Don't do it again: park legally that is!

Typical double yellow lines

 

Parking on double yellow (or single yellow) is an exemption if you are engaged in boarding or alighting of a passenger. Normally 2 minutes will be allowed but longer if the person is too young to walk unaccompanied or elderly, or disabled or in this case has just come out after two weeks in hospital following major surgery for a perforated bowel. This is known in parking circles as assisted boarding / alighting.

Mr Mustard made the challenge to the PCN a week after it had been placed upon the car.

The observation period which the 'traffic warden' had made was zero minutes so  he/she was unlikely to see any boarding taking place. Thus when the council rely on the traffic warden not having witnessed any you calmly point out how unlikely they were to see anything much.

Mr Mustard's challenge was this:

The response also only took a week. The PCN was cancelled but Mr Mustard takes exception to the churlish way in which it was done.

The stated reason for cancelling, of 'goodwill', is no such thing. It was because of the overwhelming medical evidence which was the discharge note showing the length of hospital stay, the reason for admission and 6 active problems including heart failure and a malignant tumour. A council, yes Barnet, aren't doing you a favour when they cancel a PCN in a situation in which stopping is not only allowed but it is really a duty to assist your parent who has been battered by health problems. You don't say, 'sorry mum, there are double yellows outside, I had to park 300m away'.

There is no 'enforcement' for this PCN. It was only at the first stage. Mr Mustard would have gone on to make formal representations and if those had also been refused he would have gone to the independent tribunal where he rather expected to win. Only after that if the adjudicator had decided against you and then 28 days had passed and you hadn't paid could any enforcement commence.

The final sentence is more rot. If the same situation arises, of assisted boarding of a sick person, then the same outcome should prevail. 

Why do councils feel the need to poke a person in the eye who has done nothing wrong? A PCN is notification of an alleged contravention. Councils treat a PCN as a cast iron contravention. They need their thinking changed. Mr Mustard is doing his best to make councils think again but it is an uphill struggle.

Don't be a soft touch. If you have a good argument, fight the council and then take them to the tribunal where you get an independent hearing.

The end.

 

Copthall Playing Fields - rules changed

Mr Mustard received the following enquiry

Seeing the words 'double yellow lines', you may not have much sympathy.

In this case though, the situation is more nuanced. This is a road within a park which drivers might not realise is actually the public highway and subject to the usual driving and parking rules.

Also, for many years this road could be freely parked on. Perhaps rugby supporters were parking on it on match days and that was causing problems. The rules were changed in 2018

Mr Mustard checked the database of PCNs issued. There wasn't a single one in 2019 but enforcement did take place in the first quarter of 2020 but only on random Sundays (when football is likely to be played and thus a traffic warden has more chance of catching someone out)

Later data has not yet been published and enforcement was paused for a while due to covid.

Mr Musatrd's advice is to not park on those lines any longer as the inevitable will occur and an extra £55 (if you pay the discounted rate) is a bit stiff to watch your child play football.

The best defence is one of 'legitimate expectation' - you parked that way throughout 2019 and 2020 without, up until now, being ticketed. This defence only works once, after that you are on notice.

Here is an adjudicator's explanation but the decision in any particular case is fact dependent and in the mind of the adjudicator.

If you have a blue badge you can park there for 3 hours with a correctly set clock.

Otherwise, park somewhere else.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Due regard for the Highway Code - Barnet Council deny an exemption

This is a common scenario. You are the parent of a young child, you drive to school, you have to take them to the school gates or even into the building to make sure they are safe. This will take from 1 to 5 minutes. A traffic warden appears from apparently nowhere (but they do of course know where schools are and the good times for easy pickings) waits for zero seconds and issues a PCN. (The observed to and from times are the same).

An informal challenge (the name given to your response to the PCN before the issue of a Notice to owner) should be cancelled was made as follows:

Sometimes the council ask for proof of schooling but on this occasion they didn't. They simply rejected the challenge, made by the motorist themselves, outright as no exemption could apply.

Do the council have a copy of the Highway Code, ponders Mr Mustard. Let us consider the relevant extract:

'You may stop....while passengers board or alight'. 

That seems clear to Mr Mustard.

The danger is that the public rely on what a council says and expect it to be the truth. In this case Mr Mustard was advising the motorist in the background so should a blatant wrong isn't going to get the council anywhere. What worries Mr Mustard is how many similar and perfectly valid claims have been rejected by the council (NSL) and the motorist has subsequently paid up and lost their £55.

This exemption is one of the most common ones. How can Barnet Council get it so wrong? Oh, they want the revenue, is the suspicion.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard