Mean what you say & say what you mean

The above route to the stadium from Sylvan Avenue in NW7 illustrates the ludicrous size of the Event Day zone. How many rugby fans would actually park that far away from the ground and then walk? It isn't really a surprise that a resident of Sylvan Ave, adjacent to Mill Hill Broadway thinks that they aren't in the Event Day zone and then don't apply for their free permit especially when they call the council to check.

Here is what the adjudicator at PATAS had to say:

The Appellant attended for a personal hearing at which he explained that he is a resident of Sylvan Avenue (NW7) and had been the holder of a residents permit before the Controlled Parking Zone was introduced. He received the introductory letter from the Authority dated 12th November 2012 in which the new scheme was explained but he was confused about the requirement to display 'either a residents or a visitor voucher in their vehicle'. He therefore telephoned the Authority and spoke to a female assistant in the parking department who explained to him that as a resident he would be expected to display his residents permit in his vehicle on match days and that the special 'Saracens' permits were for those residents who did not have residents permits but who were at present allowed free parking on Saturdays and Sundays. The letter of 12th November also included the dates of the matches, concluding with a match on 4th May 2013.

As a result of this information the Appellant continued to park his car in front of his house on match days displaying his residents permit. He did not receive any Penalty Charge Notices until 4th May. However although he then resolved to look into the matter he believed that the season was over and was not expecting to be issued with a Penalty Charge Notice on 12th May.

The Authority relies on the record of the civil enforcement officer in these cases. The officer's notes contain full details and are not contested. There are also a number of photographs.

I found the Appellant to be a reasonable and credible witness and I accept that he was given the information referred to in his evidence. I find that he was lead to believe that he would not be issued with Penalty Charge Notices if he displayed his residents permit on match days.

Where a public authority has issued a promise or adopted a practice which represents how it proposes to act in a given area, the law will require the promise or practice to be honoured unless there is good reason not to do so (Abdi v Home Dept 22/11/05 Laws LJ).

In those circumstances these appeals are allowed.

Mr Mustard hasn't seen an appeal to PATAS in the Event Day zone fail yet.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Free talk - Wednesday 16 October at 7pm

THE  BOHEMIA

762 High Road, North Finchley

FRIERN  BARNET  LIBRARY  REOPENED

A talk by 

Phoenix, Daniel Gardonyi & Keith Martin

Wednesday 16 October 2013 at 7pm

This is a free event, and copies of

Friern Barnet – the library that refused to close will be available for purchase at £10.99, of which £2 per copy will be donated to Friern Barnet Community Library.

 

www.chavillepress.co.uk

Voucher - What voucher?

Sometimes there is a policeman around when you want one (well, a retired one anyway). The following are the notes of the adjudicator from PATAS where you get an independent review of your parking ticket unbiased by the effect on their wallet (unlike Barnet Council who hope you will pay them some money if they decline your appeal):

The appellant Mrs V attended the personal hearing for today. Mr P who is a witness in this case also attended the hearing.Mrs V denied the contravention.

She stated that she was visiting a friend and knew she was going to be parked during the hours of restriction and therefore obtained a visitors permit from her friend and displayed it on the drivers side of the vehicle.

Mr P who is a retired police officer confirmed that he did not know Mrs V prior to this incident but saw her looking quite anxious on seeing the penalty charge notice as her vehicle was parked outside his house.

In addition to being a retired police officer Mr P also assists with the neighbourhood watch and did not recognise Mrs V's vehicle so actually checked it and noticed a visitors permit prior to the PCN being issued and which he thought was very considerate as normally people usually park their vehicles and then remove them before the restrictions take effect or take a chance, in which case and particularly as a local resident he believes that they deserve to receive a penalty charge notice.

There is a direct conflict of evidence in this case. However I found both Mrs V as well as Mr P to be very convincing and credible witnesses and am not satisfied that the contravention did occur.

I therefore allow this appeal.

It looks like the traffic warden failed to see the visitor voucher. One would think that would be impossible if all windows are checked as they are meant to be.

There is at least one resident who photographs their car every time they park so as to have evidence that all is as it should be.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Be a blogger's assistant

Bloggers lead busy lives. They have a huge capacity for work and would like to read all 2,084 pages of the Capita contract for NSCSO but, recognising that another contract is to follow shortly for the DRS joint venture contract, they think it best to spread the load, which is where you come in.

Here are the sections of the contract (items in blue underlining are the links to the documents:

List of Documents Relating NSCSO Contract

1 NSCSO Contract

1.1 Contract Overview

1.2 Contract Document

1.3 Contract Schedules

2 Output Specifications

2.1 Corporate Programmes

2.2 Customer Services

2.3 Estates

2.4 Finance

2.5 Human Resources

2.6 Information Systems

2.7 Procurement (Mr Mustard will read this section)

2.8 Revenues and Benefit

3 Service Delivery Plans

3.1 Corporate Programmes Method Statement

3.2 Customer Services Method Statement

3.3 Estates Method Statement

3.4 Finance Method Statement

3.5 Human Resources Method Statement

3.6 Information Systems Method Statement

3.7 Procurement Method Statement (Mr Mustard will read this section)

3.8 Revenues and Benefit Method Statement

3.9 Enterprise Wide Insight Method Statement

3.10 Schools Method Statement

3.11 Traded Services to Schools

3.12 Transformation Method Statement

3.13 Detailed Transformation Plan

3.14 Transition Method Statement

3.15 Transition Plan

4 Price and Performance Mechanism

4.1 Payment Mechanism

4.2 Payment Mechanism Appendices

5 Service Provider Commitments

5.1 Service Provider Schedule of Commitments

Decide what you fancy reading and send Mr Mustard an email so that he knows who is reading what. Give yourself a code name (as silly as you like) and your name will be appended to the relevant item(s) above so others know what has already been bagged. Then read the items at your leisure, there really isn't a rush as we are in theory stuck with this arrangement for 10 years, although judging by this blog post by Mrs Angry, realisation has dawned that Barnet isn't just any council and has more involved, incisive and knowledgeable residents than most of the country. An opportunity for an early exit will begin to look attractive after several more encounters with the public. 

Once you have read the chosen item please send an email to Mr Mustard who will forward it to the other bloggers. Tell us what you have found that you don't like or is of public interest or against the interests of residents. It might end up in a question at a council committee meeting, in a blog or saved up for future use.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Village Green application - land adjacent to Friern Barnet Library

We are the village green preservation society
God save donald duck, vaudeville and variety
We are the desperate dan appreciation society
God save strawberry jam and all the different varieties
Preserving the old ways from being abused
Protecting the new ways for me and for you
What more can we do
We are the draught beer preservation society
God save mrs. mopp and good old mother riley
We are the custard pie appreciation consortium
God save the george cross and all those who were awarded them
We are the sherlock holmes english speaking vernacular
Help save fu manchu, moriarty and dracula
We are the office block persecution affinity
God save little shops, china cups and virginity
We are the skyscraper condemnation affiliate
God save tudor houses, antique tables and billiards
Preserving the old ways from being abused
Protecting the new ways for me and for you
What more can we do
God save the village green.

Coming up on 28, 29, 30 & 31 October 2013 is the application to have the land used last year for the pop-up library, and Mr Mustard imagines, for decades beforehand by locals, to be registered as a village green.

If you have time you could pop along to Hendon Town Hall and watch the Public Inquiry. The usual suspects will doubtless be in attendance.

Parking ticket pursued in breach of Human Rights Convention

Here is a recent adjudication decision in respect of a PCN issued on 24 June 11 by Barnet Council. The pursuit of the PCN has been by NSL Ltd since they took over on 1 May 12 (although they may not have picked them up immediately which could be part of the reason for the delay). 

There has been a great deal of unexplained delay in this case.

The Notice to Owner was issued on 24th August 2011.

However the Charge Certificate was only issued on 22nd March 2013.

The Council has not given any explanation for the level of delay before issuing the Charge Certificate and obtaining registration of the debt at Court.

In my judgement there is a compromise of Article 6 of the Human Rights Convention here.

It is a problem for the Adjudicator to give a fair hearing in the case if the delay has potentially affected the recollection of events by either the Appellant or the parking attendant.

Also, for this enforcement to be lawful the Council has a duty to exercise its powers with reasonable expedition and fairness.

I note the case of R-v- Secretary of State for Home Department ex p. Doody (1994) (House of Lords) per Lord Mustill: "Where an Act of Parliament confers an administrative power there is a presumption that it will be exercised in a manner which is fair in all the circumstances".

I have also considered Davis-v-Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (PAS 1970198981) where it was considered that a delay of more than 2/3 months in responding to an appellant's representations was prima facie evidence of unfairness in the absence of explanation.

I am not satisfied that the local authority has conducted the timetable of this enforcement with reasonable expedition and that, as a result, there is an unfairness.

For both of these reasons I find that the appropriate Direction here is that the Penalty Charge Notice must now be cancelled.

If Barnet Council are chasing you for a 2011 PCN and you are appealing to PATAS then quote this case (PATAS ref 2130453008) in support of your case. Any delay at any stage of the process of 6 months or more is in the Code of Practice issued by London Councils  (paragraph 170e) as a PCN that should be cancelled. The other phrase to quote is "justice delayed is justice denied". How can you be expected to now remember the circumstances of your parking on 24 June 11?

Don't take these old tickets on the chin; appeal against them and complain to your ward councillors about your Human Rights being abused. 

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard

Councillor left in the dark

How transparent is Barnet Council? This much last Monday

Mrs Angry of Broken Barnet fame has written up her blog about Monday's goings on at Business Management Overview and Scrutiny Committee. Mr Mustard was also there and we stayed for 99% of the meeting. The last boring bit about scheduling work was an excuse to go to the pub.

Mr Mustard would also like to add some observations to the goings-on at the meeting, a meeting he had more or less given up on as he wasn't seeing much overview or scrutiny and Cllr. Rayner's clock watching annoyed him. This particular week the meeting also got away from him and he never really had the show on the right track.

Cllr Braun has never impressed Mr Mustard in meetings, she is far too quiet and reserved and simply doesn't get her point across very well and also doesn't say much. She decided she was being agitated by her residents, rather than nagged, who couldn't park in their traditional spots on match dates and if they were not interested in rugby (and it isn't that popular a sport per Sport England so why should a housewife or pensioner know the date of the next game) and that a resident had applied for and not received the necessary vouchers. Perhaps she is better suited to her casework which it seems she does diligently.

The officer who spoke about the Event day Zone may well know about highways but he doesn't know much about the rest of the council and neither do Councillors as they didn't correct him. He spoke about back office staff who issue the permits and handle appeals as if they were one and the same. These people are 30 miles about as there is a permit team within the council except that Civica have been retained to issue the ones for the Event Day zone. Appeals are dealt with by NSL staff in Croydon.

He also seemed to suggest that people within the zone caught out by the process would have their PCN cancelled (presumably he meant the first PCN as after that they would get a permit). That is not what Mr Mustard PCN clients have experienced. He has mostly seen refused appeals.

Cllr Khatri spoke to the meeting. He was disappointed that all the points he had made before the meeting, and those of Cllr Sharma, had been ignored. He had been so ignored that he didn't even know the review was on the agenda for this meeting. Mr Mustard has previously noted that all officer reports make a note of the affected wards. Mr Mustard assumed that meant that Officers automatically send the reports to relevant councillors but it can't be so. It seems that the status of councillor is no higher than that of blogger in this regard; councillors have to look up what is coming on the agenda like the rest of us.

There was then further talk of dot matrix signs. They would be useful in warning people of the Event Day zone as movement catches the eye. Many of the Event Day signs are near to junctions when your concentration is on negotiating the traffic not on reading a sign which you are passing at anything up to 30mph.

Officers were happy with the results of the survey with 559 forms returned out of 9,000. That is a better rate of return than is often the case but what matters is the questions that were asked.

The questions asked, see this link, didn't ask the two really important questions, which are

Do you think the zone is too small, too large, the correct size?

a sub-question to that would be

Do you think your road should be inside or outside the zone?

and

Do you think the hours of restrictions are too long, too short or about right.

Interestingly, Arsenal manage with a restriction which is half an hour shorter.

The reason there is a 5 hour restriction is to cover as many start times as possible i.e for administrative convenience so that different restrictions are not needed for different days, rather than for the convenience of residents.

So given that the obvious questions were not asked the zone was never likely to change much and the officers don't want it to as 400 PCN a day is a nice little earner.

Cllr Khatri had been tracking the issue of PCN and watching the numbers going up and up. Mr Mustard is not inclined to the view of the Director of Place that rugby fans come 4 to a car, park outside the stadium and pay the 50% off PCN rate of £55 between them as being cheap parking. Mr Mustard thinks it unlikely that 50% of the PCN issued in the zone are to non-residents. He thinks it will be to residents who haven't yet realised that although, to mix up two sports for the moment, Tiger Woods would need to hit his longest drive of 425 years at least 3 times to reach the stadium form their house, they are in fact within the Event Day zone.

There was talk of a couple who had moved into the area and a week later got a PCN as they didn't realise. Cllr Brian Salinger was unsympathetic. Their conveyancing solicitor will have known. Well Brian;

a. they might be renting and

b. it isn't a solicitor's job to make residents aware when an Event Day match is on, it is the council's by the use of adequate signage.

If 403 people are getting it wrong in a day you ought be conducting research to find out why and stopping it from happening again. Compare the number of ED permits to the number of residents and you will see where the problem lies.

There is some spectacular nonsense at para 8.10 of the update report. Here it is:

A response was received by email from Sacred Heart Church in Flower Lane, Mill Hill noting concerns about the effects that the Event Day CPZ parking restrictions may have on its Saturday and Sunday evening Masses, which commence at 6.00pm and are well-attended. The Parish Council stated that it would be preferable if the event day parking restrictions ceased at 5pm at least at the end of Flower Lane near to the church, to facilitate parking for those attending mass. Officers note that prior to the introduction of the Event Day CPZ, parking on Flower Lane and adjacent roads was unrestricted at weekends, so those attending services may have become accustomed to parking in these roads. It is also noted that the Sacred Heart Church is eligible to apply for permits and visitor vouchers, and that these could be distributed to their congregation, although records show that they have not obtained any vouchers to date. (Roger, if you are reading this, get them to put in a shipping order, Saracens will pay for it) The Council is keen to ensure that the local community continue to have access to places of worship and have advised the Parking Enforcement Team of the church’s concerns and have asked if the CEOs can be mindful of churchgoers at this end of Flower Lane, especially towards the end of the operational period of the CPZ.

Mr Mustard predicts that the traffic wardens (CEO) will be mindful of churchgoers. 

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They will hide around the corner until 5.05pm and then ticket every car in sight.

It is inequitable that agnostics, atheists and humanists should be discriminated against. If tolerance is to be shown after 5pm to Catholics then it should under the terms of the Equalities Act, be shown to one and all. The council simply cannot ignore part of a Traffic Management Order it has itself established.

If you find yourself living inside the Event Day zone and don't want to be, it might be a good idea to get together with your neighbours, compile and distribute your own survey with better questions, issue 8,000 copies and see what responses you get. Perhaps the Mill Hill Preservation Society could coordinate this?

If you get a PCN, appeal it one the grounds that the date was not communicated to you. It has been a winner so far.

Yours frugally

Mr Mustard