If you ever had a fine or contravention for parking your Motorcycle Bike in a M/C PERMITS ONLY bay in Kensington whilst you have legally and lawfully purchased a temporary ticket/permission at a Pay and Display tower or paid for it by phone following instructions on the signs erected nearby, then please get in touch.
Kensington claims that these are RESIDENTS ONLY bays whilst the word RESIDENTS is missing and the signs erected nearby do not state that tickets purchased are not valid for M/C PERMITS ONLY bays, thus misleading motorists on where they should park after purchasing a temporary ticket/permission.
Kensington is the only borough in the entire UK which uses those wordings and got permission from the Secretary of State for it. Â Â I am thinking of starting a petition to put forward to the Secretary of State in order to change it to M/C RESIDENTS ONLY and add to the signs nearby the wording NOT VALID FOR M/C BAYS, as Kensington is taking advance of the misleading wording in order to cash in on Fines and Contraventions.
In all fairness though, I wouldn’t park in a bay that requires any kind of permit, simply because I know I don’t have any. I would never think that a parking ticket is the same as a permit.
Are all bays like that in Kensington or just a few?
I would have thought that it was fairly obvious what M/C Permits only means. Why would you think that was valid for parking tickets? In addition the bays marked Solo Motorcycles Only are free for all. On top of that most bays have ground anchors. It’s all described here. https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/parking-transport-and-streets/residents/residents-parking-permits
If you want to waste your time and energy taking on the Borough by all means go right ahead. I really don’t see that you have a case. Perhaps try to get the “parking tax” in Westminster overturned while you are at it. And start a “Go fund me” page to pay your fine in the interim while you wait for the law to be changed.
Given that all motorcycle bays in Kensington and Chelsea are free, what exactly did you buy from the ticket machine?  I doubt it said “motorcycle” on it, let alone “permit.”
 I too would have thought it obvious that a permit is entirely different to a pay and display ticket.  The word permit is only ever used for season pass-type schemes, for residents or trades that need regular parking in a particular area.  Something you apply to a council for, not a “temporary permission.”
If anything, RBKC are one of the best central London councils for motorcycle parking.  They provide free bays for their residents, free bays for the rest of us, and probably uniquely have installed ground anchors in most of them.
I would be surprised if there are enough people who do not know what a permit is for them to make much cash from it, maybe you should do a freedom of information request to find out?  But it will certainly be far less than what they could make by copying Westminster and charging for motorcycle parking, if they did want to cash in from motorcyclists.  I expect the ground anchors cost more than any fine revenue from such a mistake.
Anyway, if they put “M/C RESIDENTS ONLY” then you have the problem of residents (and non-residents claiming otherwise) parking there thinking they do not need a permit.  Maybe they could have put signs on the bays, but it really should not be necessary to put up hundreds of signs just to explain what a permit is.
Fausto. Am guessing English isn’t your first language? Seems like you fell victim to not fully understanding that permits are for residents only?
If so, I think you are stuffed to be honest. Put it down to experience and time will heal your anger. I’ve not been back to Cambridge for 25 years, after a tow, and the pain is slowly subsiding, but they can still fck off if they think they will get my custom for anything. W@nkers the lot of them.
The devil is in the detail. The signs saying pay and display are not by the MC parking bay but to the side of it and refer to the car parking, not bikes. The white lines coming out from the curb delineate the difference. I do agree K&C like all the boroughs see motorists as a cash cow. In K&C in particular they make over ÂŁ20 million a year from parking. As has been pointed out they do provide free bays for two wheeler’s. I have the free resident permit because I live in K&C. I agree there should be a common London wide system and am always happy when I go to H&F because I can park in their resident car parking bays. When K&C introduced the bike permits and put in ground anchors in all of their bays they tried to charge ÂŁ30 for it. But nobody paid so they made it free.Â
London is appalling for bike parking confusion. Last year I visited a friend, pulled to the side of the road, googled the borough and read that bikes are fine to park on the road without any permits etc. Drove 12 metres down the road, (I went back and measured when I tried and failed to appeal) and 3 metres into a side road and left my bike. Next day had a fine as I apparently hit a different borough that has no provision for bikes. I actually think it is as bad as one side of the road gets ticketed, one side is fine!
For reference that is Harringey and Islington border. Â
Islington - Solo MC bays only, otherwise need residents permit.
Harringey - “In controlled parking zones, motorcycles and mopeds may park free of charge in residential, shared use and pay and display bays.”
In my case, this was the bay where I stopped yesterday, September 19th. There is no other information about what this parking space is intended for. This phrase is even more “treacherous”. It literally reads “allow motorcycles only”. Any help on how to claim the ticket I received?
I nearly got caught by this. Had parked up and walking away and happened to pass a parking enforcement officer and asked him. He was very helpful and told me where to find the nearest free parking bay.
Unfortunately it says Permit motorcycles only, which is different to allow motorcycles only.
I’ve been done by one of them when they first appeared, I couldn’t get it revoked.
Hi, the Kensit and Chelsea thing is so confusing, my son got a ticket on his motorbike. I’m looking on how to appear it. Can someone please help I’ve gone onto the website and I can’t see no clear guidelines as to why he got the ticket
