A decade of moving traffic PCNs in London

 

Welcome to the goldmine which is PCNs for moving traffic contraventions. These are all enforced by cctv camera linked most of the time to a computer which identifies alleged contraventions (although council staff or contractors probably assume the selected clips are correct, when that isn't always the case).

The right to issue PCNs for moving traffic contraventions (banned turns, yellow box junctions and the many often part time 'no motor vehicles' streets known also as Low Traffic Neighbourhoods and School Streets have proliferated since Covid in 2020) started in 2003.

Back in 2015 many of these cameras would have been watched over by real people sat watching video screens who manually recorded what appeared to be contraventions. TfL still do it that way. However advances in technology now enable locations to be watched 24/7 by cameras linked to computers that look at the movement of vehicles and can tell when they go where they shouldn't, read the numberplate, send to DVLA for details of the registered keeper and then send out a PCN, all with no direct human intervention. They don't miss the slightest error.

That is the second factor which explains the fourfold increase in moving traffic PCNs over the decade. If we assumed a 50% recovery of what were £130 PCNs the income to councils in London would be £254,000,000 (they are now £160). 

The third factor is councils who decided to start using their powers which is definitely Kensington & Chelsea, Greenwich, Sutton, Barnet & Bromley and others like Bexley which had just started.

Only four councils failed to at least double their PCN count in the decade, being Brent, Waltham Forest, Kingston & Harrow. 

You need to chuck your satnav away and look out of the windscreen like a hawk. Join the Institute of Advanced Motoring or ROSPA and improve your observation skills.

The end. 

A decade of bus lane PCN in London

 

This is a very varied picture by borough.

Overall the number of bus lane PCNs has increased by 13% in 10 years which rather indicates a high level of compliance by motorists especially given the huge increase on TfL roads. Mr Mustard knows that TfL have recently put cameras in locations which were previously not covered including the North Circular at Palmers Green which caught out a lot of drivers who had noticed the absence of a camera for many years. Clapton Common was another location with a new camera and a local motorist had a dozen PCNs there as the driver didn't bother getting out of the bus lane even when the all traffic lane was empty and drove up it several times before the first PCN arrived. Mr Mustard declined to assist. Another representative stepped up but at £40 a pop.

The really interesting part is the 20 boroughs where the number of PCNs has decreased which suggests that local residents have learnt and probably it is mostly visitors who get caught. Mr Mustard doesn't think that many bus lanes will have been removed as they tend not to be once installed.

Next, moving traffic, which will make your eyes water. 

A decade of parking PCN in London

Car ownership in London has been fairly stable for years, with a slight downward trend since 2016.

 

PCN numbers for parking would therefore follow the same trend, one would think?

As you can see, that isn't the case with parking PCN numbers going up by 54% over a decade. That however masks a huge variance. In Wandsworth the overall number of PCNs issued went down, the only borough where it did. There was industrial action by traffic wardens (CEOs) in 2022 and 2024 which it seems had quite the effect.

Go to the other end of the scale, Greenwich, where the number of parking PCNs trebled over a decade. That cannot be because people in Greenwich decided to become terrible at parking but because, possibly or probably, more controlled parking zones were introduced and more civil enforcement officers were deployed. One of Mr Mustard's readers in Greenwich may know. Greenwich Council may have become PCN crack addicts is also an option.

There were two big jumps in Greenwich, using 31 March as the year end.

From 2018 to 2019 from 38.342 to 68,195 and 

from 2024 to 2025 from 70,898 to 102,854

The end. Bus lane and moving traffic stats to follow. 

More PCN statistics

 

Above you will see a breakdown of PCN numbers in London at the start and end of a 10 year period. Mr Mustard will highlight some of the trends in future blogs but if you want to do your own analysis you can find the spreadsheet here.

Euro Car Parks and the CMA

Mr Mustard doesn't fight private parking charges (except his own for airport visits) but does keep an eye on things at a safe distance and tries to avoid parking in any private car park preferring council ones or, even better, free parking and a little walk.

His attention was drawn though to this story by another parking ticket expert and his own twitter account:

There's nothing like a bit of detail and Mr Mustard thought the reason why / excuse given by ECP didn't respond to emails was a bit ropey. Only a month ago a company which Mr Mustard helps with their council PCNs (they have to visit premises with a weight limit nearby but are usually exempt for necessary access) gave him a bailiff email. It looked a bit spammy to Mr Mustard and so he went to the website of the bailiff concerned. The email address on the website was different but rather than ignoring a demand for £1,000 Mr Mustard sent an email to the published address to check and it turned out that the email was real. The outcome was twofold, the debt claimed was paid and the bailiff company were asked to add the undisclosed address to change their systems.

Mr Mustard knows that a lot of you like a bit of detail and the full Final Enforcement Notice is available on the CMA website here or on this permanent link.

Now Mr Mustard is a Company Director, he knows he has rights and responsibilities and if he is away from the office he arranges for the company post to be opened and to be sent to him if it needs urgent attention. As a District Judge once told a Director of a company that Mr Mustard was suing, for failing to replace the cracked windscreen on a car he had purchased second-hand, 'Limited Companies don't go on holiday Mr Smith'.

Para 15 of the decision sets out how easily the veracity of the request could have been established.

Para 27b is worth a read as is 37b and 37cii. 

If you get a dodgy looking email, don't block the party until you have investigated thoroughly. 

Wickford Car Park - council in deep water difficulty

 

 

 

Hard to say what a car park is sometimes. Usually a piece of land with a defined entrance and a welcome to the car park sign but not always.

Mr J parked here 

Car in a coach bay

 

Of course he received a PCN.

Mr Mustard had two problems with the PCN. The first was that the car was not in the car park. The second is the vagueness of that class of vehicle.

A permit had been obtained 

A coach parking only sign is all well and good but it doesn't count for anything unless there is a traffic order which underpins it. Mr Mustard asked Basildon Council for it. Not us guv they said, try Essex County Council. Essex CC answered a different question about the highway but which showed the car park and the coach layby weren't governed by them. Pass the parcel went on for some time and Mr Mustard thinks he found the answer by his own efforts.

 The schedule from the traffic order:

The extent of the car park was not defined nor is there any mention of a coach parking bay. Mr Mustard suspects that this is one of those cases where the person who drew up the traffic order hadn't been to the site.

 

In the absence of a traffic order no PCN could stand. Mr Mustard challenged on the grounds of the vagueness of the PCN wording and on the following grounds for good measure:

51 days after making the formal representations Mr Mustard noted that the balance on line was zero. Mr J never received a letter to confirm the cancellation but that is clearly what happened and was inevitable. Mr Mustard only had to prevail at the tribunal on one of his 4 arguments to defeat the PCN and the council knew they were sunk.

It is always worth making a request for the traffic order for any bay or yellow line to compare with the signage or not, if it doesn't exist.

The end (and please don't park in coach, taxi, doctor bays etc). 

Barnet Council - your number's up

 

Older readers will get the reference to 'come in number x'

This was an odd case although Mr Mustard has now seen a second instance of it in a different borough.

For starters the PCN was for the wrong contravention, it was for code 01 but should have been for code 02 as loading was also banned.

The motorist, Mr D, sent Mr Mustard a copy of the PCN placed on his car windscreen which ended with the numbers 6618. That could not be found on the council computer and so Mr Mustard just kept an eye out to see what would happen next.

A month later Mr D received a Notice to Owner bearing a number ending 6607 for the same set of facts (date, vehicle, location etc).

What you need to know now is that PCNs are issued in sequential series by individual traffic wardens and that the last digit of a PCN is a check digit so the PCNs in this case were 660-7 and 661-8 and thus they had been consecutively issued at the same time.

What had therefore happened was that the traffic warden had decided something was wrong with 660-7 and issued a fresh PCN 661-8 intended to cancel 660-7 but accidentally cancelled 661-8 (or the computer took over and did it).

It was therefore an easy win as 661-8 was never served and Mr Mustard had proof that 660-7 was served.

Mr Mustard made out three arguments in his formal representations to the council.

1    Finchley Road as a description of the location is too vague (the keeper and driver may be different).

2    Loading is banned so the alleged contravention is incorrect.

3    The PCN was not served.

The Notice of Rejection didn't tackle points 1 and 2 and said that the PCN was either placed on the windscreen or given to the driver. It also waffled on about CPZ entry signage which was irrelevant as there was a local sign.

Thus it was an easy decision to start an Appeal at London Tribunals at which time a fourth Ground of Appeal was added which was the Notice of Rejection dated 14 August offered a 50% discount for 14 days from service and 2 days earlier it had already been removed. A council must be as good as their word.

There was no need for a hearing. Faced with an opponent with 4 straight arrows in his quiver the council cancelled the PCN.

The end.