Bailiff finds a PCN he doesn't want enforced

Mr Mustard keeps an eye on all Connell Crescent tribunal PCN decisions. It is a location where motor vehicles are banned from entering between 3 and 7pm during the week. Thousands of people have missed the badly placed & misleading signs although he could not get an adjudicator to agree that when he represented several motorists at once and he lost. He has since asked for a Review on two grounds. The tribunal software supplier, Northgate, accidentally booted the on time review request into the long grass. It is now on the pile of review requests awaiting the first sieve to see if they have any merit whatsoever.

One decision which tickled Mr Mustard's funny bone was one that concerned Marston Group, a very large firm of bailiffs, one of whose employees or self-employed agents, 'Milenkovic' (Miroslav Milenkovic does appear in the bailiff register & is registered by Hertford County Court) drove past the no motor vehicles signs at 3:27pm

The grounds of appeal were that Marston Group wanted to transfer liability to some other person which is allowed if the vehicle is on hire for less than 6 months, or on lease, or you can prove that there is a permanent transfer of keeper. The tribunal record is only a brief one so it might be the opposite, that Marston were objecting to the transfer from Zenith.

So, having asked for a hearing, the bailiffs were not respectful to the tribunal by dint of not showing up. Nor did the bailiffs produce any paperwork to show why the transfer might not be correct.

Mr Mustard could have told the bailiffs that the argument about signs would not have worked as he spent a whole afternoon in front of the adjudicator Mr McFarlane arguing about signs, which Mr McFarlane has visited site to see for himself.

Let's hope that Marston now settle the PCN at £130 as otherwise the bill will go up by 50% and then another £8 will be added for county court registration (the TEC) and then if payment is still not forthcoming a firm of bailiffs (probably Collect Services the main bailiff for Ealing Council) will be instructed and they will find the vehicle and clamp it in order to extract the payment.

Now that would be funny.

You have got to admit that Ealing Council are 'fair', they relentlessly chase every single Connell Crescent PCN as otherwise in their words

This is utter tosh, no decision by a council on a single PCN creates a precedent as they are not superior judges (except in their own 'Court') and even an adjudicator is not bound by any decision by another adjudicator or even of themselves. Ealing Council are fettering their discretion and thus being procedurally unfair by even thinking like this.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

A profitable problem (not solved) Connell Crescent, Ealing W5

Scouting around the internet Mr Mustard found that residents of Connell Crescent (close to the Hanger Lane gyratory) have been unhappy about their road being used as a short cut from the A40 to the North Circular since at least 2005.

The local residents association wrote about it in a 2015 newsletter:

be careful what you wish for; some Connell Crescent residents received PCN!

The council duly implemented a "no motor vehicles" restriction from 3 to 7pm.

Did the council know the extent of the problem?
No, and here is the proof in a letter from an Engineer in Highways. (an expert in financial engineering Mr Mustard would hazard)

The council now know the extent of the problem because they have been issuing PCNs like confetti.

So the council now know that c.300 cars a day are still using Connell Crescent when they shouldn't (the council didn't try very hard to warn people did it, with only 1 in 10 motorists being sent a warning? and no extra warning signs of a new restriction, or council staff giving out leaflets on site) so the residents are still suffering, despite the council imposed "solution" but this road is now a nice little big earner for Ealing Council. Trebles all round.

On Thursday 24 September you will find three NoToMob members on site who will put a dent in the daily figures and try to get them as near to nil as possible. In that way the NoToMob will be doing the councils job for them and helping the residents to have a more peaceful life. Do pop along to say hello to Bald Eagle and CoCo.

Just look at the income though that Ealing Council could gather in a year.

52 weeks at £167,570 a week is nearly £9million.

Of course many people will pay at half price but that would still be over £4million of lovely revenue.

Local residents will slowly catch on as they are caught out (one incurred 8 PCN before the first one arrived in the post) and so then it will only be visitors who are caught but there are plenty of those on the A40 and until every satnav is updated (Mr Mustard's is 4 years old so he reads the road signs) there will be victims aplenty for Ealing.

They will probably resist change now that they have such an earner (the council only made £8.5m in PCN income in the last financial year so this one spot will, incredibly, double their revenue) and they only issued 3,024 code 52 (no motor vehicles is 52J) PCNs in the whole year which figure they have passed in a fortnight at Connell Crescent, so something must be done.

Clearly, this level of non-compliance suggests that the signs are inadequate.

What are the choices for this location?

1  A physical barrier, either an arm that comes down but lifts to let vehicles exit, or bollards which rise and fall.

2  An illuminated No Entry sign (the red circle which has a 99.9% compliance rate) which only lights up during the 3 - 7pm restriction time.

3  Make the road one way westwards with permanent no entry signs at the Boden shop (Hanger Green) end.

If the council stick with the status quo that would tell Mr Mustard they don't give a fig about residents but have become addicted to the revenue.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

ConAll Crescent, Ealing

Mr Mustard may have got the road name wrong in the title

Yesterday, Mr Mustard and another NoToMob member, a veteran as it happens, by the name of Bald Eagle, and here is the photographic evidence of him in action

Mr Mustard was also with him that day, evidently not wise to let him out on his own, lol

decided to do something about the huge number of motorists who, by dint of habit, were missing a new "no motor vehicles" sign at the exit of Hanger Green into Connell Crescent in Ealing, near the Boden shop (suppliers of flowery shirts to Mr Mustard and shoes to Mrs Angry)

So at 3pm we started. By 4pm we had prevented 50 motorists from going into Connell Crescent when they shouldn't have, all going there by force of habit after driving down there for many years.

So that was £6,500 that Ealing Council didn't sent out demands for.

Motorists we met fell into 2 camps.

Camp 1, who have had 1,2,4,6,7 PCN here before they found out the new rules. Big thumbs up from them.

Camp 2, are you sure? Oh I see, now I see, thank you very much. We'll go along the A40 then.

About 10 motorists decided to ignore us and go down Connell Crescent despite being warned. You will all get a PCN for £130 in the post and listen to NoToMob members next time.

About 6 cars came the other way out of Connell Crescent which is fine and we met some of the residents who said that even they had not been warned about the new restrictions and some of them had been ticketed. We suggested they talk very forcefully into the ears of their local councillors. Clearly the necessary local publicity which should be a vital part of any new restriction had not taken place. We absolutely understand the need to restrict this location being used as a cut through as it is not suitable for more than light local traffic. The Ocado driver was bit hacked off at having to go the long way round but he will adjust to it.

Local business John Lewis had warned all of its drivers. The presence of the NoToMob ensured that a number of other local businesses with many drivers would now be warning them all.

3 driving instructors were prevented from entering the road and were suitably chastened (sorry if you were embarrassed in front of your students but you did save £130 apiece).

Numerous mini cab drivers didn't know about the new signs. They do now and will hopefully spread the word.

The one black cab driver who happened along wisely touched the side of his eye in a knowing manner to show that he did know.

A police car with 4 officers in it stopped for a chat. They were perfectly happy with our activities and we chatted for a few minutes during which time one car escaped us into Connell Crescent.

One driver tried to press a tenner into my hand. It was declined. He was directed to the NoToMOb site to sign up instead and so some prevention work of his own.

At 6.25 dinner was calling (7.30 at Ai Sushi in Finchley) so we mounted our bikes to leave and even then whilst parked up Mr Mustard, who could be mistaken for a policeman if you aren't concentrating, with his high-vis jacket and clear hand signals, managed to stop two more cars from entering the banned entry.

A good afternoons work with about 170 motorists who didn't commit a contravention on the day, nor will they another day, thus saving a collective £22,100 from being demanded by Ealing Council.

Who said it was all about revenue raising? NoToMob did. This coming Thursday at 22.35 on BBC1 you can see Bald Eagle and other mobbers on the tv doing their stuff.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Prohibition on motor vehicles - such an easy mistake to make

This is such an easy mistake to make, especially at 30mph. The main road you can see is the A40 heading wast towards the Hangar Lane gyratory. Mr Mustard is about to enter the Boden shop which is behind him and buy three bright floral shirts. The road to the left is Connell Crescent, W5 and is narrow and has historically been used as a bit of a rat run, and to park in for the nearby station, and the two signs like this one

put paid to the rat running from 3pm to 7pm on weekdays (the times and days are on the rectangular sign below)

Do look out for this sign and do not enter during the banned times because as sure as eggs is eggs the camera will get you. Mr Mustard has been consulted twice in two days about this location.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard