The PCN offside rule is a lot easier to explain than in football circles

 

Mr L, the subject of the blog dated 3 July, also received a PCN when his car was parked here. This was from Redbridge Council in Kenneth More Road. It was an allegation of being parked in a suspended bay. The car was parked by Mrs L but as the car is registered to Mr L he is the liable party.

Mrs L made an informal challenge as the driver, which is perfectly normal, and was rejected, also very common.

Mr Mustard studied the layout and was 99% certain he could beat the PCN as the view of the driver was thus:

In front of the driver is a standard sign with absolutely no indication that parking is suspended. A driver does not have to be clairvoyant, they are entitled to 100% clear signage, a suspension sign should have been mounted on that pole. The sign mounted off to the side on a site barrier isn't likely to be seen.

Mr Mustard made the formal representations. He was unhappy with some of the content on the Redbridge Council website.

That statement above is untrue. A council may disregard (ignore) late representations but statutory guidance of the Secretary of State says late representations should be considered when there is a good reason e.g. you were in hospital for a month so missed the deadline. The word 'cannot' fetters the council's discretion. The council don't mention that if you don't see certain documents, perhaps lost in the post, that there is a procedure to get you back into due process. Scummy behaviour.

A council should never tell you 'Do not challenge' especially with such misleading guidance:

Reasons why Redbridge Council are feeding rubbish to the public:

1     Leaving your vehicle to drop your child at nursery or school, to deliver or collect a parcel, or stop to help someone who has fallen over are all exemptions from the traffic order.

2     The law allows a 10 minute leeway after a period of paid for parking before which you can be given a PCN (as arranged by the Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP).

3     It is not illegal to drop off or pick up your kids, a teacher or a parcel.

4     Perhaps they were unclear or wrong.

It is clear that Redbridge Council cannot be trusted.

Mr Mustard PCN wrote the formal representations, the acknowledgment of them contained more innacurate nonsense:

The PCN was already 70 or so days old.

The representation was short and simple:

As your own photos show there was no suspension sign adjacent to the sign saying the bay is for blue badge holders and therefore no reason not to park. Communication of the suspension was inadequate.

Unlike the informal challenge the formal representations were accepted. The council know that if they reject the formal representation they may be met with a tribunal Appeal which will cost them c. £32 and which they are highly likely to lose. That is why you can be rejected at the informal stage and accepted at the formal one with the identical argument.

Nothing had changed. There were always sufficient grounds to cancel. 

Councils, don't trust them. Fight to the end.

Redbridge - from atrocious to merely awful

 

Many councils have padded out their challenge pages with extra advice or information. If it is going to be there at all it should be procedurally fair. The problem is that councils are not independent when giving advice which brings to mind the wise words of Warren Buffett:

'Don’t ask the barber whether you need a haircut'

The barber has an interest in the answer and the council have an interest in getting you to pay a PCN. I don't think they should give advice in any way, shape or form.

The council should only use the legal term of 'Penalty Charge Notice' = PCN for short. They should not use the phrase 'parking ticket' which is much less used these days and only refers to the PCN placed on your vehicle.

You can challenge a PCN even if you think it is correct, it does not have to be wrong. The PCN contains a promise to consider any representation before the Notice to Owner is issued.

You don't have 28 days from the issue date. For a PCN placed on your car you have 28 days from the date on which a contravention is alleged (usually the date of issue, except at midnight which might be different by a day) starting with that day as day 1 so really only 27 days and for a Notice to Owner you get 28 days from the date of service of the Notice with the date of service being day 1.

The deadlines to pay will only stand still if your challenge is within time.

You can challenge a PCN even if you have missed the statutory deadline. The council has the legal right to 'disregard' (ignore) your challenge but should not have a policy of automatic refusal. The Secretary of State's statutory guidance, to which the council must have due regard, states:

Clearly, Redbridge are not following statutory guidance.

The final line is particularly unhelpful. Sometimes, of course, important letters get lost in the post. There is the opportunity later on to file a Witness Statement (for parking PCNs) or Statutory Declaration (for moving traffic PCNs) which will lead to service on the motorist of a fresh document to replace the one which went missing. By not telling you that Redbridge are making you think there is no hope and that you must therefore pay the PCN. That is unfair.

 

You do not need to have a 'good reason' as what is a good reason in your mind may not be a good one in the council's view. It is a meaningless phrase which does not appear anywhere in statute.

The council mean your challenge could be accepted, not your parking ticket could be accepted.

The 'Do not challenge' section is fettering your right to challenge. A council should not close its mind to future challenge because, for example, the reason you stopped for a few seconds was to unload or let a passenger alight, both of which are exemptions. Redbridge don't mention, for example, that you can be up to 10 minutes late after being legally parked in, say, a pay bay without them being able to issue a PCN. I have had a case whereby a parent couldn't leave the school because tarmac was being laid in the car park and she was unable to leave on foot for a few minutes to reach her car on the public highway, reasons beyond your control are a good reason for a PCN to be cancelled. 'Illegal' parking isn't defined, setting down passengers is allowed other than on school keep clear markings. If you did not see the road signs or markings they may not be adequate.

There should not be a link to pay a parking ticket within the advice about challenging.

I agree with this section which is a statement of the bleeding obvious.

The council are thinking only of themselves. Making it on line is the fastest way for the council to process it as they don't need to do any data entry as you do it for them. They can then also reply by email which is far cheaper for them than a letter. Mr Mustard is going to send more letters in future, he wants the Royal Mail to stay in business.

Those are the longest 48 hours in history, the website said this last week, 96 hours ago or more. Some people are going to miss a deadline because of this (best write in rather than do that).

'Informal' and 'formal' challenges aren't really any different, it is only a matter of timing. You don't need to use any language other than plain English. An informal challenge is also a representation, it is the wording used on the PCN.

The council have carefully not told you that in response to a formal representation for an alleged parking contravention they must serve on you their Notice of Rejection within 56 days of receiving it otherwise they are deemed, by law, to have accepted it. The more people challenge their Notices to Owner the more likely will be that event.

It is best to screenshot your actual challenge, or put it in a pdf which you upload, as the acknowledgment doesn't include the gist of the challenge, only the fact that you have made one. If you challenge by post you wouldn't expect an email but if you use the 'Signed for' service you will have proof it was delivered.

The only time when a council must by law reoffer the discount is when it says it will. That is, for most councils, only on a PCN placed on your car or put in your hand. There is a move away from offering the discount again at a later stage thus forcing you to the tribunal. As you pay the same whether you go there or not and starting an Appeal to London Tribunals is free for the motorist and 99.9% of the time there are no costs there is no point in paying once the discount has gone. (Mr Mustard has just been threatened with a costs application by a different useless council but it is doomed to failure).

The link to an independent tribunal is to a government page containing more than one rather than the specific tribunal which applies so Redbridge could have been much more helpful there.

Redbridge mentioned statutory grounds right at the start. They don't apply until the Notice to Owner stage, before then you can make any challenge that you like. They haven't listed them for you but they are these according to a Redbridge Notice to Owner:

 

Redbridge could further improve their website by removing 99% of this useless page.

The end.