Removed from an EV bay but I can explain

 

Miss EV parked her large petrol car in what turned out to be an EV bay. You can see how, it looks to be two bays each side of a charger unit. There is a subtle white line which shows this to be one bay, not many would spot that. There is a sign on the right hand bay as you look from the middle of the road and apparently nothing in the left hand bay.

That led to a PCN, the car being removed to the car pound and a payment of £360 to get the car back.

The other bay being free Mr Mustard wonders if removal was really necessary.

The first contact was as follows:

I wonder if you might be able to help me with a parking claim? I got your number from a friend who you helped a few times.

I recently had my car towed from a parking bay where the parking restrictions were not marked in any way. I paid to get my car released and was told that I could appeal. On the council website it states that no appeals will be considered until the car is released from the car pound. However, since I have done this and paid the fine, it is now registered as a ‘closed’ case and is not offering me any way of appealing.

This is a flaw in some council systems as payment blocks off access to the online system, you have to write in. Someone hasn't thought this through.

Mr Mustard was confused but once he saw and sorted out the paperwork he knew what had gone wrong and made representations accordingly:

Procedural impropriety 

When this lady came to me for help she was confused about how to make representations or Appeal. This was because when she attended at the car pound as well as being given a notice telling her she could make representations she was also given a Notice of Appeal, as below:

(The official use section should not be blank)

That is a clear procedural impropriety being a failure to follow the 2022 Regulations.

Procedural impropriety #2 

The council have not fully communicated all of the requirements of Regulation 11 (4) of the 2022 Appeals Regulations. 

No contravention. 

To the man (or woman) in the street the bay in question looks to be unsigned because there is a full length build out from that bay before the next one and only the right hand side one has a sign. 

Accordingly in view of the inadequate signage the contravention is denied.

Removal was on 11 April, the car was recovered the same day and the formal representations were posted ('signed for' as they have to arrive to count) on 23 April.

Mr Mustard set the 56 day clock ticking as that was the deadline for Camden to reply otherwise they had to refund. They did take until 19 May but what they did write was carefully considered and sensible, they refunded, probably having done what Mr Mustard does, try to work out in advance what an adjudicator might decide.

In summary someone at the car pound made a right blunder, why they even have Appeal Forms there is a mystery as they are sent out with Notices of Rejection so unless someone in the back office there also considers representations they shouldn't have such forms.

If you have been towed you should always try and find some ground on which to make a representation, Camden don't make many errors but this one was a whopper. Even without the paperwork error Mr Mustard thought he had a better than 50/50 chance of winning on the bay layout and that is enough to have a go with.

A donation was made to the North London Hospice by Miss EV.