PARKING bosses in Bury have been slammed for failing to adequately consider appeals from motorists challenging tickets.

They were accused of “blatant procedural impropriety” by a Traffic Penalty Tribunal adjudicator after she upheld an appeal by Ron Ashworth, who received a £30 ticket in April.

He was told his Suzuki was not parked correctly within a bay at a car park in Bolton Street, Bury.

Mr Ashworth, aged 60, challenged the parking ticket, but was told there were “no grounds for the cancellation of the charge” because his vehicle was parked in contravention of the relevant restriction.

The ticket had been issued by NSL which is contracted by Bury Council to enforce parking regulations.

However, after he took the case to the hearing in Manchester, adjudicator Ms Maggie Kennedy upheld his appeal.

In her written judgment, she stated: “The council know that they have a duty at both the informal and formal representations stages to consider the representations made by the motorist and or owner.

“I have previously allowed a sizeable number of appeals because the council’s contractors expressly said they did not have the authority to consider ‘mitigation’ and then required the motorist to write again separately to the council if they wished to pursue their denied statutory right.

“The council have addressed this but regrettably either they or their contractors still fail to grasp the point. The contractors responded to this appellant with no further consideration of the representations than before, and still requiring him to write if he wished to ‘appeal’.”

Ms Kennedy added: “This remains a blatant procedural impropriety. The representation put forward must be considered.

“This standard, inappropriate letter fails to address any of the points raised by the appellant. Given the unusual argument he raised, one might have expected considerably more.”

Mr Ashworth, who lives in Rawtenstall, said: “The adjudicator accepted my argument. My worry is that NSL and the council simply tick boxes and ignore representation.

“The council didn’t turn up at the tribunal. They assume 99 per cent of people pay up and take no account of your representation.”

A spokesman for Bury Council said: “We have taken on board the comments made by the parking adjudicator. As a result, we have had meetings with managers from NSL and their replies to appeals will now make it clear that mitigation has been addressed where it has been presented.”