Saracens zone / Barnet Council / signing scandal

The independent tribunal which may ultimately decide the fate of a contested PCN is obliged to publish a register of decisions. You can find it here (select Statutory Registers). That is how Mr Mustard fell over the decision (he reads the Barnet decisions daily).

This PCN was placed on the car. The driver may or may not have made a challenge at that stage. At the Notice to Owner stage representations must have been made (otherwise you cannot get a tribunal hearing) and clearly Barnet Council rejected them. As the signs are changed to reflect the next match date, photographs are taken to prove they were done. Thus, the council had the evidence that at least one of the signs on which people rely was not correct. In this case the car was parked in Bittacy Road which can only be accessed from Bittacy Hill so it was one of the main signs on the north eastern edge of the zone which was not updated. Thus it was patently unfair to even issue PCNs within the zone that day when the council knew that people could innocently enter it, their actions were entrapment.

Barnet Council therefore rejected a perfectly good representation.

The motorist then made an Appeal to the tribunal. At that stage Barnet Council could have done the decent thing, the honest decision, and not fought the Appeal. Instead they have the effrontery to admit they didn't update the signage, the only legal method by which the date of the match can be communicated to passing traffic, and still maintain they are entitled to £110.

Mr Mustard would have asked for costs if this was one of his cases (there may well yet be one if the motorist thinks about it) as he thinks that the behaviour of Barnet Council is both vexatious and wholly unreasonable, which are two of the three criteria which can lead to costs being awarded (costs are rarely awarded, the third limb being 'frivolous').

Mr Mustard wanted to compare the number of PCNs doled out on 2 November 19 (the match day in question) with previous match days in 2019 but he couldn't as the council have so far only published the data up until September. Come on Barnet.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Happy Iranian New Year - your surprise present is a PCN

On Friday morning at about 8.30am Mr Mustard was wending his way  to Cafe Buzz, driving down Barnet Lane, alongside Barnet FC's former home at Underhill, when he observed a council employee putting up signs like this one (which Mr Mustard stopped after breakfast to photograph):

Mr Mustard wondered what the event might be. He noted the long hours, so clearly not a single football match, and the spelling error. He also noted to himself that this form of sign does not comply with any parking regulations.

This sign has been redundant for 2 years but is still in situ:

and he noted how much later the proposed restriction was.

He also noted that these signs were erected on this stretch of road

and white lines do not convey any form of restriction; these ones have been painted over the top of yellow ones.

Ambiguous signage doesn't help. Mr Mustard safely parked under these two contradictory signs whilst he took a photograph. The grey sign hanging down is the red match day sign.

When is the match day?

What a mess.

The only people caught out at this location will be residents who have gone away for the weekend and had no idea of the upcoming event.

The location is badly signed, both with a 2013 plate and then sometimes with signs which can't make their mind up between 11am and 11pm (the event finishes at 6pm).

The warning signs were posted very late in the day, being only 2 days before the event when the absolute minimum is 5 days. New Year can hardly have come as a surprise.

Mr Mustard hasn't seen the Traffic Management Order but if it refers to football matches then it can't be used for regulating the traffic when the field below the stadium is open for some other purpose.

Mr Mustard took a walk around the area and put his business card on a number of cars with PCN - he distributed so many that he ran out. If you know anyone who lives near the Underhill Stadium who might have been affected do please call them and if they were unlucky enough to get a PCN suggest they contact Mr Mustard by email on mrmustard@zoho.com as these PCN are eminently contestable.

NSL and the sign shop still need improvement work.

This is partly why Mr Mustard beats so many PCN, so many of them are duff.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard