Please note that you have to both buy and display a ticket.
We strongly recommend you check that the ticket or permit is clearly visible when you leave the vehicle (and after you have shut the door) as it is the responsibility of the user to make sure it can be clearly seen on the windscreen.
The council policy is that your pay and display ticket (or season ticket or other authorised form of permit) must be displayed face up in the front windscreen of the vehicle so that an attendant can clearly see the details of expiry time, amount paid and so on. In the case of no ticket / permit / blue badge display offences, the attendant will take photographs of the windscreen and side windows of the vehicle at the time the ECN is issued as evidence. You cannot ask for the ECN to be withdrawn just by sending us a ticket for the time in question.
Reasons why we issue Excess Charge Notices (ECN)
Our car park attendants issue ECNs under the authority of the Traffic Regulation Order under Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. The offences include the following:
- No ticket displayed
- No permit displayed
- Parking in a blue badge bay without displaying a valid blue badge
- Parked outside marked bays
- Parked in a prohibited area (parking where there are prohibited signs or yellow hatchings/double yellow lines)
- Ticket expired
- Ticket invalid (displaying a ticket or permit from another car park)
- Not transferable (using someone else's ticket)
These are the reasons why we issue ECNs. They are explained on the signs within the car parks
The offence is recorded on your ECN which is placed in an envelope attached to your vehicle – you will need to be aware of which offence you were 'booked' for before you consider appealing.
How to pay an Excess Charge Notice
Excess parking charges (parking fines) for all off-street and on-street car parking is currently set at £70 with a reduced charge of £30 if paid within 14 days. Payment can be made online, on our automated payment phone line 01284 757000, at any Post Office or PayZone outlet or by direct debit. If your appeal is disallowed then you must pay the undiscounted amount which is currently £70.
Appealing against an Excess Charge Notice
You can appeal an Excess Charge Notice (ECN) if you believe it has been issued unfairly - but there are strict grounds under which an appeal will be considered.
To satisfy audit requirements and to ensure appeals are considered consistently please do not telephone as we are unable to accept challenges, evidence or appeals by telephone - all appeals must be made in writing.
How to appeal
Please read the appeal policy and complete the online form, print off and return the PDF form or email your appeal:
The address to send your appeal to is:
Appeals Officer St Edmundsbury Parking Services
Level 6 Admin Offices
Parkway Multi Storey Car Park
Parkway
Bury St Edmunds
Suffolk IP33 3BA
You can also email your appeal to markets.carparks@stedsbc.gov.uk
Appeals
If you think the ECN has been issued unfairly you are able to appeal.
You must consider this carefully because if your appeal is reviewed and disallowed then you must pay the undiscounted amount which is currently £70.
If you decide to submit an appeal you should not send or make any form of payment until we have replied to your appeal and a decision has been communicated to you.
When an appeal is considered, photographic evidence will be viewed and any notes that the attendant makes whilst issuing the ECN and we will also consider your comments.
Your appeal is unlikely to be allowed if your ticket is left face down on the dashboard or elsewhere in the vehicle where the details cannot be read because our policy is very clear about the requirement to display your ticket so that the details can be read from outside the vehicle. Some appeals are based on the ticket being displaced by wind or for other reasons – it is expected that you carefully check the final location of your pay and display ticket before leaving the vehicle and for this reason your appeal is also unlikely to be allowed.
Your appeal must be in writing (see the back of the ECN for details of where to send your appeal). We are not able to discuss individual cases with you and can not make appeal decisions by phone.
