UCAT Question Analysis - Verbal Reasoning Question 10
TEXT - LETTER DATED 5 JANUARY
Dear Sir
I am writing regarding the parking ticket which I found on my car this morn-ing and would like to explain why I believe it should be cancelled. On 16 December, I parked my car legally within the white markings on Green Av-enue, a small street parallel to the street in which I live. This is a road where anyone is free to park for free all year round. This morning, as I was setting out for work, I found my car on a nearby piece of grass, with a parking ticket for £120, stating that I was being fined because my car was illegally parked on the grass. This is NOT where I had left it.
I gather from a notice that I found on a lamp post near where I originally parked the car that the road has been resurfaced recently. The notice was dated 17 December and announced that parking would be suspended be-tween 19 December and 24 December, both dates included, to allow resur-facing work to take place during that time. It was confirmed to me by the Council that the resurfacing work did indeed take place at some stage be-tween those two dates. Because I was away from the country between 18 December and 2 January, I was not able to move my car from its normal parking space and I know from having talked to neighbours that the workers moved the car before starting the resurfacing work. Since I was not respon-sible for moving the car, I don't see why I should have to pay for it!
I feel that this parking fine is unfair because the notice given to remove my car was posted after I had parked it there and did not give me enough time to remove the car. It is also unfair of you to expect that, around Christmas time, people would be around to read the notice in the first place.
I therefore hope that you will cancel the ticket and look forward to hearing from you soon with the good news.
Best regards
John Rover
Q10.1 The cars owner was fined for being in breach of the parking sus-pension.
▢True
▢ False
▢ Can't tell
Q10.2 The car remained parked on the grass for at least a week.
▢ True
▢ False
▢ Can't tell
Q10.3 John Rover lives in a street where parking is normally free.
▢ True
▢ False
▢ Can't tell
Q10.4 The resurfacing work lasted 5 days.
▢ True
▢ False
▢ Can't tell
Q10.5 John Rover did not use his car on 17 December.
▢ True
▢ False
▢ Can't tell
Q10.6 Although dated 17 December, the parking suspension notice was not placed on the lamp post before 18 December.
▢ True
▢ False
▢ Can't tell
Q10.7 The parking ticket was placed on the car on or before 24 December.
▢ True
▢ False
▢ Can't tell
Q10.8 Legally, councils are only required to give two days' notice for park-ing suspensions.
▢ True
▢ False
▢ Can't tell
Answer and Explanation
Q10.1— FALSE.
The parking suspension applies to the bay in the street in which he normally paths. Because John Rover left his car in that bay before the resurfacing took place, the car was moved onto a piece of grass and he was fined for parking on the grass (as the ticket says) and not for remaining parked in the bay after the suspension took effect (although he was also guilty of that latter offence, this is not what he was fined for).
Q10.2 —TRUE.
We know that the letter was dated 5 January, on which date he discovered the car parked on the grass, together with the ticket. We also know that the car was moved before the resurfacing commenced (from the neighbour's testimony) and that the resurfacing work took place between 19 and 24 December. This means that the car was moved before 24 De-cember. So the car was on the grass at least between 24 December and 5 January, which is over a week.
Q10.3 — CAN'T TELL.
All we know is that parking is normally free on Green Avenue, which Is parallel to the street in which he lives. We don't know whether parking is free in his own street.
Q10.4 — CAN'T TELL.
We know that parking was suspended between 19 December and 24 December (I.e. 6 days) and that, during that time, the road was resurfaced. We don't know whether the resurfacing took place during the entire period or not.
Q10.5— CAN'T TELL.
We know that he used his car on 16 December, since he said he parked it in Green Avenue on that day, and that he left the coun-try on 18 December. There is nothing in the text which enables us to con-clude that he did not use his car on 17 December.
Q10.6 — CAN'T TELL.
All we know Is that he did not see the notice on 17 December. We cannot conclude it wasn't there (though it is possible).
Q10.7 — CAN'T TELL.
The parking ticket was placed on the car because the car was parked on the grass. The car would have been moved onto the grass between the time the notice was put up and the time the work started. So this could be at any time between 17 December and 24 December. However, we don't know when the ticket was placed on the car. This could have been at any time before 5 January when John Rover found it on his car.
Q10.8 — CAN'T TELL.
The text does not deal with the legal aspect. All we know is that the notice was signed two days before the day of the suspen-sion. Whether this was legal or not cannot be concluded from the text as it stands.
Drafted by Juno Wong(UCAT Prep)