Hi OzB,
So for the first time ever, I have received a fine for parking. This has really upset me because I've always been very mindful of where I park.
The good news is that it wasn't that I was over the given time limit. The ticket stated that I was parked in a no parking zone - this is quite strange because my car was parked adjacent to two other cars. So the fact that my car is in a no parking zone confuses me. I looked around and could not see any no parking sign anywhere. Nor was the space painted with any lines that indicate I could not park there.
My question is what do I have to lose if I dispute this? What are the potential consequences?
Can they and do they need to provide proof I was in the wrong to be able to fine me?
Any help or additional useful information would be much appreciated!
We disputed two council parking tickets. One was for parking in a street cleaning area at the wrong time - for that one someone had pushed over the sign so we couldn't see it and the other one it turned out the parking officer had written down the wrong car number plate. (We queried that one because there was no way we would've parked where they said - when they finally told us the car was a red ferrari we told them if they gave us the ferrari we would pay the fine. Found out about the number plate mix up 'cause we saw the damn car illegally parked about 2 weeks later and it did have a similar number plate to ours.)
Upshot was that in both cases we queried the fine and in both cases they cancelled it. My suggestion is take lots of pictures of where you were parked, including surrounding signage, then ring up and argue your case. However, the other cars could've been equally illegally parked, and things like loading zones may only extend to one or two parking spots.
Best of Luck