I just yesterday received a parking ticket for £80 (£40 if paid within 14 days) while parked not far from trafalgar square. I was parked in a lineup next to a bunch of other bikes in a designated area. I looked for signage when i parked and checked the other bikes but saw nothing obvious so left the bike locked and set off. I returned some hours later to find the ticket and even then looked around trying to discover what i had done wrong. It turns out there was a small sign on a pole nearby requesting a phone pay type deal to park there, i dont even have a cell phone anyway! Either way, my bike is registered to Australia and im wondering if anyone else has got away with not paying a fine and had it traced back to them???? From the looking round i have done it seems the DVLA here in the UK will not trace back to foriegn countries. Is this true????? Cheers for any info!

It rather depends on how long you are keeping the bike in UK on AUS plates.

For a UK registered vehicle you have 14 days to pay a 'discounted' amount. At least 14 days after that they send a Notice to Owner to the Registered Keeper which has a 28 day response period. We are now about 2 months onward.
After this they issue a Charge Certificate which has a further 14 days. Now at least 70 days onwards.
After which they can register a debt in the Court and then instruct baliffs to persue the Registered Keeper.

I am unclear after this but would think there was a slight risk of a vehicle being spotted by the Local Authority patrols or baliffs for the Court debt (certainly not before this) and clamped/impounded.

This is nothing at all to do with the Police or DVLA. This is all to do with the Local Authority (City of Westminster ?) who do have access to DVLA databases. I very much doubt they have access to the Australian Register so they will have nowhere to send Notice to Owner in 28 days time. Until then you have done nothing outside the system and are perfectly safe.

My guess is you are perfectly safe for probably 70 days if they 'issue' Notices to Unknown Persons. More likely for all time unless you are noticed by Westminster or Baliffs patrols some time in the future but only when the process has run its course.

I suggest you ask on Parking / Traffic Offences - The Consumer Forums Lots of knowledgeable legal eagles there!

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Vitim Bridge Clubwww.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=533442
www.sibirskyextreme.com

If you read any of the tabloids in the UK, they spend a lot of time discussing the fines (both parking and speeding) that foreign registered vehicles incur on UK roads. The general consensus is that there are currently no enforcement mechanisms in place to catch and fine foreign registered vehicles.

As correctly pointed out, parking fines are the remit of the Borough (council), rather than the DVLA. I have previously received tickets in both Tower Hamlets and Lambeth boroughs on foreign plates (South African), and these have never been followed up or enforced. I would expect Westminster (which covers Traflagar Sq) to be the same.

Annoyingly, Westminster is also the only London council that now charges you to park a bike on the street.

cheers

That's just crazy. If bikes are exempt from the congestion charge and with politicians banging on daily about CO2 emissions, etc, councils should be encouraging more motorcycle use, not thinking up more imaginative ways to sting people.

Bad job, Westminster

condolences!!!
PePiPoo: Helping the motorist to get justice

superb site and forum dealing with speeding/parking fines (taxation...)

They will help you with sound legal advice at a basic level for nowt.

Highly recommended.

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Harley Davidsons,
The most effective way of turning petrol into noise without the side-effect of horsepower

Question is, how much time and head space are you willing to spend on this trouble? If you think its going to worry you over the next few weeks, just pay the £40 and write it down to experience. Just my thoughts.

"You may feel a slight sting. That's pride ****ing with you" - Marsellus Wallace.

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I've a feeling I'm not in Kansas anymore.

I got a parking ticket in Salzburg, Austria in ~1997 which I didn't pay. It was in my own vehicle (BMW). When in Germany in my own vehicle in 2006 (Unimog) there were no ill effects, including insurance thru ADAC.

Charlie

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Unimog U500 w/Unicat

Austria and Germany are different countries with separate Laws, infrastructures etc. A similar language does not mean pooled information. Ask USAs, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, Boks, Brits and Paddys.

But some States Police never give up. Famously a few years ago a leading British Government Minister attending an International conference in Geneva was publicly arrested for an unpaid (ignored) parking ticked itself from several years earlier on a domestic trip.

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Vitim Bridge Clubwww.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=533442
www.sibirskyextreme.com

Hey all thanks very much for the feedback.

I think i will ignore the ticket and let things run their course. I plan on being out of the UK within a few weeks anyway so as you mentioned Tony I have done nothing wrong during that time, with only the intention of not paying! I will be back to mainland europe and plan on settling in Norway for a year or so, and will wait and see what happens.

I do hope though that the inspector felt a little guilt writing the ticket for my bike. It does look as though it has come from australia, which it surely has. It has the usual signs of wear such as cracked fairings, re-welded and now rusted pannier frames, covered in dried mud etc from the trip across asia which ive just done (arrived in london on saturday).

Will post here with news if i hear back about the ticket....

For London bike parking info, this site is very handy.

MOTORCYCLEPARKING.COM - MOTORCYCLE PARKING IN LONDON AND UK - A COMPLETE GUIDE TO HELP YOU FIND PARKING IN LONDON AND THE REST OF UK

Re: Westminster's introduction of a parking fee for bikes, they argue that the fees are justified to fund the introduction of new motorbike parking bays. Unsurprisingly I havent seen any new bays as yet. There are some protest groups around if anyone feels passionately enough about the issue.

cheers

Put it straight in the bin without any further thought. Sorry you have to see this rather crap side of the UK.

The various authorities just cannot keep up with prosecuting the Brits and they cannot get you in Australia. Firstly they have to prove that you have received the ticket - it might have come off. They write to you to inform you of the fine - they cannot do that if you are here. They must prove that they delivered that letter. Not sure how they will do that.

There is a system in place here that makes it all easy to dodge. You'll be right mate.

Matt

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I agree with Matt, foreign registered.
File it in the waste bin.
Don't loose a minute of sleep over it

few years back I got a ticket on a french registered bike parked in the station car park in norwich (4 of us in one car space) ignored it, never heard anything.

bin it mate.

[quote=Tony P;209115]Austria and Germany are different countries with separate Laws, infrastructures etc. A similar language does not mean pooled information. Ask USAs, Canadians, Aussies, Kiwis, Boks, Brits and Paddys.

quote]

I am well aware that Austria and Germany are not the same country (at least since May 1945). They are, however both members of the EU. Isn't one of the advantages of the EU the ability to quickly track down hardened career criminals, such as parking ticket evaders?
By the way, people attempting to cross into Canada by vehicle from Alaska are refused entry if they have any criminal record, for example a 15 year old conviction for driving-under-the-influence. So obviously in this case two (adjacent) countries DO share data.

Charlie

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Unimog U500 w/Unicat

Wow, that is interesting! That means they can't drive south to the rest of the USA but have to sail or fly. That is very harsh. Linzi.