Certain information on a PCN is statutory and anything else can be added by TfL. The enforcement process items it must contain are the full price of the penalty and the 50% discounted price. It must also tell you that if you do not pay or make representations within 28 days of service (=receipt) that TfL may increase the balance by 50% and send you a charge certificate to that effect.
Given the parlous state of the payment system the PCN may not arrive very quickly and it could easily be 4,5 or 6 days before you receive it especially as first class post is no longer mandatory for this type of PCN (which is a backward step given the state of the Royal Mail). Therefore, TfL should not put a fixed date (2 October) within the PCN which could make you think you are out of time when you are still within it. Mr Mustard posted a Power of Attorney to his Solicitor recently that took 8 days to reach Godalming, by first class post. He could have cycled there and back in 2. Keep the envelope in which your PCN was sent if you want to ask Mr Mustard about the PCN.
What bothers Mr Mustard even more are the next two red sections for Debt Registration and Enforcement Agent (bailiff). No-one sensible ignores a PCN but the assumption should be that the recipient will choose to deal with it. This just looks like bullying to Mr Mustard. He needs to obtain the other 3 pages of the PCN and the 2 pages of notes before he can decide how unfair the whole thing is but his first reaction is that this is bang out of order.
If you disagree with the PCN make sure you fight it and do it now, don't be a last minute merchant.
More soon.
Just been sent the rest, look at this page.
From the very start you are being threatened, this is completely unacceptable, you are allowed 28 days in which to act and take advice. Mr Mustard will be fighting this PCN (it has already been at the county court stage once and TfL have cheated so this should end up going away and nowhere near a bailiff) which the recipient of is happy about and will take his chances (Mr Mustard wins 90% of the time) which might cost him an extra £90 but he knows and accepts the low risk.
Yet more soon.
Added 9 September: Enforcement authorities, such as TfL, are given powers that are discretionary. They have the power to progress your PCN through various stages but the legislation does not say they have to use those powers, each PCn should be considered on an individual basis. To so otherwise and automate progression is an abuse of power and fetters their discretion but all systems are automated to the maximum.
Many enforcement authorities take stock just before the Order for Recovery stage as they have to pay an £11 fee to the Court to proceed. If the motorist then signs a statutory declaration that, for example, the original postal PCN was not received, as in this case, TfL suffer a loss of £11 as the charge reverts to the 100% PCN value.
If the proposed bailiff screens the PCNs proposed for registration at the TEC and decides they are unlikely to succeed then the authority may not bother to invest the £11 and the PCN will stay stuck where it is. Mr Mustard watches PCNs for a long time, as they sometimes come back to life, including one for Kensington & Chelsea on which the stage hasn't changed since he checked it on 31 December 2024, probably due to their cyber attack.
