Contravention 27 in front of a permanently locked gate?

lyonsb

Hi, I received the following PCN this morning. The dropped kerb in question is, as you can see from the pictures, in front of a permanently locked gate with no signage.

imageshack.us/g/810/imag0040bb.jpg/

^Link to album showing car and dropped kerb positions and photos of the PCN.

I understand that the area in question is not a public footway, however I need some clarification as to whether the ticket is still valid because of the section that reads "or verge lowered to meet the level of the carriageway"

Thanks in advance.

HappyMJ

How do you know the gate is permanently locked? It looks like someone could simply unlock it to use it.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/810/imag0040bb.jpg/

The ticket implies your tax disc has expired. Is that the case?

lyonsb

Well first of all, I didn't realise the tax was expired, it is my brothers car and I wanted to sort this for him. Obviously now it appears the tax is out of date, the appeal is not worth pursuing. However, the gate in question is only unlock able by security staff of the estate and I have never seen them actually open it.

mildred1978

I don't believe it's ever okay to park next to a dropped kerb. They are there for a reason. Would be a shame if a wheelchair user had no choice but to scrape your car because you'd parked illegally.

lyonsb

The area is not a public right of way, as I have already mentioned. The gate provides access to a small patch of grass in front of a block of flats - there is no passing foot traffic, and the gate is always closed/locked.

HappyMJ

lyonsb wrote: »

Well first of all, I didn't realise the tax was expired, it is my brothers car and I wanted to sort this for him. Obviously now it appears the tax is out of date, the appeal is not worth pursuing. However, the gate in question is only unlock able by security staff of the estate and I have never seen them actually open it.

It's a different offence to not having tax. Your brother will probably get a letter through the post for not renewing the tax on time. I'd get the car off the road in the mean time and SORN it if you don't intend to tax it. You may find it gets towed and crushed if you don't.

Anyway, you don't really know that the security staff don't unlock the gate at some point they may use it in the morning when you are sleeping. An appeal is always worth pursuing but I'd say to be prepared to lose.

mildred1978

lyonsb wrote: »

The area is not a public right of way, as I have already mentioned. The gate provides access to a small patch of grass in front of a block of flats - there is no passing foot traffic, and the gate is always closed/locked.

Somebody somewhere has the right to cross that pavement and open the gate. Even if they never do it doesn't mean you can abandon your untaxed car there!

Sir_Roger_deLodger

If it is a council ticket go here - http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30 and start a new thread. Scan and post both sides of the PCN.

lyonsb

mildred1978 wrote: »

Somebody somewhere has the right to cross that pavement and open the gate. Even if they never do it doesn't mean you can abandon your untaxed car there!

I received some very helpful and valid advice from another forum. Your "advice" is rude, incorrect and unhelpful.

Regards.

mildred1978

lyonsb wrote: »

I received some very helpful and valid advice from another forum. Your "advice" is rude, incorrect and unhelpful.

Regards.

The first reply on the other forum was exactly as I advised. 2 other people then suggested if you wanted to use "it's not really a dropped kerb" as a defence you needed to see why the dropped kerb is there. It may well be there to allow access by wheelchairs.

So slightly different to the advice here, in addition to the same advice. So not really 'incorrect and unhelpful'.