Using bus lane after collison - now a £65 fine.

SpiritDawnWolf

On 10th December at 09:28am, my brother-in-law pulled up at traffic lights on London road, Mitcham, and a car went into the back of him.
So both cars pulled over to the left to get out of the main road of traffic. However this was a bus lane but they had no option as they had to swap details of the collision and check damage before pulling back into main traffic and heading away. They were parked approx 5 minutes.
Now he has been issued with a PCN from London Borough Of Merton for £65 issued on 22nd December and to be paid in 14 days.
Is this worth disputing, and if so what main things should he write in an appeal? Also, should he pay the fine now and dispute, or leave it to go up in price while the dispute paperwork goes through? He's worried it may fail the dispute and he will have to pay an accumalated amount.

peter_the_piper

Of course its worth disputing. Go to pepipoo.com and post this there. You will find they may be a bit slower due to xmas.

sarahg1969

The best thing to do is to re-post this on pepipoo:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

You'll need to post up the ticket, so the members on there can advise you fully.

Quentin

You say they had no option but to enter the bus lane????

Why?

(Presumably they could have driven to a safe and legal place to park??)

But always worth appealing.

Pepipoo is the place to take this.

TrickyWicky

You have a legal duty to ensure the other party is not injured. Remind the council of that, I'd be surprised if they choose to pursue it.

titch2k6

Under the Road Traffic Act (1988), Part VII, Section 170(2):

"The driver of the [mechanically propelled vehicle] must stop and, if required to do so by any person having reasonable grounds for so requiring, give his name and address and also the name and address of the owner and the identification marks of the vehicle."

Then under 170(4):

"A person who fails to comply with subsection (2) or (3) above is guilty of an offence."

As TrickyWicky stated, you may want to remind the Council that you were fulfilling your legal obligation under the Act by pulling over and exchanging details and making sure the vehicle was in a road worthy condition before continuing with your journey. Make sure that you state that before pulling over, you made sure that you were causing no danger to any other traffic, as this is an offence to do so and covered within the same Act!

On the bright side, if the council are stubborn enough to ignore you or refuse your appeal, you can go to a appeal service with this (unlike private property charge notices) and if need be, an Ombudsman service.