Parking fines - why it pays to appeal

Read our report based on a study (desk research) of the 2012 figures reported by PATAS, Traffic Penalty Tribunal and the London Council in their annual reporting about parking

Findings show that 8,461,916 parking tickets issued in England and Wales in 2012. Of these, 69,921 were appealed and a staggering 35,816 were upheld – that is almost 1 in 2, so it pays to appeal a parking fine if you think it has been awarded unfairly.

• In the City of London (Square Mile) for example, there were 60,256 parking tickets issued in 2012. Of these, just 1590 were appealed and only 19 were still made to pay. A staggering 99% of people who appealed were let off. So resolver.co.uk’s message is ‘it pays to appeal’!

Start your appeal against an unfair parking ticket via Resolver now

• Resolver’s research also reveals top ten areas where people have been successful in appealing charges (see fig 1, below). It clearly shows that in most cases nearly half of the people who appealed did not have to pay the charge. In some areas as much as 60% of appeals were upheld.

Westminster	8694	480,820	5193	60%
Newham	3783	203,096	2047	54%
Transport for London	3679	326,261	1758	48%
Camden	3312	265,709	1402	42%
Ealing	2568	151,900	1322	51%
Tower Hamlets	2214	105,734	1295	58%
Lambeth	2168	145,097	1303	60%
Hounslow	2162	131,629	1125	52%
Haringey	2007	169,208	918	46%
Waltham Forest	1785	97,492	748	42%
Redbridge	1743	103,831	1059	61%
City of London	1590	60,256	1647	104%
AREA	APPEALED	CHARGED	UPHELD

• The study shows a staggering difference between those councils who aggressively hand out tickets to bump up revenues and those who don’t. Westminster Council, for example, issues one ticket every minute, while the likes of South and North Derbyshire District Council are only handing out, on average, one ticket a day. At £60 per parking ticket this amounts to a £28m cash cow for Westminster Council.

Westminster	1317	55
Transport for London	894	37
Camden	728	30
Newham	556	23
Ealing	416	17
Haringey	464	19
Lambeth	398	17
Hounslow	361	15
Kensington & Chelsea	492	21
Waltham Forest	267	11
COUNCIL	PER DAY	PER HOUR

• The study also highlighted the fact that people in some parts of the country simply don’t appeal parking fines. In London, appeals run into thousands, literally a handful of people appealed charges in Rossendale, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Norfolk and Nuneaton. The study shows those parts of the Country where people are the laziest in appealing a parking fine. It clearly shows that despite a number of tickets issued, motorists are just accepting the charge. Looking at appeals in other areas, resolver.co.uk suggests it pays to appeal (Fig 3).

Breckland District Council	1	514	1
Hyndburn	1	51	0
Rossendale	1	–	1
Buckinghamshire	–	7930	0
Great Yarmouth	–	7224	0
Uttlesford	–	4540	0
South Norforlk	–	1340	0
Merthyr Tydfil	–	987	0
Nuneaton & Bedworth	–	925	0
Broadland	–	63	0
COUNCIL	APPEALED	AWARDED	UPHELD

• The Study showed where outside of London the most parking tickets were issued were (Fig 4). Again, in most cases nearly half of the people who appealed against their parking offence did not have to pay the bill.

Manchester	925	137,430	0.67%	477
Croydon	883	102,099	0.86%	266
Birmingham	720	133,895	0.54%	339
Enfield	459	82,368	0.56%	133
Havering	679	47,001	0.44%	354
Brighton & Hove	646	116,097	0.56%	338
Leeds	163	106,799	0.15%	78
Bristol	297	77,094	0.39%	162
Liverpool	324	74,717	0.43%	121
Newcastle upon Tyne	320	68,246	0.47%	123
Cardiff	292	68,116	0.43%	97
Nottingham	364	62,101	0.59%	157
Sheffield	282	61,788	0.46%	154
COUNCIL	APPEALED	AWARDED	%	UPHELD

James Walker, the founder of resolver.co.uk commented, “our study shows that it pays to complain and appeal about a parking ticket if you feel it has been awarded unfairly. It also highlights the aggressive tactics of some councils to simply use parking charges to bump revenues in a complete disregard for motorists’ rights. Our advice is to use our app to complain as soon as you get a ticket – especially if you feel you are in the right! It won’t cost you a penny and with our service we record all the communication in a case file and even escalate the case to the Parking Adjudicator if necessary.

“In our view, by appealing you are helping the councils to improve the fairness of the system and to stamp out any rogue parking attendants who are just looking to improve their numbers.”

See the Auto Express coverage of this story here

Read the Complaining Cow experience on parking tickets

Start your appeal against an unfair parking ticket via Resolver now