Barnet Council double lash up

 

Mr R was a bit surprised to receive the above PCN when he parked in a location he knew well, on a single yellow line but outside the restricted times, and thought he could sort it out himself given that it was an obvious error.

Mr R made his own informal challenge and was, to his even greater surprise, rejected. At that point he came to Mr Mustard. Here is the absolute load of tosh which was the rejection letter and the usual generous offer to accept £80 for a penalty that is not due (why would you pay that?):

 Here is the car in question and the bay sign.

You can just see a hint of a single yellow line in front of the car.

Next is an image from google street view which clearly shows the vehicle was to the left of the sign and the disabled bay is to the right. The photos taken by the CEO ('traffic warden'), whether by accident or design, didn't include any which showed the painted legend 'DISABLED' on the carriageway.

Here is an older google image which also makes the situation clear. These images can of course be looked at by back office staff of the council (or its contractor APCOA).

All of the parking restrictions in the borough of Barnet are recorded on a map based system which is freely available to the public here and this shows exactly where the disabled bay is located. A traffic warden in doubt could equally look at that and it ought to be on his hand held equipment based upon the co-ordinates of where he is standing at that time.

Note that the rejection letter states that the car was parked outside no. 10 and clearly the disabled bay is outside no. 12

The problem was quickly fixed by Mr Mustard logging the formal representations and sending two complaints to the parking manager who, to his credit, always responds pretty quickly and usually agrees with Mr Mustard. What other choice did he have here? The two complaints were about the actions of both the CEO and the back office and the PCN was cancelled a week later. For a nervous type this could all have been too much and Mr Mustard knows that completely wrong PCNs do get paid by people who can't afford to pay 100% if they are wrong, who think the council must be correct despite the evidence of their own eyes, or whose knees buckle at the slightest hint of trouble. Mr Mustard isn't one of those types.

The two big questions about this PCN are:

1. How the heck did the CEO get this wrong ? 

2. Does the back office reject all informal challenges without looking at the facts as they know many people will give up at that stage ?

Is there cynical behaviour inside the council PCN factories ? You decide.

The end. 

 

 

 

(Dog) collared after 3 years in Southwark

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Mustard often looks at cases where the adjudicator's decision is to refuse the Appeal but suggest (recommend) to the council that they cancel the PCN (or not collect the sum due under it).

As soon as the first PCN was issued the Reverend, or his wife, should have woken up and put the blue badge in the car and stopped the rot. It is unlikely that the blue badge would have been stolen in the short time it would have taken to obtain a new AD permit on line.

Shocking really, no PCN for three years and then three in a fortnight. Doubtless the council didn't follow up with residents who hadn't transferred from a paper permit to a virtual one. Mr Mustard's experience in Barnet is that they leave you to find out each time the system changes, rather than proactively helping the public.

Southwark should really have proved that they made the Reverend aware of the new system at the time and, given that this bay was installed especially for Mrs Lucas, not treated it as a profit centre but public service went west a long time ago in parking departments.

End.

Bexley Council - fettered discretion

 

The above tribunal case, one of seven that afternoon, didn't require Mr Mustard to say much to the adjudicator other than 'thank you' as he had done the spade work, argued the case consistently and placed a skeleton argument on file to boil the case down for the adjudicator to what was disputed.

It isn't only awful that Bexley Council has a policy of refusing representations if the blue badge holder isn't the driver given that the nature of some disabilities would hamper the safe driving of some (so you want them to be the passenger for the good of the community) but that having placed a bay outside the house of Mrs Sehmi for her convenience the council wanted to part her from £110 when she was suffering post operative pain following a major operation. 

It is morally repugnant of any council to enforce a PCN in such circumstances. A policy change is desperately needed. PCNs have got to stop being used as a vehicle for revenue raising.

End.