Suppose you turned up at 6.15pm and parked in a bike bay.
Got back two hours later and noticed the sign. No ticket on bike. (Parking fees are only upto 6.30pm)
So was I very lucky that no wardens were around for those 15 mins - or do they ticket via the post using cameras?
Cheers
you was prob lucky m8.
I parked in a bike bay in the Queensway area…There was no sign to indicate you had to pay to park there. Just had the ticket come through the post ! Surely the bays need to be signed to warn people thya need to pay by phone.
Go back and get photo’s. No sinage then ferk Westminster.
Have a look at http://www.notobikeparkingfees.com/ you will find plenty of advice on how to fight this PCN
Always appeal parking tickets…you might be lucky
Berkeley Street off Berkeley Square, very large bike bay present here all pay to park signs have been removed - possibly just replaced as I noticed the council had ‘suspended’ the bay the other night, probably only for as long as it took them to replace the signs someone tore down!
I’m sure they were less than happy about the lost revenue incurred, but the bay remained like this for at least a couple of months! Any PCNs issued would have been null during that period.
Westminster especially - before the pay by phone started their wardens used to hand out tickets to cars/vans and say “appeal it” if the driver pointed out that the ticket was being issued in error. They knew they were wrong, but how many people, especially visitors, would not know how to appeal, or how many people could not be bothered. I do not have enough feedback since the pay by phone thing came in to say if this is still going on.
Parking tickets for this type of offence cannot be served via cctv, so it most likley that you were just lucky
Some say a rattle-can of black paint obliterating the sign has warded off voodoo. I could never condone such vandalism, but apparently it has happened. Angry unfairly PCN’d bikers perhaps.
An unreadable sign is just the same as no sign at all…
Oooooooooooooooo:w00t:
All it takes is a blade screwdriver and a 10mm spanner. The lower signs are held on with hose clips, the upper, larger one with bolts. The only really hard bit is the top mount which is probably out of reach of the average protester so perhaps bring a small folding ladder to stand on.
You should note that Westminster has a CCTV driven policy about littering, so you’d be advised to dispose of the signs thoughtfully. You’ll probably want to walk to the site, wear a hoody and fluorescent jacket to make you invisible and take reasonable precautions against being identified. While you’re at it, M/C bays can easily be extended with a couple of cans of black and white paint.
Of course this is all dreaming 
and I couldn’t possibly condone the destruction of council property as it could lead you into a world of hurt. But I’m seeing more and more signs that are hanging half off, part missing or covered in black spray paint, so somebody out there is doing it.
They shouldn’t even have to appeal it, if the warden knows the ticket is unenforceable he can just cancel it at the end of his shift.
Of course most will insist they can’t do this as they’re paid to commit daylight robbery and don’t give a damn about the inconvenience caused.
The lower jubilee clips can be simply kicked off if you wear decent mx style boots dropping the payment plate to the pavement with a few decent kicks.
The higher ones are I think secured by 13mm not 10mm nuts in most cases, loosening them and yanking them down usually works fine.
Probably best to get hold of a City of Westminster yellow bib to avoid undesired attention.
The council appear quite oblivious to a lot of this, Berkeley Street’s bay hasn’t had a sign for several months (possibly still??) You’d assume they had enough revenue to ensure their signs were correct and intact enough in order to rob us? Apparently not…
Saw a sign plastered in PCNs the other day also!
