Anger Over Devonshire Road 'Parking Fine Trap'

Council starts enforcing restriction nobody knew applied

The signs indicate that no parking is allowed outside the hours of operation of the CPZ

May 4, 2025

Concern is being raised about a new interpretation of restrictions on Devonshire Road which has seen numerous people getting parking fines.

Hounslow Council’s parking attendants have started issuing penalty charge notices (PCNs) to vehicles parked by the shops outside the normal operating hours of the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ).

The current arrangements have been in place for over three years but fines for parking in this way have only recently started to be handed out.

The justification for the tickets is that the road is designated as a No Waiting zone outside the hours of the CPZ. This is indicated by the yellow part of two parking signs on the road which has a blue circle with a red border and diagonal line through it.

The No Waiting restriction also appears on the large sign at the entrance to Devonshire Road from Chiswick High Road. Most people are unaware that this indicates that you are not allowed to park during the hours indicated.

The sign at the entrance with the No Waiting restriction was put in place between June and August 2021 but, up until now, this hasn’t been enforced. It was erected when Hounslow Council introduced the current access restrictions on Devonshire Road which meant that vehicles were not allowed to drive down the road except when requiring access.

It was understood that this exemption included drivers wishing to visit shops, restaurants and cafes in the area. Business owners on the road say that, because there is no camera to enforce the restriction, it is largely ignored.

Local estate agent Christian Harper, of Harper Finn, recently fell foul of the new interpretation of the rule. He needed to collect lighting equipment from Ormrod Electronics and arrived in his car at just after 7am. Aware that parking was restricted on the High Road from this time, he left his car on Devonshire Road. He returned half an hour later to find a ticket stuck to his windscreen. He says he must have parked in Devonshire Road over a thousand times during his 53 years in Chiswick so was stunned to receive the £160 fine.

The yellow part of the sign indicates No Waiting is allowed outside CPZ hours. Picture: Christian Harper

When he later met a friend who lives on Devonshire Road, he was told that Hounslow Council parking attendants were regularly issuing tickets on the road in what has been dubbed a parking fine trap.

One Devonshire Road business owner said, “It is basically a Catch 22, if you don’t stop you could get fined for not requiring access and if you do stop you could get fined for waiting. If rules are consistent and properly enforced our business can adapt but the council chooses to not bother about access restrictions but goes full bore on parking restrictions during these hours which helps nobody.”

This apparently new interpretation of the rules means that anybody parking on Devonshire Road outside the CPZ hours could be fined. Thus far it seems that PCNs are only being issued in the morning. Mr Harper says that he was aware that large numbers of parking attendants visit the Chiswick High Road early in the morning catching out many vehicle owners not expecting parking restrictions to begin at 7am hence his caution on the morning he received his fine. They have generally focused their attention near Waitrose and the central car park.

The sign at the entrance to Devonshire Road confirms the No Waiting restriction but gives different times to a sign by the road

Mr Harper says that he intends to contest the ticket all the way to the independent adjudicator, something which he has successfully done before. He believes that continued enforcement of the No Waiting restriction on Devonshire Road would be immensely damaging to the businesses located there.

He said, “It's a bloody nonsense and I will appeal all the way to the High Court if I have to… just to prove how stupid this type of aggressive revenue generating enforcement really is. What advantage / dissatisfaction is there to anyone other than generating revenue if I park for 5 minutes on Devonshire Road in a designated public parking space at 7:30 in the morning?”

His grounds for appeal will include the contradictory nature of the signage in the area. The white part of the sign indicates the operating hours of the CPZ when parking must be paid for by the Pay By Phone app. Up until now most people have understood this to imply that there were no parking restrictions outside CPZ operating hours and this is reinforced by the wording on the now defunct parking ticket machine on the road.

The redundant parking machine implies it is okay to park outside the hours of operation of the CPZ

To further add to the confusion, the hours of the No Waiting restriction are given as 5pm to 8am on the sign at the entrance to Devonshire Road and the one near the Arcane café but as 6pm to 8am at the one by Nami Oriental.

Slightly different hours of operation apply further up Devonshire Road where it is stated NO Waiting restrictions begin at 5pm

We have asked Hounslow Council for comment on the apparent change of policy on Devonshire Road and await a response.