Newham Council are Cheats - #15

 

Only the relevant part of the adjudicator's decision has been reproduced, it is on the tribunal website if you want to read the rest of it, and relates to procedural matters.

This is another instance of the sign which was photographed by the CEO (Civil Enforcement Officer or 'traffic warden') not being the one within the bay in which the car was parked.

There is no '30m rule'. There must be a sign within the bay. If the bay is only 50m long it might well have two signs, one at each end. If one is clear and the other painted over Mr Mustard thinks that signage would be regarded as adequate by an adjudicator.

In this case the CEO cheated by omission, failing to photograph the nearest sign and not showing the juxtaposition of the car to the sign relied upon, which Mr Mustard suspects was from a different bay. A council has to prove its case, only once they have done that does the motorist have to contest it.

Newham Council are Cheats - #14

 

Mr Babu mixed a trick here. He should also have paid the first PCN and only Appealed the second PCN in time. This is because the second PCN in time was unlawful and thus removing the vehicle and taking payment for it was unlawful and that way he could also have recovered the removal fee. The adjudicator could not order its return, even had he wanted to, as it didn't apply to the Appeal he was considering. He took a pragmatic decision to reverse the order of the PCNs and only uphold the second one.

Whatever the fault of Mr Babu in parking accidentally in a disabled bay in the middle of residents bays, Newham Council acted unlawfully, being the Cheats that they are and relying on the public not knowing the law.

Only about 1% of PCNs reach the tribunal so we are seeing only the tip of the cheating iceberg.

Newham Council are Cheats - #13

 

Here we go again.

No sign in a bay = free parking.

Adjudicators are smart, all lawyers with years of experience in assessing evidence and they have probably rumbled that the evidence of Newham Council is often suspect as they are serial cheats.

 

Newham Council are Cheats - #12

 

The reference to 22 June should probably be to 29 June 2024.

Misleading signs are cheating.

Newham Council are Cheats - #11

 

Here is a genius bit of cheating / incompetence. It would be funny if the effects were not so draconian and probably a breach of the Human Rights Act.

Newham Council removed a vehicle a day before they were legally entitled to, at a time when it was evidently 100% legally parked.

They then somehow managed to fight the tribunal Appeal rather than realise their blunder, apologise, pay compensation and cancel the PCN and immediately refund Mr Clark.

Not only are Newham Council cheats, they are prize chumps.

Newham Council are Cheats - #10

 

PCNs are used these days as a blunt instrument of revenue raising to fill holes in council budgets. Humanity, service to residents and fairness seem to be alien concepts in council parking departments these days (Mr Mustard does get to see them when he approaches senior management but those cases are the exception, he can't deal with the 5m+ PCN issued a year in London). 

Mr Umar is a good man helping his elderly and disabled grandmother into a wheelchair and to transfer to the car. He has been abused by Newham Council. Luckily he has a backbone and a sense of right and wrong.

He was cheated out of a Notice of Acceptance.

He was cheated out of hours of his time:

- in starting an Appeal to the tribunal which he shouldn't have had to fight

- spent in considering the voluminous evidence pack, probably 100 pages

- spent in preparing his case and appearing on line and explaining his case, clearly in quite a lot of detail, to the adjudicator

- spent worrying that surely a council must surely be right and he would end up having to pay £130 as the discount was long gone.

Councils need to reflect upon the results of their actions and 99.9% of what they write should be accurate, not the usual sleight of hand responses which Mr Mustard gives a good kicking to because of his profound knowledge.

Newham Council are Cheats - #9

 

The reader might think that Newham Council have cheated themselves in this type of case rather than be the cheat but they are 100% in control of the sum demanded. Paying on line gives the council complete control over the amount that can be paid, you cannot for example pay £110 on line if the PCN has advanced to the £165 stage, except by posting in a cheque and that won't stop the process whereas paying on line usually does.

This is not the only case in which £1 has appeared. In another case, which might appear later, Newham Council denied that it was possible for their system to demand the incorrect sum but of course sensible motorists have taken screen shots of the error and the usual band of experts knew of the glitch.

What was cheating was to object to the settlement that Newham Council had themselves offered, which had been accepted, and put the motorist through the tribunal system.