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 this from a lawyer just after getting a ticket on my bike in Hampstead.
1. Tell them you were ill with ' The trots ' and had to find a toilet urgently, or
2. Tell them you'd ran out of petrol.

I used the latter and have heard nothing for 3 months.

I find if you stand your ground and insist they take you to court because of one of the reasons above, they will drop it. They cannot prove you were lying!!

Good luck!!