Barnet Council - no time to pay

 

Never assume that a council will be helpful or reasonable. There is nothing within the legislation which imposes a duty on councils to consider accepting instalments and in this case they could have done so without a huge administrative burden. Had they accepted the offer, which appeared to need time to pay until the end of January, and the motorist not paid as promised, the council could have moved straight to a charge certificate at 150% of the penalty value, so £195.

Adjudicators are not allowed by law to exercise discretion, only the council can. The adjudicator, if such a challenge had been mounted, might have found that signage was inadequate at this location which happens about 50% of the time and then the motorist wouldn't have had to pay anything so they missed a trick there.

By fighting the PCN at the tribunal the motorist has got themselves time to pay but only at the full penalty value of £130 not the £65 they offered. Somewhat usurious.

The end

Barnet Council - pursuing a trifling matter

 

A pragmatic decision by the adjudicator which Mr Mustard will save to bring out in the future if he meets another case with similar facts. Councils try to punish motorists for really minor errors, this one with a penalty of £80. The adjudicator has stopped their cunning plan by bringing into play the long established doctrine of 'de mininmis non curat lex'. Courts don't use Latin so much these days but it roughly means that the law is not concerned with trifling matters.

Barnet Council should have exercised their discretion, at least the first time, but money talks. This time the motorist paid nothing and the council wasted c. £30 in tribunal fees.

The end.

Newham Council - tow truck happy

Mr Mustard has his eye on Newham Council and so the following decision came to his attention.

 

In many boroughs councils also photograph the seats and footwells so that any claim that a voucher for payment, a blue badge or as in this case a carer's permit were on display can be considered in the light of possible supporting evidence.

There is no traffic management purpose to towing a vehicle from a bay in a street which seems to have plenty of space.

It does, of course, raise lots of lovely money.

Worse is to come!

The end.

Redbridge Council chance their arm

 

Khartoum Road

Another random decision which Mr Mustard came across.

 

One cannot look in two directions at once and there isn't much time whilst moving to look for other signs and given that the right hand one was, in effect, covered why would you expect the left hand one to be any different? The left hand sign is much harder to make out when turning right. The full sign is as follows and you need a few seconds to take it all in.

What councils often fail to mention is that there is a duty imposed on them by legislation which is to erect and maintain adequate signage.

This PCN should never have been issued never mind defended at the tribunal.

As it hppens Mr Mustard has just started an Appeal to the tribunal for a parking PCN in Khartoum Rd in which the sole sign was defaced. There is clearly a problem in this corner of Ilford; the solution is not to penalise the innocent but to catch the guilty.

The end.