On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 14:06:52 +0100, Mike Harrison
wrote:

On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 12:51:49 +0100, Dave wrote:

Mike Harrison writes
And asking the council for compensation is going to help is it?
...well it might make them take more care not to issue illegal tickets
in future, so yes, it could.

But the council don't issue the ticket directly.

But they employ the people who do.

If everyone who received an illegal ticket took action for costs, it
wouldn't take long for them to sort it out, saving money in the long
term.

********. People will always make mistakes.

If they know they will get into trouble for issuing bad tickets, they will be more careful

Parking attendant mis-reads parking restriction plate as Mon-Sat instead
of Mon-Fri; simple phone call or letter resolves problem. Are you going
to sue for emotional distress as well?

Wanting compensation for such things is, quite simply, pathetic.
IF a simple letter or call resolves it, I totally agree but there are no end of stories where
councils do not act reasonably/competently and cause significant hassle and cost for the victim.

At present they can issue truckloads of bad tickets in the knowledge that some will pay up anyway,
and if they don't the worst outcome is that the ticket gets cancelled.

If it has to go to the adjudictor and the appeal is upheld then it's usually because the council
has failed in its duty to deal fairly & reasonably

I think the system should be changed so that when a ticket is overturned by the adjudictor, the
appellant should AUTOMATICALLY be awarded the amount of the fine as compensation (i.e. higher award
if clamped, towed etc.) , and more at the discretion of the adjudicator if the council have acted
unreasonably or incompetently.

This policy would vastly reduce the abuses of the system by councils and their contractors.

If the council hires contractors to do this work then any compensation
paid out by the council is a direct result of failure on the part of
the contractor. The councils should simply charge the ticketing
contractors penalties for each wrongfully issued ticket. That would
soon put a stop to the over zealous ticket issuer.

Contractor performance penalties have many many precidents in the UK
so setting this up shouldn't be too difficult.

Andrew