My wife received the following PCN from Manchester City Council on 25/3/19:
https://ibb.co/QM1zwhP
She had parked in what appeared to be a normal bay at Heaton Park in Manchester. There are several rows of clearly-marked disabled bays there - with a wheelchair symbol on the bay, and with cross-hatching between the bays. These have been around for several years.
In the space where my wife parked, the bay itself looked normal - however there was a white line across the front of it. Several bays up from this, the word DISABLED is printed on the line - however, at the time of parking, there was another car waiting directly on top of this word. Here is a picture of what it looked, recreated:
https://ibb.co/rMn2tHb
In the bay itself, there is a log marking the back of the bay. In the bay on the other side of this log, there was a sign sellotaped to the log showing that bay as disabled (although I'm not convinced this is enough signage in itself). See below:
https://ibb.co/XCVsxHz
Note: this was *not* the bay we parked in - this was on the other side. You can see our car in the top of the picture.
I appealed against the ticket on the grounds that the bays didn't have sufficient signage, and received a reply from MCC as follows:
"Discussions with colleagues in Planning and consultation with user groups including 'Friends of
Heaton Park' and other stakeholders such as English Heritage emphasised the importance of
recognising the Grade II Listed status of Heaton Park.
The signs and road markings must not detract from the natural beauty of the Park by creating
an urban 'highway' style environment within the Park. As there are up to 30 disabled bays in
some of the car parks, it would be visually intrusive to mark "DISABLED" at each individual
parking bay or introduce numerous 'disabled person parking bay' signs. Instead bays for
disabled persons are denoted by a white line that covers the length of those bays which uses
the wording "DISABLED" periodically displayed along the white line. The sections of disabled
persons parking bays marked in this way minimises the visual impact on the Park as required
by Planning and many of the Parks stakeholders.
I am satisfied that your PCN was issued correctly."
I stated clearly in my appeal that there was a car blocking visibility of the word DISABLED at the time of parking (as recreated in the above picture), and at any rate, the signage is unbelievably insufficient. Please can someone help with my next step? I have until the 24th April to pay the 50% discounted fine.