Hello,

Hopefully someone out there can help me with this!

On Easter Sunday (8th April) 2007, I parked my car near my flat. There was at least one other car parked between me and the start of some double yellow lines. The ticket folks are very zealous around where I live, so I've always known that the slightest slip would leave you with a PCN!
I was then away for a couple of weeks, and next used my car on 28th April. I was happily driving along and washed my windows, at which point the dreaded green and yellow envelope floated across the windscreen. It had been issued on the 11th, so I was already outside of the 14 days to pay and the fine had gone up to £60.
I appealed and go a standard rejection letter, so appealed again. And again. Then I telephoned and was told that I'd not responded to a Notice to Owner (which I had't received). They sent a copy, so I replied with a Representation (also by e-mail as well as post). I never heard anything back from them until early 2008 when a Sherriff's Officer (Scott and Co) started sending letters. There's been lots of to-and-fro-ing and they're now trying to take the money from my bank account. I've never agreed that the debt exists, nor have I paid a penny or made any sort of payment agreement. The council are claiming that I haven't replied to things and now, for the first time in 31 months, they have responded by saying that my car was on a double yellow with an advisory sign 2 meters away. Hmmm.

The fine is now at £142 and I'm not up for paying it!

Any suggestions? I can attach or post copies of my letters and some scans of their latest couple if that would be of any help.

Thanks!!!!!

PS. Aaaaaaaaaaargh!!!!!!!!!!

There is feck all you can do but pay it and then sue GCC for the money back.

I'm willing to do that, but would rather not if I can avoid it.........

The problem is in Scotland there are no statutory procedures (witness statements etc.) to stop a council setting the sheriffs officers on you.

My original Representation (the appeal to the independent Adjudicator) went unanswered and then so long passed before I heard anything more that it went out of my mind. Do you know if there may be any grounds to have it referred given that it was never addressed before? The Parking Manager is saying that too long has passed, though if there is no expiry time on their action then surely the same should apply to me.....?
I forgot to mention before that as the car was parked there for 19 days, if it was illegally parked then surely they should either have issued 19 tickets or removed the vehicle. That's fairly strong circumstantial evidence in my favour, as they have no photograph to show if illegally parked ('cos it wasn't!).

Hold on, if I read this right your first representation was sent to the Adjudicator?

However by GCC rules the first representation should be to the GCC, and only to the adjudicator if they knock you back.

This may explain why you did not recieve a reply to your first representation.

You might want to try the representation route again, as the way I am reading it you effectively havnt made representations in writing. Hold the bailiffs off by telling them the debt is still in dispute.

That won't work on Sheriffs Officers.

I made a Representation to GCC by both e-mail and post, but didn't receive any reply. I'd been on the phone to them before that to ask what was going on as I hadn't got the Notice to Owner (they then sent a new copy) and they told me that they would automatically forward the Representation to the Adjudicator. Hmmmm - should I have smelled a rat at that point?!

I'll try that once again though. I'll also forward a copy of the letter to the Sherriff's Officers and hope that it holds them off for now.

Thanks for all your help - anything more will be thoroughly appreciated!

YEs I would send to the adjudicator now. Can't trust the council to have passed it on, why would they pass all rejected representations on?

You would send what to the adjudicator and for what reason? Its now in the sheriff officers hands and therefore a big bit late for adjudication unless the council calls off the sheriffs officers (which it wont)

The Sheriff Officers will not be interested in claims of 'dispute' they will continue the distraint process unless the Council calls them off.

I'm not even sure that the the original parking issue could be reopened so long after the event - the issue now will be the continuing lack of fitting in with the established timeframes - the lack of lines is never an issue within the Glasgow CPZ as the ciry is ringed with signs stating that the lack of lines is no indication of unrestricted parking.

It is the Council that provides the SPAS Form once your representation has been rejected, and without a GCC Reference code, SPAS are not going to entertain your appeal (it is the Council that pay for this process). As mentioned earlier, settling with the SO's will cool things down somewhat, and you can try to seek a refund, but this will be at their discretion, and with the adjudicator's time limits being well out of the ballpark, I don't see how they could be of any assistance.

I'm not really happy about paying at all, as I feel that I'd then be admitting to having done something.
I've pasted below the text of my latest letter to them. Any more ideas, anyone?


Text of letter -



Dear Mr Taggart,



Thankyou for your letter of 13^th October, which I received this morning. Whilst I note your reluctance to discuss the details of this matter, I am still disappointed that none of your previous correspondence has addressed key issues with this Penalty Charge Notice. The third paragraph of your letter states,

“I would reiterate that your vehicle was parked on double yellow road and kerb markings, advising of a prohibition on waiting and loading for any class of vehicle at all times. The issuing Parking Attendant noted that a timeplate advising of this restriction was situated 2 metres from your vehicle.”

This is the first time in 31 months of discussion that this specific information has been volunteered, which I find very surprising. I would refer you once again to my original appeal letter of 28^th April 2007. As this letter explained, my car was not parked on any type of yellow line, either single or double. There was another vehicle between my car and the start of the lines in question. Whilst neither party has photographic evidence of this (due on my part to the fact that a PCN was never even considered as being a possibility on a legally parked car), there is strong circumstantial evidence in support of my description of the situation. To reiterate this, my car had been parked for 4 days in advance of the ticket being issued, and for a further 15 days after the issue. Had it been illegally parked, and therefore causing an obstruction and a danger to other road users, I would have expected it to have either attracted a further 19 tickets or to have been removed. Please note that I have just visited the road once again and can see no advisory sign at all, let alone within 2 meters of where my car was allegedly parked, nor within 2 meters of where it was actually parked. To sum up, the ticket was issued incorrectly and the particulars of my objection have never been considered or responded to until now. Unfortunately, I consider the description that you provided to be inaccurate.

I would also point out once again that on each occasion that I received correspondence from yourselves, I have responded within the time frame required. No mail has been returned to me as undelivered by the Royal Mail. This includes my Representation, as previously explained on several occasions.

Please also note that I have received no further contact from Scott and Co since the 11^th September. Despite this, there was still an attempt to take funds from my bank account. I would also like to point out that if this were a criminal or police parking ticket, then it would need to have been actioned and taken to court within 6 months of issue. As decriminalised issue, I believe that as I have been consistent in explaining that no debt is actually owed, you are no longer able to claim it, as per the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973.

I am hugely disappointed that Glasgow Parking failed to respond in a timely manner to my Representation, and it seems actually failed to pass it on to the SPAS, as I believe it is required to do by law. I am also disappointed in your reluctance to refund me for the bank charges incurred. I have been more than reasonable in explaining the situation on many occasions, I have consistently replied to correspondence received within less time than Glasgow Parking takes to respond to me, and I have had the courtesy to assess and respond to your comments, rather than ignoring key information, so I regret that I must insist that Glasgow Parking refunds me the £50 charged within 14 days.

I look forward to common sense and honesty bringing this matter to a sensible conclusion.

Taggart will not be fast in responding, and in the mean time the sheriffs officers will have taken your car and arrested your bank accounts.

As previously noted - none of this will stop distraint by Sheriff Officers. And the costs continue to rise. I really think you should consider your position. Pay of the SO's, and use their receipt as the vass for taking GCC to the Small Claims Court to get this money back. When it comes to court processes, they do;nt care about protestations of innocence, GCC has the power and can cause much gried with their powers, but there comes a time when you need to protect your interests. Just how you stop an SO taking walking posession with a claim of GCC got it wrong won;t solve the problem. I'm currently seeking £120 expense from GCC for a cancelled parking ticket through SPAS. Because you've fallen through the cracks, you need to ensure you cause them maximum aggro, and a small claims action would do this, and remove the risk to yourself.