THE number of successful appeals against parking tickets in Hereford and the wider county has been revealed.

Figures from Herefordshire Council show the number of appeals lodged in Hereford and in Herefordshire as a whole, as well as the number of these which led to a cancellation of the charge. 

When parking tickets are issued. People who have received them can challenge them within 28 days of the issue date.

If the challenge is unsuccessful , the local authority will issue an notice to owner (NTO) requesting the full penalty charge.

At this point, the recipient can either pay the penalty or make a representation against it.

If the representation is successful the authority will cancel the original ticket. If unsuccessful, the full amount of the charge will be due.

In Hereford alone 17,799 parking tickets were issued between January 1, 2020 to July 31, 2021. 4,047 of which were challenged.

Of those challenged, 2,058 were cancelled. A further 174 were cancelled after representations.

In Herefordshire as a whole, 26,369 parking tickets were issued in the same 18 month period. 6,265 of these were challenged, resulting in 2,927 cancellations.

A further 898 representations were made, resulting in 237 more cancellations.

A Herefordshire Council spokesperson said the majority of cancellations arise from a ticket or permit which was not visible at the time, or was incorrectly recorded in the RingGo system by the driver, being provided retrospectively.

They said: "Cancellations are also often the result of evidence of mitigation (such as vehicle loading, breakdown or another unforeseen event) being presented to appeal a parking charge notice that has been issued.

“Officers make decisions based on the best information available to them at the time, and whilst the vehicle may be parked incorrectly it may be the case that this information is incomplete as the driver is not in attendance.

"This is exactly why the appeals process exists so that drivers have the opportunity to put forward their mitigation after the event, and their submissions are assessed by specially trained staff.”