"Richard J." wrote in message
.uk...

Oh, for goodness sake! Just phone them up and explain what happened.
If it's as clear-cut as you say it is, they'll probably rescind the
ticket straight away. They can hardly pursue a penalty if the time of
the "offence" is during the free parking period.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Trust me - the phone call doesn't work... the OP is likely to have to go
through what I did - sending photocopies etc...

I encountered a similar situation and considered letting it go through the
system - to court stage if need be and watching them waste their time trying
to persue the penalty charge - then I thought it might not be looked upon so
kindly if the court knew I could have acted to nip it in the bud and didn't.
However the council were not as agreeable as you naively point out - I did
try resolving over the phone - council policy was that everything had to be
in writing with copies of the ticket/permit etc sent in recorded delivery.