Parking ticket issued in Shrewsbury – the facts

You may have seen a story in the local media today (Thursday 15 November 2012) about a parking ticket issued to a driver in Shrewsbury on Remembrance Sunday. 

The council gave a response to the Shrewsbury Chronicle and Shropshire Star, which explained why the ticket was issued and confirming it would be cancelled, but we think it is important to give the full background to this issue in the following statement: 

“Shropshire Council would like to apologise and regret any distress this has caused to Mr Roberts and his family.  After reviewing the circumstances of this case we can confirm that Mr Roberts’ Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) has been cancelled. 

“The ticket had been issued as the badge was displayed the wrong way round, so that the expiry date could not be seen.  We urge all holders of disabled badges to ensure their badge is clearly displayed so that the Civil Enforcement Officer can see its full details.  

“Unfortunately, once a ticket has been issued, the Civil Enforcement Officer is not able to cancel it, as this can only be done by the back office staff on receipt of a challenge against the PCN.  Obviously, now we know the circumstances of this incident, we have been able to cancel the parking ticket in line with our policy procedures. 

“We urge all holders of disabled badges to ensure their badge is facing the correct way up.  It is standard policy to issue a PCN if the expiry date is not displayed.  We understand this may seem a harsh process, but unfortunately this is to help prevent the misuse of Blue Badges, which is becoming a big problem across the country as motorists pretend to be disabled to get free parking. 

“We are currently working to prevent the fraudulent use of Blue Badges, as people who do use them fraudulently prevent real Blue Badge holders from using parking bays designed for people who, like Mr Roberts, are genuinely in need.”