I need help contesting a red route fine

I got caught parking on a red route but, and it's a big but, I was loading and there was a sign there saying loading max 20 mins. I was parked in a bay and was there for less than 20 minutes. The still shot from the camera showed a different road name to the one that is listed from the penalty. All this is in my favour. However. I was technically loading as I'd stopped to load a subway meal into my van.

Will I be able to escape the fine due to the fact I was collecting something or should I blag it and say I was meant to be loading something but found it had already been collected?

Here's the e-mail I've already sent to them:

Hello. I'd like to query a fine I have been sent for stopping on a red route.

Where I had parked there was a bay clearly marked which had a sign errected allowing loading for a maximum of 20 minutes. I was there for far less than this time and was loading goods from a nearby premises.

Please investigate this and respond to my query as soon as possible.

I have also noted that the place was listed as ******* *** *** but the still shots from the camera show ****** ***.

Vehicle registration: **** ***
Penalty charge notice: **********
Date of notice: 26/09/2007

I look forward to your reply.

Darren Richards.

What do you lot reckon?

[Biker Biggles]

I bet you get a reply saying if you wern't so tight you'd have bought a twelve inch.

[SoulKiss]

Originally Posted by Biker Biggles

I bet you get a reply saying if you wern't so tight you'd have bought a twelve inch.

I'd say chalk it up to experience and an expensive lunch.

Prepare to be asked to produce paperwork for the delivery/pickup you were making, and no the Subway receipt will not do.

I did get a twelve inch!

What is the definition of goods though? I've scoured the tfl site and it doesn't say anything about what goods are.

loading bay UK noun [C] (US loading dock)
a space at the back of a shop where goods are delivered or taken away

goods
plural noun
1 items for sale, or the things that you own:
There is a 25% discount on all electrical goods until the end of the week.
The house insurance will not cover your personal goods.

2 UK items, but not people, which are transported by railway or road:
a goods train

[Ch00]

Red route loading boxes should be treated with caution. There needs to be constain loading/unloading for your stay to be vaild.

No doubt the CCTV have footage that does not show any loading activity.

Ch00

Looks cut and dry to me. You took a chance and stopped to get something to eat in an area where no stopping is allowed. Buying a sandwich doesn't cut it. If it did, then everyone would be stopping on the route all the time to go and get this or that from the shops. The red route is a red route for a reason. You decided to ignore that. Take the hit and think of it as a very expensive sandwich. (As that is what it was).

[Biker Biggles]

You sound like my old headmaster.

If you intend to contest it then you have to challenge it on the fact that the road named for the offence is incorrect, this should be sufficient.
You have no chance regarding the 'technically loading' arguement.
I have to agree with the previous post, red routes are there for a reason and if you ignore them then you take the chance and face the consequences.

Well if I'd parked down the road I wouldn't have been able to carry such a large meaty bap back to my van!

Just as a matter of intrest is your vechile listed as a goods vechile? We used to have regular run-ins with the parking tax people when i worked at Pizza hut, we used a empty loading bay on a quite street (the bay was used during the day) to loads pizza into our cars/mopeds and park for short periods between orders, always less than the 20 minutes. Apparently because they were not clasified as goods vechile they did not count. We had no where else to load and the p*icks were completley unreasonable about the whole thing. You cant walk 5 mins in each direction 20 times a night. I understand why we have parking rules but it times like this when these people should be reminded that they provide a service to the public, not control us. Rant over


Maybe you were starting a subway delivery service to yourself?