Barnet Council - crass and insensitive

Mr Mustard has, since 2015, fought roughly one PCN per annum PCN for a delightful elderly couple in their eighties, just the kind of people he likes to help. Let's call them Mr & Mrs B.

Mr Mustard received a phone call on his home phone from Mr B to tell him that sadly, after 62 years of married life in which they had done everything they ever wanted to do, Mrs B had died 2 months prior and he had a box junction PCN in her name. Mr Mustard made a house call. He found that the PCN had been issued at a location which Mr Mustard has always had over-turned on Appeal, outside Toni & Guy as the box extends beyond the junction with Bath Place, the clue is in the name 'box junction'.

 

The V5 registration document had not yet been updated, other matters like pensions being more pressing, and given that Mr B was likely to do it by post, it would take some time in any event. Mr Mustard suggested it might be something that Mr B could update online, perhaps with the help of one of his children. Mr B is pretty with it for an octogenarian so might even do it himself unaided.

Mr Mustard thought that one email to Barnet Council should rightly see the matter resolved, so he sent it.

To Mr Mustard's surprise he didn't receive a reply. Forwarded on in the post by Mr B was a letter addressed to Mrs B, yes, the deceased Mrs B. Here are the contents of it.

It wasn't a letter, it was an email that Mr Mustard sent.

It wasn't received on 6 September but on 4 September, the day it was sent.

The driver isn't the liable party.

The car hasn't been sold.

Apart from those errors the whole letter is based upon a premise that nothing is more important than one miserable PCN, a PCN that Mr Mustard would, based on previous history, beat at the tribunal should it get there.

Mr Mustard doesn't think it will as he has sent a complaint to the process manager. Here it is

There is a complete lack of objectivity in parking departments. In the rush to plug the holes in council coffers the employees forget they are meant to be public servants and ruthlessly chase every PCN to the bitter end. This one certainly leaves a bitter taste.

What a world we live in when one PCN is more important than the loss of a life.

Mr Mustard

Traffic warden forgets to do his/her job

So you park at night on a single yellow line in Burleigh Gardens (it is quite convenient for Southgate tube station). You can see this sign

which shows the school warning correctly facing oncoming traffic (so motorists know to slow down & keep their eyes peeled, you do do that don't you?) and then the sign which tells goods vehicles & coaches over 5 tonnes not to park overnight is facing the wrong way and has been since at least May 2016. This led Mr Mustard's client to not notice the no parking timed restriction as the sign was at ninety degrees to it, as you can see from above. The no parking until midnight sign is facing the road, which is correct, but is inadequate thanks to the hgv sign above which misleads.

What does the contract with NSL say about signs and traffic wardens? This:

Mr Mustard wonders why this sign has not been reported (he assumes) for more than 6 months and then rectified? Is it because NSL's traffic wardens focus on the issuing PCN aspect of the contract rather than the defective lines & signs? (115 PCN were issued in Burleigh Gardens in 2016). Is it all about the money? Does Barnet Council not realise that these things damage its reputation?

Is Mr Mustard going to complain about NSL not doing their job? Of course he is.

Is Mr Mustard going to fight the PCN all the way to the tribunal? Yes again.

If you get a PCN based upon defective signs and lines please make a complaint about the behaviour of the traffic warden to barnet@nsl.co.uk and send a copy to first.contact@barnet.gov.uk so that the council know about it. Add the complaint into your representations against the PCN. Councils hate getting complaints and they might cancel the PCN just to tidy the complaint away.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard