Tickets torn up as motorists complain

Thousands of parking tickets were torn up after being challenged by drivers in the West Midlands last year, it was revealed today.

Experts reckon figures would be higher if more people protested. Drivers have a better than a one in two chance of getting tickets withdrawn by complaining in Wolverhampton.

Almost 2,500 of the near 4,000 people who objected avoided paying the penalty since the city council took control of the issue in February. Nearly 50 per cent of those going to the National Parking Appeals Service in Manchester after getting a ticket in Sandwell won their case in the past 12 months .

Barrie Segal, a chartered accountant who has reviewed 30,000 parking tickets since launching a website encouraging people to contest the fines said: "Many motorists do not bother to appeal for a variety of reasons. They think it is too time consuming, complicated, bureaucratic or expensive but these figures suggest that it can be well worthwhile.

"I am convinced that throughout the country millions of pounds are involved in illegally issued parking tickets." Drivers can challenge a fine within a fortnight of it being imposed while preserving their right to pay the penalty at a discounted rate but run the risk of being landed with a bigger bill if they risk taking the matter further.

The next step is to make a formal representation to the council asking for the ticket to be dropped. If that is unsuccessful a dissatisfied driver can take their case to the appeals service. Councils often do not think it worth contesting these.

A total of 19,585 parking tickets were issued in Wolverhampton between February 5 last year, when the city council took control, and the beginning of this week.

There were 3,118 challenges and 1,279 formal complaints leading to 2,478 parking tickets being dropped. Only 33 of these cases went to appeal.

Some cases listed as challenges will also be included in the number of formal complaints after not being settled earlier but it is impossible to say exactly how many fall into this category since some people formally object without first making a casual challenge.

In Sandwell there were 130 appeals last year of which 51 were not contested by the council, 20 were allowed and 48 refused. Seven were withdrawn while decisions have still to be announced on the remaining four cases.

More than a quarter of parking tickets issued in Walsall were contested and almost 650 withdrawn on appeal. Dan Slee, Walsall Council spokesman, said: "In the financial year 2006/7 we issued approximately 3,400 parking tickets to motorists. Of those, we had appeals on 27 per cent and 70 per cent of those appeals were accepted."In real terms this equates to 918 appeals, of which 643 were accepted.

In Dudley 666 of 4,461 parking tickets issued were withdrawn after being successfully challenged last year. No figures were available for the number of protests that failed. Dudley Council is not responsible for on street parking in its borough.