Don't try it on with the old broken down story

 

A random decision that Mr Mustard looked at.

Mr Mustard's phone number gets passed around a lot (he would rather you just gave out his email - mrmustard@zoho.com - as Mr Mustard decides if he needs to talk to a motorist based upon the paperwork) but if you do have Mr Mustard's phone number, please do not pass it to the person named in this case. 

Mr Mustard does not know exactly what happened but is sceptical at the very least.

The end.
 

 

A patient driver

The above location photo, of Acre Lane approaching Brixton Road doesn't show it very clearly but there is a section of single yellow, before some doubles reds, and on a Sunday motorists can park on the single yellow.

This led to a problem.

The driver, Mr P, found himself in what he thought was a traffic queue but he was in fact behind a parked car. Mr P wrote his own thoughtful representations.

 

 

One point that was missed was that signage was inadequate, it being turned away from passing drivers.

You would expect a reasonable length of reply given the serious points that had been made, which had the ring of truth to them. No such luck, Lambeth wrote very little:

Although the option to start an Appeal at London Tribunals is not mentioned in this formal Notice of Rejection, as the law provides, a Notice of Appeal form was provided.

Mr Mustard took over at this point and drafted the Grounds of Appeal. They were one of his better efforts, short and bang on target. He left to one side the failure to properly respond to what the representations said as that was a harder argument to get across the line and the two he did put forward were likely to bear fruit.

Mr Mustard didn't have to wait long, 11 days later Lambeth threw in the towel and cancelled the PCN.

The end.

Ridiculous Redbridge

 

You will struggle to believe this story. You are driving along the High Road in Goodmayes and due to a car turning around the traffic comes to a standstill and three cars comes to a halt on the bus stop. No problem with that in law (it isn't a yellow box junction when it would be a contravention) and the number plate of the rearmost car is easily read and a PCN is issued, probably by an automated system. In theory a person watches the cctv clips before a PCN is authorised but for obvious reasons Mr Mustard doesn't think that occurred unless the operative wasn't paying proper attention or is incompetent, or both.

Here is the PCN. Your jaw would drop on opening the envelope containing this.

Mr Mustard made the representations. Whether anyone gets in or out is irrelevant but a slippery enforcement authority might try and argue that alighting was the reason for stopping so Mr Mustard cut off that avenue.

The PCN was cancelled.

The reader will note one thing which was missing from the cancellation. Any hint of an apology.

A lease company might have paid such a PCN and given the motorist an administration fee which would obviously be unjust in the act of paying the PCN but justifiable in terms of having to administer a PCN which they should not have received. If you can avoid leasing a car, perhaps by taking out a loan instead, you do make your life easier.

The end.

A little parking knowledge is a dangerous thing

 

This is the road in question Argyle Road. It is a road in which any encroachment at all onto the pavement is going to cause a problem for prams and pushchairs, wheelchair users, powered or pushed, the blind, parents with children in hand etc

 

The council have solved the perceived problem of a lack of space by letting motorists take up some of the space which the council has clearly decided, when the road was created, to be the province of pedestrians, the pavement. Perhaps the solution is to be brave and maintain that distinction, it isn't as if the pavement is excessively wide. If there were no parked cars there would be adequate room for pedestrians etc. The council could offer free dropped kerbs if the frontages were paved in line with sustainable drainage systems so flooding problems aren't created by lots of concrete. There are other solutions of course, like car clubs and bicycles. It is only 200m to Hounslow railway station, does everyone actually need their car? Since this road was constructed cars have got way bigger and become larger than the infrastructure can support.

 

All that apart, the general rule in Greater London is that you should stay off the pavement unless there are marked bays. This shouldn't be a surprise to a driver as it is in the Highway code, you know, that guide you haven't read since you passed your driving test.

 

You would think that a company which makes its money from penalising people for going wrong in car parks (allegedly) might know a little about the law when it comes to the public highway but apparently not. Mr Mustard reads all the tribunal decisions each morning and odd cases catch his eye, like this one:

Once Mr Mustard had stopped laughing at this company being on the receiving end (if you can't take it don't dish it out) he checked back and found two other cases for them, which went back a few years.

An example of arrogant entitlement. Not driving a bus, stay off the bus stop, simples.

 

The idea in life is to learn from your errors. Clearly a bit slow at PPS.

End.

Legally correct but morally dubious

Another recent tribunal case, Mr Mustard suspects, in which most people will regard the issuance of a PCN as unkind and mere revenue raising. Full marks to the motorist for taking up their right of Appeal to an independent adjudicator but unfortunately their hands were tied by the law.

Do not blame the adjudicator, they have to apply the law even though they may have been unhappy to do so. The council could have chosen to cancel but made a deliberate decision not to. Discretion is entirely in their hands.

Mr Mustard wonders if there was a bus stop closed sign that the motorist should have taken a photograph of in support of their case at the time. Not a bad idea to take photos when you get a PCN of things which might be relevant. Digital photos don't cost anything so be snap happy.

Mr Mustard couldn't remember why the road was closed so did a search and then the event came back to mind, the terrible burst water main, as reported here in the local paper

Burst water main in North Finchley

The motorist did no harm and was in fact trying to do good, the council make that less likely in the future.

If you don't like the manner of a traffic warden ('civil' enforcement officer, or perhaps uncivil in this case) then what you should do, separately from the challenge to the PCN, is to write a complaint. Don't lower yourself to their level and use intemperate language on the street because it is only once sufficient people write in with complaints about conduct that traffic wardens will be told to behave properly with courtesy and respect to the public (Mr Mustard may have his rose tinted future looking spectacles on here but there is nothing wrong with hoping for the better). Most of the traffic wardens in Barnet are OK but there are a few whom Mr Mustard thinks need some training in their public manner.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard