After paying for parking in Birkenhead town centre this morning, I arrived back at my car (with 20 minutes left on my pay and display ticket) only to find a parking ticket stuck to my drivers side window (just inches away from the pay and display ticket in the windscreen). I immediately went to the council's parking services department and explained what had happened ( I also presented to them the pay and display ticket which still had 15 minutes of validity) only to be told "I would have to appeal". "what for?" I asked "surely the parking fine is invalid as I have proof that I have paid for the time stated on the pay and display ticket". "that is the procedure" was the final answer.
This brings up some questions regarding the so called "Civil Enforcement Officers" (traffic wardens to you and me).

1. Do the council encourage the tactic of issuing tickets to cars that have a valid pay and display sticker attached? if so what is the point of paying to park as the CEO's will ticket you anyway?
2. Are the CEO's (traffic wardens) on commission for tickets issued? (with Christmas approaching who could blame them for wanting to earn a little extra).
3. What level of training is mandatory to become a CEO (traffic warden)? Basic skills (telling the time in particular) should be a minimum requirement when applying for such positions. but most importantly common sense.

But as we all know common sense does not apply to Wirral borough council.

Is it any wonder that the retail area of Birkenhead town centre is dying on it's feet, It's hardly encouraging shoppers with overly zealous traffic wardens (sorry CEO's) stalking their vehicles (legally parked or not).
I for one will now think twice about doing my shopping in Birkenhead town centre.

Haven't been near Birkehead or Licard with a car for 2 years now,prefer Ellesmere Port market and Port Arcades,50p 2 hours,it has all the shops we need,if we need anything else plenty of out off town shopping,besides it's filthy,shame,Grange rd in it's heyday was a lovely shopping area.

Surely they would have to take a photo of the ticket to proove you've run out of time. which in this case would obviously run out after the time stated on the fine issued?

Thanks for not being one of the cheapskates who parks on my road where I live in Birkenhead blocking driveways and blocking access to even the tinyest of ambulances because a car is plonked on every single corner. The traffic wombles walk past these every day and do nothing and when I pointed it out to the council and suggested maybe double yellow lines round some corners... nothing...

If it has upset yuo this much go to a solicitor.

They should be able to scratch the parking ticket, and seek compensation for your upset

The ticket was probably issued by a Nigerian / Polish worker who can barely read anyway - they tend to do the jobs nobody else wants

Ellesmere Port became free for upto 4 hours a couple of months before last Christmas didnt it?? How come your still paying 50p for 2 hours Dave.

Personally, if im going to Bhead and the weather is nice, ill par in the streets or by PC World and use my legs (good excercise). If the weather is crappy or im in a lazy mood, ill park in the multi-story.

And yeah, the parking attendants are always either on commission, or have weekly/monthly targets to hit. Bit pathetic if you ask me.

Contest it. They will take too long to get back to you and cancel the issued penalty charge.

I've had a few cancelled when I've contested due to them taking too long to get back to me

Multi-story Car Park FTW.

Cheapest option and you don't have to worry about getting back in time

I've contested parking tickets, and they've always said they have turned my appeal down. These were legitimate requests, I was parked in a disabled bay whose markings were no longer there (on Woodchurch Road), they had simply worn away, like the rest of the road.

I no longer go to Birkenhead, purely because there is nowhere to park, and I'm not paying £2 per hour to park in a space I'm paying taxes to maintain.

Always keep your eye out for Uber-Parking Warden. He rides a grey moped and gives every single 'illegally' parked vehicle a ticket. If you're even parked funny, he'll ticket you and then disappear on his chicken chaser.

Just park on the estate behind Europa and walk through if you dont wanna pay. Its not that far. Tonnes of people who work in Bhead do it. There is a mad fight for the spaces nearest the centre of a morning haha.

...do you want your car to still be there with its wing mirrors still attached...

You can get really far on bricks for wheels

Ive never had a problem and ive done it on a few occasions, there is tonnes of people who do it.

One thing you do tend to attract no matter where you park in Bhead car parks, is Grrrs slamming their doors into your car. You dont get that on the street (of course as you say, there is the risk some cock will hit your mirror, but then replacing/fixing a mirror is easier and cheaper than some git twatting a big dent in your door).

Well that's easy,our beloved leader thought it was a good idea to split Cheshire county into East and West Cheshire,then to get rid of Ellesmere and Neston Council and put it with Cheaster Council,Chester likes money so parking charges were put back on at Ellesmere Port, so much for trying to keep people using local small towns,cars using the parking to go shopping at Ellesmere Port has as predicted slowed right down,when it was free it was full,it's still a nice shopping centre.

Beaker's right... you may lose your wing mirrors... block my drive and you may lose your car

Er yeah, and if you block someones drive, you deserve to lose your car imho. You can park there whilst showing respect for the locals, the same as tens of people do each and every day.

Mind you, if the locals wernt all claiming a multitude of benefits, there'd be no problems with people parking there, as they would be out at work, earning an honest living, whilst the place was being used for parking. And the mentality of the criminals would not be so popular, given half the local population would be serving very long prison sentences. So I blame the government.

In honesty though, the worst thing they ever did was introduce parking tolls around the Conway Park and Hamilton Sqaure area.

Changed again Matt

before 3pm its 50p for 2hrs. 70p for 4hrs
Free after 3pm (but you still need to go get a ticket)

Ah, I aint been there earlier than 3pm in recent months haha! The still getting a ticket bit always astounded me, I mean talk about wasting money, maintaining the machines and employing wardens to check for cars over 4 hours, that was pathetic.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php is the place to go with your parking tickets.

Councils will generally reject an informal appeal as standard, even if you have a dead cert defence, afterall, they want your money, and the threat of it going up means that many will fold at this stage. For the brave (and sensible) you can wait for the "Notice to Owner" (NTO) and submit a formal appeal. Again, many appeals will be rejected at this stage, and you have to go to the independent adjudicator.

I've had numerous parking tickets, and i have won on appeal all of them, even when i was parked wrong, due to mistakes on the ticket or poorly worn or wrongly marked bays. Most you have to take all the way.

In this case, write and ask for the pictures that the CEO took, to see if you can see the displayed ticket in any of them.

I just park in Netto, monitored by a Private Parking Company, who although they try to give out tickets, they are not legally allowed to fine you.

Think it was to stop traders parking all day.

I personally have more respect for your average smackhead then the local traffic wardens. Most of the are actually that bad and you never get a nice one.

I actually saw one trying to ticket a woman loading her pram into the car, struggling, becuse it took her more then 5 minutes to load the car up and she went over her ticket time, instead of asking if she needed help, or just leaving her alone. Thats enough for me, theyre ....

Not all of us can get in the multistory though Joe.

I dont mind paying for an hour or two on a saturday but if i stay a while i have a secret car park to use or just get the bus, its free for me anyway

Is it the ticket for anuva reasön p'raps? Ie parking in an unmarked disability bay. Dont bite me head off just seems weird, even by w.b.c standards?!

actually i was rather proud of the way i parked, totally square to the markings and evenly distanced both sides (which is a rarity for me).
in a bog standard parking bay.

Lol. I hate parking attemdants and i cant even drive!

i had a ticket off "uber traffic warden",then i tried to knock him off his scooter,accidentaly of course,my front left was on the white line in a parking bay.not over it ,just on it.i was in this bay for less than five minutes(how long do you take at a cash machine?) and he must of been waiting and watching cos i didnt even see him write the ticket.got back in my car and he was gone up the road.bet i am not the first he has got here either.....i was in work the other week and a warden was looking at our cars parked on what looks like a pavement but is actually part of our own land,we threatened to get him done for trespassing....the funny thing was that he was parked on double yellows to get out and look at our cars.

If you do your shoppin on a Sunday in B/head the multi-story car park is Free!!

That the one with the glasses?

If it is, he's always around mine giving me tickets lol



Didn't know that!

Even throughout the week and Saturdays, it's only about 75p an hour

Mr Uber was out by Arrowe Park Hosp yesterday ticketing people parked on the road by the football pavilion - he knows his rules that one!

Strangly the first time that I saw him I thought he was a weirdo impersonating a warden as he didn't have a proper uniform on - the tickets he gives out are real though!

He's all over the Wirral unfortunately. I got a photo of him parking his bike illegally on Teehey Lane (where he was ticketing a row of people parking in a "loading bay"), I'm just wondering what to do with it now.

He does actually hide in the side roads off Woodchurch Road.

Came across this photo on my computer when backing it up:



Parking on cross-hatched lines next to traffic lights.

And POMP's chippy in the background!!