Parking mad? Not me, I won at a tribunal
THIS is the woman who took on a controversial parking ban – and won.
Alexandra Watt challenged a penalty charge imposed by Newcastle Council after parking in Shakespeare Street.
The street has caused confusion among drivers after one side of it was reserved for taxis after 6.30pm.
Alexandra had paid by phone, tapping in the zone number shown on signs, and received a message saying it was OK to park.
But a ticket was waiting on her windscreen when she returned.
She appealed three times – and was turned down three times. But she decided to go to a tribunal, which eventually ruled in her favour.
Alexandra, of Heaton, said: “I parked in Shakespeare Street on the opposite side to the theatre stage door in the early evening.
“The parking signs were confusing to say the least but I understood that as long as I was paying, I could park there. I paid on the phone and the automated message told me that I could park there up until 8am the next morning. I returned to the car a few hours later to find I had been issued a ticket which said I was parked in a taxi rank.
Alexandra argued that the automated message should have flagged up that she was not allowed to park.
Alexandra said: “I had a telephone hearing and the adjudicator originally awarded the case to the council and told me I’d have to pay the £70.
“Then an adjudicator read through my case again and decided that the council was being unfair and that they could make the side of the road where I parked a separate zone number.”
The tribunal said: “There does not seem to be any reason why a different location code could not be used to differentiate between the dualuse bays on one side of Shakespeare Street from the pay-and-display bays on the other.”
A spokesman for the council said: “Newcastle City Council always welcomes the views of the adjudication service when considering parking appeals. In this instance, the adjudicator initially found in favour of the council, although we did receive further comments following the decision.
“In the adjudicator’s verbal decision, he agreed that the signs and lines were correct and compliant with the regulations.”