A rubbish PCN

 

Mr Mustard is an occasional visitor to play snooker in the Mildmay Club (well worth joining if you live nearby as it has lots more attractions than the green baize) and has done some PCNs at this location and is on 7 wins out of 7 at the tribunal.

A Hackney Council bin lorry fell foul of the restriction and didn't ask Mr Mustard for help despite being on the receiving end of his fire many times. They managed to win without him due to an adjudicator who took a pragmatic approach.

The problem with this retriction is that just after you pass Jolene Bakery (top notch bread sold there and at their other branches) instead of going straight on to reach The Duke of Wellington you have to drive west and take the next exit off the roundabout whereas you know you need to head south east. At the junction south east of The Alma you should then turn left onto the Balls Pond Road.

Here is the decision.

 

The problem with these weight limits is that you don't know how far away the other end of the weight limit is nor are diversions or suggested routes posted.

If you get caught here by Islington do email mrmustard@zoho.com for free help (you only need to donate to the North London Hospice).

The end.

Words weighing heavily on Wandsworth Council

Here is a tribunal decision about 2 PCNs which Mr Mustard only looked at as he had a family connection to the road.

 

Here is a map of the area. The B229 is Burntwood Lane.

The refusal of Wandsworth Council to cancel a PCN to a company just trying to do its job, is thoroughly miserable and flies in the face of common sense. Just look at the size of this vehicle, total weight of up to 44 tonnes.

The routes available to a lorry of that size in streets this narrow are limited.

Well done to C K Transport for fighting as far as the tribunal. It causes councils huge amounts of work and seeing them hoist on the petard of their own traffic order is most amusing as are the opening words of the adjudicator that he'll carry on without the rep. as they are going to win.

The end.

The challenge that never was in Tower Hamlets

Mr Mustard helps a skip hire company who inevitably incur PCNs whilst collecting or delivering a skip other than on a main road as they have to breach the weight limit but are exempt provided they take the shortest route. They don't get many jobs in Tower Hamlets but did have one in Tredegar Square and accessed it via Tredegar Road which sounds OK but possibly wasn't. Anyway, the PCN which arrived was deficient. Here is an extract:

 

 

The PCN was deficient for not stating the weight which was allegedly exceeded. This is usually enough at the tribunal for a win. The PCN must state the contravention which is believed to have been exceeded and we don't know if the weight was 5T, 7.5T etc.
Sometimes the sign will be within the images provided but not in this case.

The PCN was dated 1 March 2024.

Representations were made against it online on 11 March 2024. Following his usual practice Mr Mustard embedded a copy of the authority letter within the representations so that he doesn't forget to prove his right to act.

On 10 April Tower Hamlets Council sent a nonsense letter:

 

 

Mr Mustard duly arranged for a representation to be sent in by the company on 18 April which included a waste transfer note.

 

All was then quiet until 30 May when the council accepted the waste transfer note as genuine (it was) and cancelled the PCN.

 

Mr Mustard suspects that the failure to consider the representations the first time around would have counted against the council at the tribunal and the failure to state a weight almost certainly would have, there being a number of decisions in favour of motorists on this point. Do use this ground if you receive a similar PCN.

The cctv isn't all that near the sign in question either so the time of the alleged contravention might also have been wrong so that is a fight for another day or may help you if you receive a PCN relating to Tredegar Road.

The end.