I enjoy my day working as a driver for Flowers24hours.co.uk It gets me out and about all over London, and sometimes further afield. But there is one less than carefree aspect to the work: parking tickets!

If you feel that these are unfairly issued you can and should contest them.

I have picked up a few parking tickets when I have been on delivery, even with a notice on the windscreen saying “Flower Delivery - back in minutes” and hazard lights flashing, sitting on a single yellow line with no kerb marks.

So what to do then?

Firstly make sure that you reply to the ticket promptly making it clear that you were not parked but on a delivery. Add copies of delivery sheets with times and signatures to back up your case. Keep a copy of everything together in a folder where you can find it. Any emails should be sent with “read acknowledgment” switched on.

Make clear in your representation why you are appealing the ticket (In our case usually because we were delivering and not parked) If the parking restrictions are not clear, perhaps broken up by roadworks or obscured by trees or other signs, you could well have grounds for appeal.

Remember that 68% of appeals are successful!