It can often be worth some background checks to see if your parking ticket is valid.
In 2000 a motorist got a ticket from a warden working for Bury Council for not parking wholely within a marked parking bay. The motorist complained that the bays were too smal and that it was impossible for most cars to fit within the bays. The council refused to cancel the ticket and the fine stood.
The went motorist to the local council offices to look at the parking order and discovered two things. Firstly that the council not have powers to charge at that particular location and secondly that the bays, while the bays were actually marked at an angle to the kerb they should have been painted parallel to the kerb.
As a result the fine was overturned.
