Lost in Haringey

 

Mr Mustard is often called upon to help other volunteers who, whilst giving up their free time, try to help others who need to be helped and find themselves in strange places and whilst simply trying to find their way, manage to miss a sign and incur a PCN.

So it was that the PCN from which the above is an extract was sent to James (not his real name) who was trying to deliver a consignment of food in his car to the Broadwater Farm Estate food bank. 

Although Mr Mustard purchased his first flat in a quiet turning off St Ann's Road back in about 1980 he then moved up to the delights of Potter Bar for a decade before settling in Barnet. Thus he couldn't recall The Avenue N17 or Broadwater Road.

Mr Mustard usually starts by having a look at the council's cctv record and he usually extracts a still image from it. Here is one.

From  this we can see that the car is proceeding down the stem of a T-junction. Mr Mustard then consulted a map.

From the map we can see that if the camera is placed at the junction of the two named locations, the vehicle must be in Broadwater Road.

Mr Mustard visited the location and took photographs and realised that the belief stated on the PCN could not be true. Whilst the car had entered Avenue Road for a short distance it did not commit a contravention within it, that occurring at the moment at which the car entered Broadwater Road.

 

Whenever possible, Mr Mustard writes short but undeniable representations, and he could do so in this case.

It took a couple of months whilst Haringey Council scratched their head perhaps looking for a way out but there wasn't one. Quite simply they were 100% in the wrong and so they cancelled the PCN.

 

You might wonder how the council got this wrong, not knowing the name of a location in their own borough?

 

The Traffic Order which was made was correct, it was the change of the order of the roads when creating this location in the PCN software where it all went wrong.

The creation of many traffic orders was contracted out and PCN processing is contracted out. Between the two teams somewhere was, most likely, a communication error.

 

Now, having brought to the council's attention a thumping great error which rendered unlawful every PCN issued at the stated location you would expect that the reaction of an honest council would firstly be to correct the error. Next they should have gone back through all PCNs issued at that location, cancelled them and refunded everyone.

 

If you are an affected motorist, demand a refund as the council's actions were illegal. They may not have known it at the time but they do now.

Naturally automatic refunds didn't happen. Why councils don't think they have to be honest when it comes to PCNs is a question of our age.

 

Fortunately Mr Mustard has a process by which he can try to force some honesty. Once a year any person can inspect the detailed accounts of the council, usually in July but sometimes later. Residents, as in those who are listed to vote, are also entitled to ask questions of the external auditor and ask them to go to Court to have certain items of income declared illegal. Mr Mustard is assisting one such voter and whilst it will take months or years the income from this location is now under attack.

 

Mr Mustard did the same in Hackney 2 years ago and whilst the auditor only suggested refunding on request Hackney Council decided it was administratively easier to simply refund everyone and did so to the tune of £268,000 and bailiff fees, which the bailiff received rather than the council, of about the same amount were also refunded.

Here's hoping for a similar outcome.

The end, for now.