Hello, I'm a student in Sheffield.
I had a residents permit for my house this year (2017-18). Since July 1st 18 I moved into my new property for next year, (2018-19) so naturally, a week before moving, I applied for a residents permit for my new property (I was literally just moving down the road but annoyingly it was in a different parking zone). I only gave myself a week in advance because when I applied for it for the 2017-18 house, it went through immediately and I just paid it there and then, I didn't think there would be any kind of waiting period.

I got an email saying my application was pending review. (25th May). It took them until the 5th July to finally process my application - too long IMO, as my this point I'm already at my new property. I'd called customer services a number of times to see if there was anything wrong with the application/if i could speed it up, and they couldn't tell me anything. I carried on parking at my old house during this time, as I was under the impression the residents permit for that property was expiring on 20th Aug 18 as I got it 20th aug 17, and it said it was valid for 12 months and although now I am aware of the fact they expire once you're no longer a resident, i didn't think i had any other option anyway (I don't know the area well and its my first year with a car so didn't know where non permit parking was.) on the 5th July, they asked me to pay £72 for the permit - however I knew none of my housemates have cars/permits, so I knew this was wrong, so I rang the council as soon as I could (on the 9th as i was on holiday) and they said it's probably a ex student who had left their permit active, and to sort it out I'd have to send proof of my tenancy agreement so prove they are no longer living at the address. He gave me the customer service email and said it would be sorted soon if i sent it to them. I sent the tenancy agreement via email on 11th Aug. At this point i'm still parking at my old address. And again, i'm waiting ages for my parking permit to come through, until finally on the 23rd July I get a parking ticket at my old property. I ring them up again to see wtf is going on with the permit as its been nearly another 2 weeks, and they tell me they're still working on evidence provided on the 7th july, and I complained about the parking ticket but they said its not up to them and I should appeal it, but thankfully i'm informed of some other roads I could park on - as soon as I am aware of this and that my residents permit is invalid I stop parking outside my old house, and find alternate parking.

I appeal the PCN - this is what I sent:

''Firstly, I have a residents parking permit for *** area that would be due to expire on the 20th august 2018, as it was 12 months purchased on the 20th august 2017
Please see permit details below - here i attached a picture of the confirmation email
Since having spoken to customer services, I am now aware that once you move out of that location, the permit becomes invalid – I assume this is why I’ve been given a PCN despite having a permit as demonstrated above. This is something I wasn’t made aware of as it doesn’t mention it in the permit email (as shown above), I also received no notice that my permit had been cancelled as a result of no longer being a resident.
More importantly though, I have been trying to apply for a permit for my new property which is just in the zone next door to ****l, for over a month now. Please see evidence below. (date applied: Mon 25th June)
This has been an excruciatingly long experience trying to obtain a permit for the correct charge – it took over 2 weeks to even process it, after a number of calls to customer service (both of which I was on hold for over 20 minutes before even being able to speak to someone). When it was finally processed I got quoted the wrong charge at £72 as the second permit holder, when I know none of my current house mates have cars or permits. I was told to send evidence (tenancy agreement) via email to customer services and was told once they had received this it would be changed to the normal price of £36. This email again was send over 2 weeks ago with absolutely no reply, I have had 5 phone calls to parking customer services over the past month, and been on hold for over an hour in total. (see supporting documents) And yet I am still waiting to receive this permit.
My point being, if my permit had been sorted out sooner than this, I wouldn’t have even had the need to be parking in **** where my old permit was.
I'm a medical student and have to drive to placement which can be far out from sheffield for very early times of the morning. I don't know Sheffield well, and my old permit was the only place nearby that I thought I was allowed to park at, which still added an extra 20 minutes to my commute each day - if i'd wanted to park illegally, I would have just parked outside my new house, knowing that I didn't have the permit and make my life much easier. I feel it is unjust for me to have to pay this fine, when I had no knowledge or warning of its invalidity and i've made every attempt to obtain a new valid parking permit. ''

I received a reply to this appeal yesterday and they have declined it, saying the invalidity of my permit would be in the T+Cs (fair play) and they sent me a link to where I should be applying for a permit - like I haven't been trying to do this for over a month.

More annoyingly, and although this is after the PCN, I get an email from them on the 30th July (remember I sent the evidence by email as instructed on the 11th) and they say there is missing evidence (1x proof of tenancy agreement) and send me a link to upload the document!!!! The cheek of it. Obviously I upload it as soon as I can, and finally 7th Aug I receive the correct permit charge. Obviously I appreciate the fact the ex tenant not cancelling their permit wasn't the councils fault, and that was the main cause of delay in this process, but do you not think over a month and a half is a bit of a joke to finally get the correct application approved?

Anyway, i'm now at the point where I don't know whether to pay now (£35 at 50% discount within 14 days) or to continue appealing this, but risk ending up having to pay £70. I know its not a lot of money difference in reality, but its annoying because by paying the £35, i might as well have just paid the £72 in week two, and not got a parking ticket in the first place.

Based on your knowledge of sheffield city council and general parking tickets - does anyone think I have a case? or should I just pay the £35 and save myself some time and possibly money?

Sorry this was really long - thanks in advance

For me, this is an abuse of process and I would take them all the way to TPT. If you save a couple of pounds a week, you'll soon have the additional £35 before any adjudication date. TPT dophone adjudications, so you would not have to attend although it is best to.

Frankly, do you really want to confirm these muppets in their muppedness? No, thought not. The plain fact is they should have cancelled your PCN without quibble as it is entirely down to their stupidity and robotic management.

Thank you very much for your feedback! I'll take your advice and let you know how it goes!

Based on our knowledge of SCC a c**k up by them that will win for you is quite likely so post the PCN all sides, the council photos, your challenge and their rejection