Wickford Car Park - council in deep water difficulty

 

 

 

Hard to say what a car park is sometimes. Usually a piece of land with a defined entrance and a welcome to the car park sign but not always.

Mr J parked here 

Car in a coach bay

 

Of course he received a PCN.

Mr Mustard had two problems with the PCN. The first was that the car was not in the car park. The second is the vagueness of that class of vehicle.

A permit had been obtained 

A coach parking only sign is all well and good but it doesn't count for anything unless there is a traffic order which underpins it. Mr Mustard asked Basildon Council for it. Not us guv they said, try Essex County Council. Essex CC answered a different question about the highway but which showed the car park and the coach layby weren't governed by them. Pass the parcel went on for some time and Mr Mustard thinks he found the answer by his own efforts.

 The schedule from the traffic order:

The extent of the car park was not defined nor is there any mention of a coach parking bay. Mr Mustard suspects that this is one of those cases where the person who drew up the traffic order hadn't been to the site.

 

In the absence of a traffic order no PCN could stand. Mr Mustard challenged on the grounds of the vagueness of the PCN wording and on the following grounds for good measure:

51 days after making the formal representations Mr Mustard noted that the balance on line was zero. Mr J never received a letter to confirm the cancellation but that is clearly what happened and was inevitable. Mr Mustard only had to prevail at the tribunal on one of his 4 arguments to defeat the PCN and the council knew they were sunk.

It is always worth making a request for the traffic order for any bay or yellow line to compare with the signage or not, if it doesn't exist.

The end (and please don't park in coach, taxi, doctor bays etc).