Driver hit with £130 parking fine after stopping on yellow lines to open private parking gates

A DRIVER has been hit with a £130 fine for stopping on single yellow lines to open private parking gates.

But traffic wardens jumped on the car parked in a quiet cul-de-sac within minutes while the motorist was in his flat finding the key.

And there are no parking signs detailing the restrictions in the street either, according to the driver.

But two appeals have fallen on deaf ears and a tribunal has even been ruled against the case forcing the driver to pay up.

The 28-year-old, who wished to remain anonymous, contacted The Sun Online after the ruling was made this week.

He said: "I'd just moved into the flat in the last month and didn't have the keys with me. I went in to find them and by the time I got back I'd been hit with a parking ticket. I couldn't believe it."

The Nissan Micra had been left out of the way on a street in Southwark on Wednesday October 18 at around 4.30pm.

But after just five minutes of watching the car, the enforcement officer had slapped a ticket on the windscreen.

Southwark Council rejected initial appeals about lack of signage arguing there's no requirement to have details in every road where a "controlled parking zone" is in operation.

Drivers have to hunt around in nearby roads or remember signs at the point at which they crossed the boundary of these zones, according to the appeal.

Unhappy that the council had turned down his pleas, the driver took the case to the tribunals board.

The motorist said: "I also tried to appeal it on the grounds that you're allowed to stop for loading and unloading for up 40 minutes on single yellow lines.

"But that was rejected as they couldn't "see" me doing it. I suppose I should've left the car unlocked with the boot open while I was inside.

"I also found a specific code that mitigates against waiting to unlock gates or barriers and appealed on this basis."

But an adjudicator at the London Tribunals - the body that deals with appeals against local councils - sided with Southwark Council.

The adjudicator ruled: "There is no legal requirement for time plates adjacent to a single yellow line within a controlled parking zone.

"Indeed the whole purpose of a controlled parking zone is to avoid the expense and clutter involved in a profusion of signs.

"The relevant Traffic Management Order does not appear to contain the usual exemption for vehicles waiting while a gate or barrier to off-street parking is opened but even if it did I would expect the motorist to have the key with them and would not have applied on the evidence in this case."

The driver now faces having to pay the full £130 and said he felt like odds were stacked against drivers appealing.

He said: "It's amazing you that you can still be handed such a huge fine when you've done everything in your power to avoid breaking parking rules.

"The fact a case could rest on whether you've got the keys in your pocket or not is staggering."

Ian Wingfield, cabinet member for environment and the public realm at Southwark Council, said: "An independent adjudicator employed by London Tribunals, completed the final part of the appeals procedure in this case, he found the parking ticket was issued correctly and the appeal to be without merit, his decision is binding on both the council and the appellant."