Four English councils bring half of legal actions for blue badge misuse – The Guardian

Posted February 20th, 2023 in disabled persons, fraud, local government, news, parking, prosecutions, statistics by tracey

‘Four councils are responsible for bringing more than half of the prosecutions in England for people abusing the use of disabled parking badges. Figures released by the Department for Transport (DfT) show that Lambeth, Birmingham, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Bromley carried out 54% of all legal cases for people misusing the blue badge system, for the year up to the end of March 2021.’

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The Guardian, 20th February 2023

Source: www.theguardian.com

Private parking fines to be capped at £50 – BBC News

Posted February 7th, 2022 in codes of practice, fines, government departments, news, parking by tracey

‘Private car parks will have to display prices more clearly, introduce a fairer system for appeals and give drivers a grace period for lateness as part of a government crackdown.’

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BBC News, 7th February 2022

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

York Council Accused Of Breaching Equality Duty – Each Other

‘Disability activists allege that City of York Council have breached their legal duty to promote equality by seeking to expand their “footstreets” scheme, which would permanently pedestrianise the city centre and potentially limit access for disabled patrons.’

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Each Other, 16th August 2021

Source: eachother.org.uk

Penalised for parking on your own land – Law Society’s Gazette

‘Funny thing, the law. You would not, for instance, think you could get a ticket for parking on your own land. But you can. Who says? The Court of Appeal, for one. On 27 November 2009 in Dawood v Parking & Traffic Appeals Service & Another [2009] EWCA Civ 1411, in refusing permission to appeal against a penalty charge notice, Sedley LJ said that: “One might have thought that nobody could commit a criminal offence by parking a motor scooter on his own land. But the adjudicator took the law to be otherwise and HHJ Oliver‑Jones held that the contrary was not arguable.” As did Sedley LJ.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 6th July 2020

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Regulator acts after ‘illegal’ airport parking scheme collapses – The Guardian

Posted October 21st, 2019 in airports, compensation, financial services ombudsman, news, parking by sally

‘Investors who put their money into an airport parking scheme that went into liquidation earlier this year are hoping for compensation after the Financial Conduct Authority announced it was taking legal action against those behind the scheme.’

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The Guardian, 20th October 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

The Sun breached guidelines with Harry and Meghan story – The Guardian

Posted October 2nd, 2019 in complaints, media, news, parking, royal family by sally

‘The Sun newspaper has apologised to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex after the press regulator ruled it had breached accuracy guidelines in an article about an alleged staff parking ban at their home.’

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The Guardian, 30th September 2019

Source: www.theguardian.com

Airport parking boss jailed for dumping cars in muddy fields – Daily Telegraph

Posted April 12th, 2019 in airports, company directors, consumer protection, fraud, news, parking by sally

‘In airport parking scammer has been sent to prison in one of the first cases of its kind after he made £1.4million leaving holidaymakers’ cars in muddy fields with keys in the window.’

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Daily Telegraph, 10th April 2019

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

MPs launch inquiry into pavement parking amid claims of ministerial inaction – Local Government Lawyer

Posted April 9th, 2019 in footpaths, inquiries, news, parking by sally

‘MPs are to hold an inquiry to explore the problems of pavement parking in England, amid claims that the Government has failed to take action over the issue.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 8th April 2019

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Lords urged to hurry through legislation cracking down on ‘cowboy’ parking firms as it emerges DVLA will share details of 7m drivers this year – Daily Telegraph

‘The House of Lords has been urged to hurry through legislation that will crack down on “cowboy” private parking firms, as it emerged that seven million drivers will have their personal details shared by the DVLA this year.’

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Daily Telegraph, 24th February 2019

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

‘Rogue’ parking companies face government crackdown – BBC News

Posted January 29th, 2018 in bills, codes of practice, news, parking by sally

‘”Rogue” parking companies will be banned from accessing driver data and issuing charges as part of plans to stop “unscrupulous operators”.’

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BBC News, 28th January 2018

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Self-parking cars to be legalised in UK – BBC News

Posted December 20th, 2017 in consultations, news, parking, road traffic, telecommunications by sally

‘The UK government wants to modify its ban on using mobile phones behind the wheel to allow drivers to use automatic parking devices.’

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BBC News, 19th December 2017

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Can a parking right be an easement? – Tanfield Chambers

Posted November 23rd, 2017 in easements, news, parking by sally

‘Parking is a hot topic! There have been an extraordinary number of cases involving parking disputes over the last few decades, almost certainly because the absence of a right to park can substantially reduce the value of both commercial and residential land.’

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Tanfield Chambers, 10th November 2017

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Priest who stole dead parishioner’s disabled parking badge said he was telling the ‘gospel truth’ – Daily Telegraph

Posted September 12th, 2017 in clergy, community service, costs, disabled persons, fraud, news, parking, sentencing by tracey

‘A priest who denied stealing a dead parishioner’s blue badge so he could park for free said he was telling the “gospel truth.” Father Bill Haymaker, accompanied to Hove Crown Court by his official clerical dog The Venerable Mr Piddles, was found guilty of stealing the badge from woman who had died two months before and then using it in his own car.’

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Daily Telegraph, 11th september 2017

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Cardiff NHS hospital staff lose parking tickets case – BBC News

Posted July 17th, 2017 in fines, hospitals, news, parking, Wales by tracey

‘Seventy-five members of staff at a Cardiff hospital have been left “broken” by a court ruling that means they owe thousands of pounds in parking tickets, a campaigner has said.’

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BBC News, 17th July 2017

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Taxi driver convicted of assaulting council parking attendant and colleague – Local Government Lawyer

Posted April 20th, 2017 in assault, community service, compensation, news, parking, sentencing, taxis by sally

‘A licensed taxi driver has been convicted of assaulting two members of a council’s parking team and given a community order requiring him to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 20th April 2017

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Parking fine appeal success varies between council areas – BBC News

‘The likelihood of successfully challenging parking fines varies widely depending on where drivers get a ticket, research has shown.’

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BBC News, 5th April 2017

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Councils rejecting parking appeals ‘out of hand’ without reading them – watchdog report – Daily Telegraph

Posted February 6th, 2017 in appeals, fines, local government, news, ombudsmen, parking, reports by sally

‘Cash-hungry councils are “all too often” rejecting out of hand drivers’ challenges to parking fines without even bothering to read them, according to a watchdog report.’

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Daily Telegraph, 6th February 2017

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Chief druid wins right to take English Heritage to court over Stonehenge parking charges – Daily Telegraph

Posted January 11th, 2017 in charities, human rights, news, parking by sally

‘A senior druid has won the right to take a charity to court over “pay-to-pray” parking charges for the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge, claiming it should be free.’

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Daily Telegraph, 10th January 2017

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Chatbot lawyer overturns 160,000 parking tickets in London and New York – The Guardian

Posted June 29th, 2016 in appeals, artificial intelligence, computer programs, fines, London, news, parking by sally

‘An artificial-intelligence lawyer chatbot has successfully contested 160,000 parking tickets across London and New York for free, showing that chatbots can actually be useful.’

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The Guardian, 28th June 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Winterburn and another v Bennett and another – WLR Daily

Posted June 8th, 2016 in appeals, easements, law reports, parking, prescription, rights of way, tribunals by sally

Winterburn and another v Bennett and another [2016] EWCA Civ 482

‘The claimant owners of a fish and chip shop claimed as a result of use over a number of years to have acquired by prescription the right for themselves and others using their premises to park on land comprising part of a car park belonging to the defendants. The defendants’ premises, which were next to the car park, had been used as a club and users of those premises used the car park. The entrance to the car park was adjacent to the claimants’ shop. The claimants had operated the shop from about 1987 or 1988 until 2012. Throughout that time, their suppliers had up to nine times a week pulled off the road into the disputed part of the car park and parked there for long enough to make their deliveries, and their customers had parked on the disputed land while they bought their fish and chips. On the whole that use of part of the car park did not interfere with the s’ operations but over a seven-year period there were 12 to 15 occasions on which the defendants asserted ownership of the disputed land, and, expressly or impliedly, asserted that the claimants and their suppliers and customers had no right to park on it. At all times until 2007 there was a sign attached to the wall of the building on one side of the entranceway to the car park, erected on behalf of the defendants, stating “Private car park. For the use of Club patrons only. By order of the Committee”, and a similar sign in the window of the club premises. The claimants claimed that their right to park, acquired by prescription by “lost modern grant”, had been established by their 20 years’ uninterrupted user “as of right”, namely, without force, without secrecy and without permission. The First-tier Tribunal found that, although the two signs were clearly visible, they were insufficient to prevent the claimants from acquiring the claimed parking rights. The Upper Tribunal allowed the defendants’ appeal, reversing that finding.’

WLR Daily, 25th May 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk