Ever wondered why you always seem to get a parking ticket? It’s because you are a van driver…that’s why.
I’ve reported before about how van drivers are being singled out by over eager traffic wardens, with some owners getting a ticket when their van is parked on the drive at the front of the house. You couldn’t make these kind of stories up.
While there isn’t much you can do about finding a ticket slapped onto your front windscreen, you might be pleased to hear that you can fight back. Even better, according to a new study, there are some places in the UK where you are more likely to be successful in your appeal.
This has led pundits to refer to it as a “ parking ticket postcode lottery,” where some van drivers are going to be successful in their appeals, while others are left wondering just what is going on.
I suppose it is a bit like van insurance really. Some van drivers live in the right postcode and get rewarded with cheap quotes, while others, especially those in East London, get the highest van insurance quotes ever seen.
If you have just been quoted an expensive price for your van insurance, then my advice is to shop around on a website like this one. It only takes a few minutes, and you should start to see cheaper quotes almost instantly.
Back to the parking tickets for van drivers and you are no doubt wondering just what are the best places to appeal? The study mentions that some councils approve almost every appeal while others the ratio is just 1 in 10, so it’s definitely worth knowing which places are the most van driver friendly.
To give you an example of how bizarre this can be…last year a place called Runnymede in Surrey only approved 9% of appeals by van drivers, while just 30 miles away in Basingstoke and Deane in Hampshire 95% of the appeals sent in got a stamp of approval.
Other places where you are more likely to find success are Waveney in Suffolk, Swale in Kent, and South Tyneside in Kent.
Should you always appeal a parking ticket though, or are there times when you might be better off just accepting your punishment? In my opinion, if you genuinely are in the wrong then maybe it’s a good idea to simply pay up and move on with your life. However, if you think the parking ticket has been issued unfairly, then fighting back is a good option.
For example, if the signs were wrong, the traffic warden got it wrong, there was an error on the ticket, a thief stole your van and parked illegally, or if you just think you have been singled out because you are a van driver…then do everything in your power to appeal.