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.