Parking fine

Why you should appeal traffic penalties

appeal traffic penalties
Surely not! If you think you’ve been given a ticket unfairly, there are several ways to appeal (Picture iStock/MachineHeadz)

Parking fines are one of the hazards of modern-day motoring life. And even if you’re perfect at parking, local authorities enforce all sorts of things, from driving in bus lanes, using a vehicle that’s too polluting in clean air zones, to littering from vehicles.

But what happens if you receive a traffic penalty that you don’t agree with? Is it worth protesting? And if so, how do you appeal traffic penalties? We explain all.

How do you appeal traffic penalties?

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Increased car cloning causes innocent drivers trouble

car cloning
Cloning cars usually starts with stealing a number plate (Picture iStock/Jens Rother)

If you’ve been hit with an unexpected fine for speeding, driving in a bus lane, parking or not paying a congestion or emissions zone charge you may have unwittingly become a victim of car cloning.

New research shows an alarming increase in fines issued by Transport for London (TfL) to cars with altered identities. The number overturned because they were given to cloned cars was up nearly nine times between April 2021 and April 2022.

We look at what cloning is and what to do if you suspect your car has been a victim of it.

What is car cloning?

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Cashless parking catches drivers out. Here’s why it’s costing millions

cashless parking
Should you be penalised if you can’t do this and only have cash? (Picture iStock/MartinPrescott)

Drivers who’ve been fined for not being able to pay at cashless parking meters are being urged to contest the penalty. New research conducted by the Mail On Sunday has found that around a third of parking meters are now cash free.

That means drivers must pay with a debit or credit card or via a telephone hotline or mobile phone app. But what happens if you can’t?

Drivers penalised for not going cashless

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Hit by an unfair parking ticket? A new tool should make appealing easier

Unfair parking ticket

That familiar sinking feeling… Now there’s a new tool to help make appealing unfair tickets easier

Every year millions of drivers are hit with an unfair parking ticket – penalties that they don’t think they should have received. Now a new online tool has been launched to help drivers appeal these fines that they believe are unjust. The helpful portal was rolled out earlier this year by Brighton and Hove Council on the south coast. But by the end of 2016 it is hoped every local authority in England and Wales will be using it to help drivers deal with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal more easily.

Most don’t appeal an unfair parking ticket

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