Merseyside parking ticket revoked

A report on GMTV this morning had me banging my head against the wall in frustration. It should have been a simple story - a businesswoman stops on double-yellow lines to unload her car and is caught by a mobile camera, she appeals and her appeal is upheld as no signs warning about cameras were in place; then we get an interview with her and a council official.

Of course GMTV manage to make a right dog's dinner of it.

First off is the amusing sight of the mobile smart car stopped on a single-yellow line underneath the time restriction sign; of course we don't know when it was shot or the time restrictions in place, but it amused.

Secondly we switch to the woman's (Rachel Johnson) interview in her car outside her business... presumably on the double yellow lines.

During the interview she tells us that the council told her she had no right to appeal. Eep flashing warning lights - if they'd done that then the ticket is null and void. You always have the right to appeal, what probably happened was that she appealed and they did an internal review and found no cause to reverse the ticket.

She then took it to a tribunal who found that as no camera signs were in place the tickets were invalid.

We then switch to Ben on the sofa with the council representative. Now remember she states she was unloading which you're allowed to do, so why did Ben keep stating that she had "parked"?

This popped up from an email later and he stated that it was the council who had alleged she was parked not unloading; well yes but it doesn't help if you back them up does it?

Another delight came from Ben when he told the official that she had been found "Not Guilty". Um no a tribunal can't find anyone not guilty or even guilty as this is not a criminal offence, they can be found liable or not liable.

Then finally it gets recapped in the news section by Penny who tells us that the Merseyside women appealed as there were no warning signs in place. Well not according to the news report and the interview you've just done where she appealed because she claimed she wasn't parking she was unloading.

Is it any wonder that so few have a clue about what they can and can't do when presented with this miss-mash?