new Haringey Council policy - mess Mr Mustard about

It is hard to write a parking story without Helen Michael of Cafe Buzz, N12 appearing somewhere. So the above PATAS decision about Helen's PCN was made on 6 May. The council wrongly posted the evidence to Mr Mustard's client i.e. Helen, instead of to him. Once could be an accident.

On 20 May 2015 Mr Mustard again appeared at PATAS for a Ms S. The evidence pack was dated 8 May but not posted until 11 May and also sent to his client and not to him. Twice is a coincidence.

Mr Mustard has an adjudication hearing on Wednesday at London Tribunals for a Haringey PCN. He has not yet received an Evidence Pack. Is this the third time it has been sent to the client? = enemy action (from Ian Fleming's novel Goldfinger).

On 25 June Mr Mustard sent in a page and a half of formal representations about 2 PCN for a Dr. T to Haringey Council by the Signed for Service (as he doesn't trust any council not to "lose" his correspondence). The letter was accompanied by a scanned copy of an authority letter of standard wording, viz:

I confirm that Mr Derek Dishman, of redacted address is authorised to represent me in respect of penalty charge notices issued by any council, to pursue complaints and to sign documents on my behalf as my representative.

What could be clearer? 

Barnet Council, who Mr Mustard writes to most often, accept that authority without hesitation as have the City, Camden, Enfield, Harrow, Hammersmith, Islington, Lambeth, Hounslow, Southwark and Haringey(!) in 2015.

On 6 July Haringey Council wrote back.

This was a postal PCN and so the first challenge made is the formal representation. The registered keeper has made them. Mr Mustard's letter started:

"I represent Dr. T ..............as enclosed authority."

Mr Mustard thought he had forgotten to enclose the authority so sent the letter back in again on 10 July. Perhaps he didn't forget the first time he sent the letter in.

Mr Mustard has today received a clear signal that Haringey don't want to answer the representations that he makes on behalf of his pro bono (Mr Mustard does not charge any fees) clients. This from a letter dated 9 July, regarding Mrs O..

Haringey mean 29 June not 29 April and that isn't their only sloppy error. It is the owner of a vehicle who is liable for a penalty charge, that may or may not be the registered keeper (otherwise the Motability scheme would be suffering as all the cars are registered in the name of Motability).

Mr Mustard has not made an appeal. For a start, he isn't "any other person", he has the right to sign letters as representative as if he is the vehicle owner. One does not make an "appeal" in response to a Notice to Owner, one makes formal representations. An "Appeal" is what is made to London Tribunals (formerly PATAS) after receiving a Notice of Rejection of Representations. Haringey are able to answer the formal representations; they have chosen not to. They did respond to Mr Mustard's informal challenge so aren't exactly being consistent (it was identically worded to the formal representations).

There is no legislation that supports this line:

"We are unable to accept authorisation for a third party to act on their behalf".

The Regulations about challenging, making representations to and Appealing PCN have very little to say on the question of representatives. The one line which puts Haringey into a spot of bother is this one:

from The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) Representations and Appeal Regulations 2007.

as clearly it is envisaged that a representative may appear on behalf of a vehicle owner (the appellant) and it would be a nonsense if they couldn't do anything about a PCN at earlier stages.

Of course it wouldn't be the case that Haringey Council are poor losers, would it?, given that Mr Mustard has contested 6 Haringey PCN in 2015 and the current score is

Haringey 0 - Mr Mustard 6

i.e. all 6 PCN have been cancelled, 4 of those by an adjudicator, so the council are down by c. £300 in PCN income and have paid out £160 in fees to PATAS (now called London Tribunals).

Throwing one's toys out of the pram is not the way to go. It might also be a breach of Human Rights law to deny a motorist representation by the representative of their choice. Barnet Council parking management don't behave childishly, they & Mr Mustard talk openly to each other (and sometimes politely agree to disagree), the council take all losses on the chin and try to improve their operations. Mr Mustard tries to stay one step ahead of them.

Come on Haringey Council, time to man up.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Parking - An abusive relationship

http://thisisabuse.direct.gov.uk/

Mr Mustard abhors violence whoever it is directed at. He has some hesitation therefore in comparing the abuse heaped on this lady by the council and NSL over such an essentially trivial matter as a parking ticket which should pale into insignificance as compared to the necessity to leave her home with her children. Here is a recent adjudication report, it is not a very nice thing to have to read, apart from the result:

The Appellant attended in person. The Authority did not appear and it was not represented. The date of the alleged contravention was 26 September 2011. A Notice to Owner was issued on 3 November 2011. The Charge Certificate was not issued on 8 April 2013. There was no explanation for the delay.

The Appellant had explained that over that period, she and her children had to leave the family home to escape an abusive relationship and her ex-husband had been using the vehicle. This explained why the Appellant was not able to engage with the enforcement process through no fault on her part but irrespective of the reason, a gap of 18 months between the two stages of the enforcement proceedings is not acceptable. The Authority said that there is no statutory time bar to the issue of a Charge Certificate. This is correct but there is a duty on the Authority to act fairly and this include acting expeditiously.

The PCN cannot be upheld. I am allowing the appeal.

The council know Mr Mustard's view on chasing PCN from 2011 as the external Auditor is still considering his objection to the signing off of the March 2013 Accounts. 

It is a breach of Human Rights (Article 6) to leave a delay of this length in the processing of a parking ticket, it has been described by other adjudicators an an abuse of process. The council know that Mr Mustard reads all of the PATAS reports and so knows exactly what is going on. If they don't want to read blogs that say that the decisions on appeals are being made by heartless, unfeeling, uncaring mercenaries then they need to start making some more sensible, compassionate and considered decisions.

If the person who says no to an appeal had to appear at PATAS and tell the abused in person why they were suffering further abuse the number of self evidently unjust and unreasonable decisions would tumble.

This is the fault in a system where the person who makes the corporate decision to reject an appeal hopes the council will profit by it.

It's all about the money.

Yours in abject disgust

Mr Mustard