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proceduralUK · England & WalesDifficulty: moderate

Bay Obstructed or Too Small — Could Not Park Within the Bay Markings

Code 24 assumes a driver could actually park correctly within the bay. If another badly parked vehicle, roadworks, bins or debris occupied part of the bay, or the marked bay was physically too short for an ordinary car to fit inside its lines, correct positioning was impossible through no fault of yours. The council must engage with that when considering representations, and statutory guidance requires it to exercise discretion proportionately.

Legal basis

Contravention code 24; Traffic Management Act 2004 s.87 statutory guidance (proportionate enforcement and proper consideration of representations); TSRGD 2016 Schedule 7 Part 4 items 6 and 8 (prescribed bay marking forms)

How to identify this in your case

Was part of the bay blocked by another vehicle, skip, bins, roadworks or debris when you arrived, forcing you to sit partly over the line? Or is the marked bay visibly shorter than a normal car? Photograph the obstruction and the whole bay, ideally showing both the obstruction and your vehicle in shot.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

Deadline. A late submission can be rejected without your argument being read. Check your notice for the deadline and how it is counted.
Paying may end it. Paying can count as accepting the notice and can close a challenge already under way. Part-paying or acknowledging an old debt can also revive a time limit that had expired.
The amount can change. Check what happens to the sum if you challenge — it may be held, re-offered lower, or keep rising, and fees or enforcement can continue meanwhile.
Use the official route. Use the method, recipient and form your notice specifies, with any reference, evidence and signature it asks for. Sent elsewhere, it may not count.
Only say what is true. Do not copy any statement of fact unless it is true for you, and check the legal point still applies. Delete what does not fit. It may be treated as your statement.
Careful what you volunteer. Avoid unnecessary admissions — naming the driver or accepting responsibility can remove arguments. But answer anything you are legally required to answer, and do include the evidence your ground needs.
Keep the record. Keep what you sent, the attachments, any receipt, and the reply. Note the next deadline.

Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at.

I am appealing this penalty charge issued under contravention code 24. At the time I parked, part of the bay was already occupied/obstructed, so it was not possible to position my vehicle wholly within the markings, and I parked as far within the bay as the obstruction allowed. The photographs I enclose show the obstruction and my vehicle's position. I put the council to strict proof that correct parking within the markings was reasonably achievable at that time. The Secretary of State's statutory guidance under section 87 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 requires enforcement to be proportionate and representations to be considered on their merits; penalising a driver for a position forced by an obstruction is neither, and I ask that the penalty be cancelled.

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Bay Obstructed or Too Small — Could Not Park Within the Bay Markings

Legal basis

How to identify this in your case

Sample appeal wording

Beat It writes this argument automatically

Sources

Related appeal grounds

Next steps