Excess Charge Notice served by Civil Enforcement Officer - is this valid???

richie11

Hi guys, would like to pick your brains with this one...

I parked in a pay&display car park owned by the local council today, I bought a ticket but got a bit carried away with the old shopping and got back 20mins late. When I returned I had been served an Excess Charge Notice.

Below is a transcript...
***************
Bromsgrove District Council
Excess Charge Notice (ECN)

Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984
District Council of Bromsgrove

ECN No. XXX
Date of Issue. 29/10/10
Date of Offence. 29/10/10
Time of Issue.
Vehicle Reg XXX

To the Driver of the vehicle, the reg no. of which is XXX

The Civil Enforcement Officer CEO29 has reasonable cause to believe that the following parking offence has occurred;
- Had a ticket which expired
Code: E02

If you do not pay a reduce charge of £35 within 14 days of the date of issue of this notice, the charge due will be £70

It is an offence under Section 35A(1) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 for the driver who has left the vehicle in this parking place to fail to pay the Excess Charge.

***************

I'm not sure if Bromsgrove Council have opted for the Decriminalised Parking Enforcement or not, but I assume not if they have issued an Excess Charge Notice (served under Criminal Law), rather than the Penalty Charge Notice (served under Civil Law).

I have had a look at the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 under which the ECN refers. Section 95 basically says that the fines can be issued by a Police Officer or Traffic Warden that has been given authority by the Chief Police Officer. The Act mentions nothing about these Civil Enforcement Officers, they are mentioned in later Acts - The Road Traffic Act 1991, and the later Transport Act 2004 relating to the decriminalised parking enforcement which falls under Civil Law.

Am I right in saying that this ECN is void as the CEO did not have the jurisdiction to serve it under the 1984 Act. To me, the name Civil Enforcement Officer suggests that they can only enforce civil law (ie the Penalty Charge Notice), rather than Criminal Law with which the ECN falls.

Any thoughts would be grateful appreciated before I appeal it.

Cheers, Rich

taffy056

You probably get more help with this over on https://www.pepipoo.com , I think the only course of appeal is through the courts in this regard, so probably be easier to bite the bullet and cough up unless you got an iron clad defence, which I think you don't, but try the above link first.

BLT_2

taffy056 wrote: »

You probably get more help with this over on www.pepipoo.com , I think the only course of appeal is through the courts in this regard, so probably be easier to bite the bullet and cough up unless you got an iron clad defence, which I think you don't, but try the above link first.

Are you implying that the defence of "I got carried away with my shopping" is not sufficient to achieve a not guilty verdict?

Women around the country will be trembling in fear

peter_the_piper

Excess charge notice is from the criminalised regulations. Suggest just pay as next stop is maggi's court.

Sir_Roger_deLodger

peter_the_piper wrote: »

Excess charge notice is from the criminalised regulations. Suggest just pay as next stop is maggi's court.

But is a so-called "Civil Enforcement Officer" empowered to issue an ECN? I'd take this to the Pepipoo forum if I were you.

peter_the_piper

He has and it looks like you're right. It seems likely that only a Traffic Warden, in the old sense, can issue these. The fact that a CEO issued it may well nullify it, though whether a magistrate will think the same is unsure at the best of times.

Coblcris

It is probable but not certain that the CEO/Warden is duly authorised.
Check council documents.