Making up the rules in Bexley & Bromley

The Lord Chancellor went to a lot of trouble to write Regulations (laws) which define how the issue and enforcement of Penalty Charge Notices are to be processed. 96% of local authorities have moved onto this civil enforcement system which started in 2004. The Regulations include circumstances in which a PCN can be registered at the County Court as a debt and enforced by a certificated bailiff.

What the Regulations don't include is any role for Solicitors (apart from acting as a representative & without legal costs being payable except very rarely) in the process. Indeed, adjudicators undertake the judicial role of deciding if a PCN is payable or not, should you wish to contest a PCN.

This makes for a streamlined, well known and cost effective system of issuing & chasing millions of PCNs each year. The tribunal system in particular is quick and there is only a maximum of £30 in fees for the local authority to pay per PCN, about £5 less if they do everything on line. The county court would take longer, cost more and be less motorist friendly. Currently any motorist can take their argument to the tribunal (in person or by phone or on the papers alone) and not need to know any law as the adjudicator is independent and will cancel the PCN if the rules have not been followed e.g. if signage is not good enough.

It was at the end of March that Mr Mustard's attention was drawn to a letter before Claim by Gladstones Solicitors (who are well known for issuing Court claims for private parking charges which are correctly enforceable in the County Court) sent to a motorist who supposedly owed the London Borough of Bromley £129 from a PCN issued in August 2021. From the balance we know it was an £80 PCN to which a 50% uplift had been applied and then the £9 fee to register the debt with the County Court which allows for a warrant to be issued to a bailiff. Mr Mustard has the email address of a manager at Bromley Council so he fired a few questions at him and they got turned into a Freedom of Information request. The answers will be out early in May at the latest (hopefully).

One of the questions was if Bromley knew of any other council doing the same. He didn't have long to wait as another Gladstones letter crossed his desk. This time on behalf of Bexley Council which wasn't a surprise as parking is a shared enterprise across the two councils. Again the balance was £129 but this time Mr Mustard was instructed to act so he has more facts.

The PCN was issued on 8 October 2019

It was issued to a Romanian lorry.

Not many people know that the combination of letters and numbers is the same in England and Romania. Mr Mustard knew this from a previous case which was blogged about here.

(Bexley recorded the vehicle as a MANN)

There was, as luck (bad) would have it a DVLA registered vehicle of the same registration at that time. It was a Fiat Punto but was scrapped in November 2019.

The keeper lived in Tameside and had not been to Crabtree Manorway North (in Belvedere within the borough of Bexley) which is a road which serves industrial premises, the lorry being parked there is understandable.

In addition the keeper had not received any correspondence from Bexley Council and has not moved address since the date of the PCN.

Mr Mustard has asked Gladstones for a copy of their instructions. Mr Mustard also told Gladstones that any claim would be defended on the grounds of chasing the wrong party and as an abuse of process.

Mr Mustard has also asked London Councils if they know what Bromley and Bexley are up to.

Mr Mustard has also asked Bexley Council some searching questions. They have turned them into a Subject Access Request as they relate to a particular PCN rather than PCNs in general. Mr Mustard also asked Bexley to cancel the instructions to Gladstones Solicitors.

Having sent that request on Friday Mr Mustard checked the balance on Saturday and it was zero on the Bexley Council computer.

Mr Mustard would be delighted to act for anybody who has received a letter from Gladstones Solicitors on behalf of a council in London.

Mr Mustard does not act in private parking charge cases, only council, TfL etc.

The end.