out of order meter PCN issued for non display

loadsalaughs

Hi all,

this is my first post so please be gentle. :A

I arrived at work yesterday at 7:40am as I have done every week for the last four years. I parked in the normal bay and went to pay the meter for two hours parking (im self employed do a job in the street every week) but the meter was out of order. There was no other meter anywhere on the street or on any of the corners of the side roads. I looked for 10 mins.

I left a note saying the machine was broken and went to work. When I got back I had a PCN from the local council. I have parked there for 4 years as I said and have all the tickets for tax reasons. Is it worth appealing on the grounds that I need to work and was willing to pay and have proof that on almost 200 other ocasions I have paid without ever receiving a PCN in the past? A local warden who passed said that I should have made a bigger effort to find an alternative meter and informed me that at the other end of a side road there is a meter. According to google that machine is 200 meters away and well out of view.

Surly there are rules against using tickets issued by machines from other roads?

Any ideas welcome.

Neil_B

Hmmmm. Bottom line of the answer to your questions is - not good i'm afraid. One of those very unfair areas but i'll have a quick skip through to see if any adjudications on it.

Crucial - what Council?
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pogofish

Yes - awkward one this.

My council make it clear that it is your job to find the next working machine but I've ended up ticketed despite doing just this. Because the next/nearest machine was in a different (and more expensive!) zone. I eventually found the machine I should have used and it was way-down another street, obscured behind a bush.

They conceeded that one when I wrote-in!

loadsalaughs

The council is camden.

I decided to appeal and did it online. I just said that I had tried very hard to find a machine and that I couldnt find one. I mentioned that on 5th november 2007 the same machine was broken and the warden on that occasion told me to leave a note and I wasn't given a PCN so that led me to believe that I was ok to do the same ths time. Hopefully there will be a record of the machine being broken on that date and they will see that I am telling the truth.

I mentioned that in 15 years in london I have only had one ticket for returning 5 mins late and that I didnt appeal that one because it was fair.

I kept the letter very respectful without sucking up. Hopefully I will get a reasonable reviewer. Here's hopeing

Neil_B

Hmmm - indeed 'hoping'. Abit much to hope for with Camden!
Your record is irrelevant and will be ignored.

if there is a record of the machine being OOO then you would need to specifically request CEO notes and maintenance logs/history for the machine.

surprisingly, I found no relevant Adjudications on the matter listed as key cases either by PATAS or TPT. Quite surprising cos your point seems valid in a common sense way.

Hence no idea what an Adjudicator would make of it. Perhaps add a request to Camden for a full scale map of machine locations? Depends if you intend to proceed or not really.

bottom line at the mo is in your title. the contravention is 'failing to display' irrespective of circumstances. It may be that an Adjudicator would feel they could not rule on the matter but only refer back to the Council with a suggestion to consider discretion.
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Coblcris

case 1960229637

CHRISTINA MARY JABRI -and- THE ROYAL BOROUGH OF
KENSINGTON & CHELSEA

case 1970100003
SUSAN PAMELA CARLESS - and- THE CORPORATION OF LONDON

All I have - I don't know if these are in the 'key cases'.

Neil_B

jabri was but doesn't address the issue at hand. It refers to a case of an old style parking 'meter' going out of order during the paid for time.
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Coblcris

My apologies.

loadsalaughs

thanks,

I will just have to start doing the job at 6am for a few weeks till I have recooped the lost money to the ticket!!! they will lose out in the long run.

TheBogsDollocks

May be worth checking the TMO as it might contain a clause similar to the clause in my local TMO. See below


92

There shall be one working parking ticket machine in the vicinity of the parking place at no more than 50
metres from that parking place

If the relevant TMO says something similar then you may have something to cling to.

Neil_B

Coblcris wrote: »

My apologies.

Don't apologise! Everything may be worth considering. there's little enough input on this forum as it is!
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