Camden Council Beware !

DampProof

Back in the summer I was leading a sponsored walk on Hampstead Heath in aid of a Dog Rescue Charity, parked in an allocated bay and displayed a Parking Permit in the window.
On my return I found a ticket on my windscreen. On closer inspection I found that I had failed to scratch off the day of the week on the permit having correctly scratched off the hour, minute, month and date.

I believed as these permits are pre-paid, Camden having banked the money and as this was an honest mistake an appeal would be successful.

I went as far as The Parking & Traffic Appeals Service where my honesty and belief in fair play was clearly unfounded.

“The appellant had inadvertently failed to scratch out the day on the permit.” “On the evidence before me it is clear the contravention occurred and so I must refuse the appeal”.

Is it just me?. It makes me very :mad: to be screwed over in this way. We are living in a society where the persecution of motorists at every opportunity appears to be fair game. They will stop at nothing to extract cash for even the most minor offenses.



I guess it helps to keep many people in non jobs who would otherwise be on the dole.

Coupon-mad

Strange decision, this sort of thing has been allowed before (different Council):

QUOTE
BH05920B
The PCN was issued for parking in a resident’s permit space without displaying a
valid permit. The appellant was a visitor. She obtained and displayed a visitor’s
scratch-card voucher. This required her to scratch off the day of the week, date,
month and year. She made a mistake with the date, scratching off 21 instead of
22; all the other details were correct. The council claimed that this error
invalidated the voucher.
Held: This was the wrong approach. No contravention had occurred. The
mistake was de minimis and did not invalidate the voucher. Given the
combination of correct information given, the voucher could not have been used on any other day. While the adjudicator did not necessarily criticise the
enforcement officer for issuing the PCN, the council should have appreciated that a minor and genuine error had occurred and cancelled it.
Appeal allowed
QUOTE


Taken from previous adjudicators' report here.

I would ask on pepipoo forums for advice on how to appeal the PATAS decision, I have seen such review situations discussed on there before. In fact, on page 39 of the adjudicators' report I have linked, it mentions the success rate of 'correspondence asking for a review' after a decision.

Ask them on pepipoo here.

HTH

paddedjohn

if you didnt get the ticket would you have thrown the permit away or used it on another day???

peter_the_piper

is it likely they would have kept it for at least a year to use again??

Neil_B

paddedjohn wrote: »

if you didnt get the ticket would you have thrown the permit away or used it on another day???

I can 100% assure you that 'thanks' was a miss hit key!!!!!!

Did you read what was said about the card?

paddedjohn

I have reread the post and i see now that the op did indeed sctratch off the date but not the day, good luck with your appeal.
Neil B, what card please?

Neil_B

Card meaning the permit itself.

My respect to you for correcting your mistake.

DampProof

Thanks for all your replies.

Would I have used it again?.

Live 160 miles from Hampstead and would have to keep the permit 2 years to use it again on the 24 July 2012, as this year it falls on a Sunday which is a permit free day. Would you?

I should be pursuing but to be honest can't be bothered with the continued hassle of dealing with such a bunch of re***ds.

Coupon-mad

DampProof wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies.

Would I have used it again?.

Live 160 miles from Hampstead and would have to keep the permit 2 years to use it again on the 24 July 2012, as this year it falls on a Sunday which is a permit free day. Would you?

I should be pursuing but to be honest can't be bothered with the continued hassle of dealing with such a bunch of re***ds.

It's a shame.

Had you posted about your PCN on pepipoo or here earlier, when appealing, someone would have linked you to that fairly well-known previous successful appeal and you could have quoted it. The 'appeal allowed' decision was backed by the Chief Adjudicator on the link - so your adjudicator was wrong.

If you ever get any PCN again, even if the contravention occurred, post a pic of the PCN on pepipoo and they can find an 'out' for you in almost every case.