A Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) was issued on the grounds that it was “re parked in the same parking place within one hour or other specified time of leaving”.

The appellant has appealed in the following terms:

“I parked my car from 1.50pm to 2.20pm.  I then left. I returned at 3pm and parked my car there from 3pm until 3.20pm.  The second time I parked at a different place.  My understanding of the parking regulations for that area is that the public are allowed to park on the street for one hour in any two hour period.  My total time spent was 50 minutes.  I therefore feel that I have been wrongly issued with a parking ticket in this matter”.

The Roads Service are not disputing that the car was moved and parked in a different place – the evidence also confirms this as the Traffic Attendant has noted in his pocket book, two different tyre valve positions, which indicates that the vehicle has moved.  The appellant’s evidence is credible and consistent (and not in dispute).  I find as fact that the events occurred as claimed.

For the reasons set out below, the appeal succeeds on a number of levels:

The Roads Service has provided a copy of the relevant sign which is as follows “Mon-Sat 8.30am- 6.15pm Waiting Limited to 60 minutes in any 2 hours”.  There is no evidence before me that the area was adequately (if at all) signed with the instruction that there was no return within one hour.  As I am not satisfied that the Roads Service has demonstrated that the area was adequately signed, no contravention could occur and the appeal must succeed.

Alternatively, although the Roads Service has not provided the relevant legislation that provides for the particular parking provisions, the photograph of the sign provided is ambiguous, even if there were adequate signs (which I have found there is no evidence of) of the no return within one hour provision.  I am satisfied that any reasonable person would interpret that sign as allowing any aggregate parking of 60 minutes (however accrued).  Given this particular sign, the “no return within 1 hour” provision could reasonably be interpreted as meaning after an individual has utilised the 60 minutes available (whether that be all at once or during several different parking “slots”).  The Appellant did not park for more than 60 minutes in total in “any 2 hour period”, the Roads Service has not established that any contravention occurred and the appeal must succeed.

In any event, I find that given the legislation that the Roads Service is seeking to rely on, the above paragraph is academic (save perhaps for an individual who has parked in exactly the same place as before, which is not the case in this appeal).  This is because Roads Service is seeking to rely on Article 9 of the On Street Parking Order (Northern Ireland) 2000, which states that:

“Until the expiration of one hour from the time a vehicle is removed from a parking space a person shall not cause or permit that vehicle to be left again in that space.”

What is particularly relevant in this case is the definition of “parking space” given at Article 1 of the same Order: “parking space” means a space which is marked out in a parking place for the leaving of a vehicle.

For the avoidance of doubt, the same Order also defines “parking place”:  means the road or parts of a road within a controlled parking zone designated as parking places under Article 5.

Therefore I find that although the Appellant had returned to the same “parking place”, she was in a different “parking space”.  Article 9 of the Order only prohibits the return to the same parking space.  Therefore no contravention occurred.

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