Man beats 25 parking tickets due to 'unenforceable' road markings (From News Shopper)

Man beats 25 Greenwich parking tickets due to 'unenforceable' road markings

3:59pm Monday 23rd January 2012 in News By Mark Chandler

NEXT time you get a parking ticket, you may want to check the road markings carefully.

By spotting two rogue white lines, one Charlton lawyer claims to have beaten 25 parking tickets which were issued to him and his friends over the past year.

James Necker and pals were hit with the tickets, costing up to £130 each, at Park Vista, Greenwich, as they headed to favourite boozer the Plume of Feathers.

But when Mr Necker, 36, of Fairthorn Road, examined the parking regulations he noticed that there were broken double white lines at the end of the road’s long multi-vehicle parking bays.

Under regulations, bays which do not have individually marked spaces inside them should only have a single line painted at either end.

He said: “They’re using the wrong road markings and have been since 2002. Every ticket issued since then is unenforceable.

“They must know about it but haven’t done anything for 10 years.”

Mr Necker said: “I have had many a remonstration with a traffic officer who all think they are right, but when I have quoted the regulations to them, they can see that they are wrong.”

Each ticket has eventually been rescinded though, in its correspondence, Greenwich Council has not admitted the markings are incorrect.

Mr Necker says that since his success the offending bays have been spray painted to show workmen how to correct them.

But work has not yet taken place and wardens are still patrolling the area.

Mr Necker is now encouraging other drivers to follow his example and appeal their tickets.

He said: “I don’t want the council to have to make cuts and close down children’s groups but the tickets being issued are wrong.”

Despite being asked whether Mr Necker was in the right and why his tickets had been rescinded, Greenwich Council offered no response.

A spokesman said: “The necessary work to correct the lines has been on order for some time now and the contractor is expected to carry out the work early next week.”

In 2008, the Ealing Times revealed a number of parking bays in its area did not accord with the rules and could be open to legal action.

Websites like ticketfighter.co.uk have also flagged up the loophole for a number of years while several challenges against Bolton Council have been successful.

Mr Necker’s letters

The wording of Mr Necker’s appeal letters said: “From the pictures enclosed you will see that the delineation of the bays does not conform to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 (TSRGD 2002).

“Double white lines at the end of the bays should not have been used as they were not a permitted variant of diagram 1028.4 of the TSRGD 2002.

“Double white lines at the end of the bay should only be used where each individual bay is marked out within that entire row of bays as in diagram 1032, rendering this entire bay and other surrounding bays as unenforceable.

“I trust in light of these procedural improprieties that you will cancel this PCN.”