County/Borough Council PCN valid ?

JJ43

Well, not 1 reply to my posting on Pepipoo, maybe someone here can help after all ?

Coupon-mad

I just bumped your other thread up to page one again - it's really busy on pepipoo this week!

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=52468&st=0&gopid=481436&#entry481436

Hope someone replies, if no other suggestions are forthcoming I would appeal informally if it were me, email or send a letter of appeal, to arrive at the Council within 14 days starting with the date of the PCN. I can only see a couple of points of appeal based on the PCN wording (as per the other pepipoo thread with the Worthing PCN) but often Councils give you more points of appeal on a plate - by mucking up their rejection letter and the Notice to Owner!

As the PCN rightly says, if you appeal informally and quickly now, you'll normally get offered the discounted fine again when the NTO is sent to you. At that stage you may have more to put into the formal appeal or you may decide to pay (but you won't have lost anything by delaying your decision).

Another thing you can do at the same time as informally appealing, is to email the Council or pop into the main Council offices and ask for the Traffic Order which relates to that street (including any amendments, all of it). They have to let any interested person see and have a copy of an Order as it's a public document, and they cannot delay/make excuses or even make you say who you are or why you want to know! You are allowed to see a Traffic Order in office hours without appointment.

The reason for getting a copy of the Traffic Order is that it may be flawed or out of date (the Order takes precedence, the signs on the street are secondary and a nullity if the Order is wrong). You never know, it will cost you nothing (or 10p for a copy I think, under statute) and you can ask the pepipoo posters to look at it for you without losing any ground, while your initial informal appeal is considered (and rejected...!). Think of the informal appeal as a practice run!

BTW I think the bay looks OK, can't tell about the sign if it's out of date. Can you get a current pic of the sign?

JJ43

Thanks again CM. I see a few responses have come in on Pepipoo, but I have also put another question forward on there as i'm a little unsure as to the way forward. Maybe you could take a look ?

Coupon-mad

I have had a look and am pleased to see that a regular and well-informed poster has replied (hcandersen).

What posters would normally be encouraged to do now is copy & paste the wording & info they've been given into a few paragraphs starting 'To whom it may concern' and headed up 'Appeal re PCN Number xxxxxxx'. Then when you think you've got a reasonable draft letter - even with gaps & 'unsure' paragraphs - don't worry about posting it up for anyone else to suggest any additions or changes to wording.

If there's anything you don't quite understand then do the draft anyway as it will get more responses than another single question. People like to put their twopenn'orth into a critique of a draft appeal letter!

Just say up front that you're unsure about whichever paragraph - and could they have a look and any comments gratefully received.

Make sure when you're happy with the final letter, that you send it in time for the Council to receive it by day 14 including the day of service. Pepipoo posters say you've got a case and I think so too (as I stated above re the PCN). Don't forget to also email the Council separately to ask for the Traffic Order for that street, to give you some light reading whilst you await your Notice of Rejection (to be expected).

This is a long game, not a short one, and Councils like to bluff it out like a series of chess moves, until hopefully you get checkmate!