins for lunch. Last few times I've tried your bike was there...

Oh but the first thing I thought when I saw your bike was that you should have it facing the other way, and leaning against the wall. That's what I do.

And another edit. There is motorcycle parking on Jackson street. It's outside Subway/Domino's Pizza.

[ajturbo]

park it leaning INTO the building....:weird:

[NDORFN]

When we were in Whakatane, a parking warden actually invited us (2 bikes) to park on the footpath. They DO have a streetscape which large areas suitable for bikes though.

[crazyhorse]

I pulled up at a toilet block on the main road in Dannevirke. It was boxing day at 9 am - on my way to Wanganui all loaded up with gear for a couple days away and to watch the Cemetry circuit racing.

There were hardly any people out, but A cop pulls up and tells me to move my bike off the footpath - I had my daughter on the back, and a lot of stuff - and the road had a huge camber on it - the dick made me move it and told me it was illegal. So very grumpily I did so. Yet, here in Havelock North, we often park on the footpath outside our favourite pubs etc.

At the end of the day, I guess it depends on where you are and their moods!:angry2:

[jaykay]

Please elucidate: what about the reminder notice renders it illegal? How is it defective?

The rear of Christchurch City Council Reminder Notices have recently been rewritten, probably as a result of a High Court case I had versus the Police (the outcome was a draw by the way).

However all the front side of all council Reminder Notices I've seen are prejudicial and defective. In my opinion they are also illegal.

Hopefully no one in a council will pick this thread up - however if their Reminder Notices are suddenly rectified it would be admitting that all previous ones were wrong (which is potentially a problem for ALL such defective notices that have been filed as unpaid fines with a court over the last fifty years!)

Anyway - the important point is that in law you have 28 days from the date of service of a Reminder Notice to pay or request a hearing. ie 28 days from the date you receive such a Notice. Unfortunately (for the councils), the due date they give is 28 days from the date they print and send the notice. This reduces your 28 days allowed in law by between 1 and possibly 7 days.

The councils are not complying with the law. According to them they could file a Reminder Notice the day after the due date if not paid, which would be still within the 28 days from date of service. They could also reject payment for the same reasons.

By filing such a Reminder Notice in court as an unpaid fine an offence has been committed. The Reminder Notice does not comply and is therefore not a Reminder Notice at all - simply a piece of paper.

If anyone has a Notice of Fine from an unpaid council ticket, you should check the pretend Reminder Notice and then file a Form 57 swearing you never received a Reminder Notice, because what you were sent is toilet paper.

But don't hurry to file a Form 57. Another part of the law says that a Notice of Hearing has to be dated within six months of the date of the alleged offence - but the arguements about that are for another time.

Spread the word, let's see how long before this gets picked up by someone with influence.

[Hiflyer]

an Auckland parking warden on Shortland street (where I work) said that if there weren’t any parks left outside chancery lane then, so Long as I parked at the very very edge of the parking restrictions (I’m guessing that means parking space) then no1 would care and he added "we don’t ticket bikes, we can’t find a way to keep the ticket on the bike"



I’m guessing that’s cos they can’t find a way to secure it cos it might cause damage with sellotape etc

[GOONR]

an Auckland parking warden on Shortland street (where I work) said that if there weren’t any parks left outside chancery lane then, so Long as I parked at the very very edge of the parking restrictions (I’m guessing that means parking space) then no1 would care and he added "we don’t ticket bikes, we can’t find a way to keep the ticket on the bike"



I’m guessing that’s cos they can’t find a way to secure it cos it might cause damage with sellotape etc

I'm guessing that's not the warden who takes photo's of taxi's parked outside city heights blocking the entry to a carpark..

[Phurrball]

an Auckland parking warden on Shortland street (where I work) said that if there weren’t any parks left outside chancery lane then, so Long as I parked at the very very edge of the parking restrictions (I’m guessing that means parking space) then no1 would care and he added "we don’t ticket bikes, we can’t find a way to keep the ticket on the bike"



I’m guessing that’s cos they can’t find a way to secure it cos it might cause damage with sellotape etc

Correct as far as stated policy regarding the end of parking zones. Remember this is a policy/discretion though. They generally cut us more slack than cars.

As for the latter, they can and they do...

On the same note as affixing infringements to the bike, this principle goes for pay and display parking too - the prosecuting authority can never prove the P&D ticket did not blow away or was stolen due to the open nature of a bike, so $40 for failing to P&D can never really fly if you write in.

[Disrespective]

I just got one of these infringement notices today for the first time.

After a while of parking on the footpath outside the Architecture School at Vic Uni (next to innumerable scooters on Dunlop Tce (http://maps.google.co.nz/?ie=UTF8&ll=-41.295228,174.775298&spn=0,359.995177&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=-41.295308,174.775258&panoid=A3jeaQiUQZgBweMAM2XPZg&cbp=12,164.56,,0,7.6).) in all weather conditions this is the first time anyone at the school has heard of such goings on.

The notice states "not leaving 1m" so i presume that there is a rule about this?. And while i AM on the footpath, there is no mention of footpath on the notice. They have chalked a dimension of 811mm (a little too specific don't you think?) onto the footpath between my bike to the gutter just to make their point clearer. They also pinged a scooter too for being 318mm close to the gutter. But their dimension is a little hairy, it could easily be 1m with no worries if taken from a different viewpoint.

The notice also states that it was on the N side of the street but it is more like the E or possibly S side if anything, not a chance of being considered N in my view. You always hear of people getting away with tickets for wrong descriptors on the ticket, is it as simple as that?

Either way, i'm a little annoyed that just because my bike is a little bigger than scooters and due to the angle scooters park at i can't fit exactly within 1m of the gutter on the footpath that nobody ever uses because it's full of scooters that i'll be getting tickets. I'd rather not park side on to the wall and take up three spaces but if i have to, i will.

I think i might contest just to see what happens. It can't hurt i guess can it...

Pics here (http://www.filedropper.com/20072009239) here (http://www.filedropper.com/20072009237) and here (http://www.filedropper.com/20072009238) hopefully they work.

[The Stranger]

You always hear of people getting away with tickets for wrong descriptors on the ticket, is it as simple as that?



Ah, I don't. I always hear of people trying it on though.
I would have thought it was pretty reasonable of them to a) let it go if you have been reasonable i.e. allowed 1m and b) go to the trouble of actually measuring and making it clear to you.

Besides - 2 scroters and a Honda, you got to expect to attract unwanted attention.

[Disrespective]

Ah, I don't. I always hear of people trying it on though.Heh, yeah true, perhaps i was getting a little ahead of myself.