The difference between on and off

The silver car, on the right, received a PCN. It is for being:

'Stopped in a restricted area outside a school, a hospital or a fire, police, or ambulance station when prohibited'.

The road leads to the rear pedestrian entry to Queenswell Schools in N20. The owner of the silver car lives in this little cul-de-sac. The driver is careful to not stop on the yellow zig zag markings as they accidentally did so once before and Mr Mustard had to ride to their rescue with a technical defence.

The reason they stop the car is to undo the chain across the cul-de-sac and then replace it.

The yellow lines on the ground are Diagram 1027.1 from the Traffic Signs, Regulations & General Directions 2016. They convey the following meaning:

'Part of the carriageway outside an entrance where, as described in paragraph 2 or 3 (as applicable) of Part 6, vehicles should, or must, not stop.'

Paragraph 3 of Part 6 says:

'The road marking at item 10, when placed in conjunction with an upright sign which includes the symbol at item 10, conveys the prohibition that a person driving a vehicle must not cause it to stop on that marking.'

Mr Mustard has underlined some relevant items:

1. The car is not on the carriageway but in a different road.

2. The car is not outside an entrance but within it.

3. The car is not on the marking.

Mr Mustard has made the formal representations (the only type that you need to make as it happens for a postal PCN) and fully expects them to be rejected by Barnet Council and then the tribunal will have to decide the matter. Mr Mustard is already armed with persuasive decisions from other cases (decisions by adjudicators are not binding but do carry weight).

Mr Mustard is concerned about the way in which this type of PCN gets issued. It is no comfort to a motorist that they can make representations and an Appeal against the PCN - they have a life which they would rather fill in a more rewarding manner with their family & other joys.

Barnet Council use a computer that has been programmed to select vehicles which contravene. Clearly the target area of the computer is wrongly set.

There is a requirement that a human being watches the cctv clips which the computer selects in order to confirm that they are recording real contraventions & Mr Mustard knows that they are not diligently performing their duties otherwise he would not get cases like this to review. He suspects they tick yes to just about everything that the computer offers them.

This is not an isolated incident. Mr Mustard will be blogging another example just as soon as he has the details.

Elections to Barnet Council are coming up on 3 May. If you find a councillor on your doorstep asking you to vote for them, please ask them to cut back the number of camera issued PCNs as they are clearly being issued in an overzealous and incorrect manner.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard