Advice from Londoners required

[Mark_h]

Folks,

I'm usually found lurking around the Guildford bit of the forum on account of I live and ride round that neck of the woods. However one day a few weeks ago I took my brave pills and rode into work by Waterloo Station. On my way home I pulled over to the side of the road to put on some sunglasses and have just received a penalty charge notice.

Any idea if these are usually successfully challengeable? I've posted full details in the bike talk forum, but thought you lot may also have experience.

Link to other post....
http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=96896

Thanks in advance,
Mark

I reckon you may be able to contest this one on the grounds of safety.......seeing that "you had to put on your sunglasses to see where you were going".

Mind you, if you stopped on a red route then it may be a bit more difficult....just ask Fizzy Fish

sounds like you probably stoppped on a red route, in which case i don't think you've really got grounds for appeal i'm afraid

btw there's a lot of camera enforcement of yellow box junction / banned turn / bus lane / red route offences in London - even caught me out the other day as well! keep an eye out for grey cameras both at the side of the road and also mounted high up above it, plus some of the buses have cameras mounted on the front too

[Mark_h]

Was just a single yellow with restricted waiting times. I actually rode more or less blind along the red-route alongside waterloo Station then stropped on the road that goes towards the war museum.

Seems a little harsh to me.

Contest it anyway. From what I remember, if you contest it straight away and lose then you still only pay the lesser amount.

You could always argue that current legislation prohibits the use of a dark visor so for you to be able to see safely in bright sunlight you have no option other than to stop and put sunglasses on. For them to insist that you should have rode on not being able to see safely would be a failure for them to carry out a duty of care.

Yellow lines are enforced by local councils rather than TfL, so i don't know as much about these, but you may have more of a case since they relate to 'parking' rather than 'stopping'. Not sure the exact definition of 'parking' though, which is what any appeal would depend on. Definitely seems a bit harsh if you were with the bike at the time though!

Oh and I'm not saying that the 'stopped for safety reasons' route won't work (tbh I don't know myself), but I'd definitely give some thought to trying to show that you weren't technically 'parked', since that means there was no offence committed in the first place.

That's a good point. If the engine was running and you were sitting on it. I've always wondered if I'd get in trouble for pulling over on the motorway for getting cramp.

I'd contest it. Power to the people!

[chris8886]

nah, they couldn't do u for gettin cramp. i've had to pull over for it before. can they really expect me 2 ride safely while not concentrating on the road at all because you've got shooting pains through your leg/s?!?!

There you go! Not being able to see properly is quite an ailment too!