Correspondence not received until after 14 days

gacallaghan

Hi all,

Unfortunately I drove through a bus lane for which I have received a £130 penalty charge. Sadly I was aware I had done so as I was driving in an unfamiliar area but I don't have a problem with the offence only with the full vs. discounted charge.

I am trying to draft a letter saying I wish to contest paying the full penalty charge of £130 as I did not receive the letter within the 14 day window allowing me to be eligible for paying at the discounted rate. The letter is dated the 24th April but did not arrive at my address until Friday 11th May. I have photocopies of the franked envelope which does not include proof of the postal date.

I feel it is unfair that I am now unable to pay the discounted rate of £65 considering that after 14 days of the letter being raised, I was still unaware of the offence.

Does anyone know of any legislation terminology which I could include surrounding post being delayed/late or them not being able to prove when it was posted?

Thanks.

Coupon-mad

Doesn't the letter say you have 14 days from the 'date of SERVICE' of the notice? Or 14 days from the 'date of the notice'?

If it's the former then you need to alert them to the date you actually received it, which in your case is the date of service (normally assumed to be 2 working days after posting but if it took longer and you tell them the real date of service then that is the real one unless they can prove otherwise). You could then offer to pay the amount unless you want to contest. If they say 'tough' you are in for £130 you may as well appeal all the way as it won't go up again as long as you keep to all appeal deadlines.

Most Council tickets are possible to get overturned on appeal (but not all). You need an expert forum for advice which is pepipoo:

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

You should read a few threads first, look for bus lane treads and read up a bit. Then start your own topic and include photos of the notice (all pages) and a GoogleStreetView link to that bus lane.

If this is Liverpool then definitely appeal as you will see all sorts of shenanigans in recent threads on pepipoo if you search 'Liverpool Bus Lane'. Same with Reading I think...there are problems with both. Also Hemel Hempstead:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/9221526/Council-to-refund-1.3-million-bus-lane-fines.html

It is not necessarily the case that you are bang to rights just because you know you were in the bus lane, there's lots more to consider!

Several areas have unenforceable bus lanes due to dodgy lines & signs, lack of lines & signs, flawed paperwork and/or flawed Traffic Orders. There was one recently where the Traffic Order only made 'being in a bus lane' a contravetion in ONE direction. You guessed it, the Council issued hundreds of tickets to cars going in the other direction but it trns out there was no Traffic Order to back the issue of those tickets. It's ony ticketable if there's a contravention of an Order.

Why not read a few threads there and then start your own with pics asap - and meanwhile at the same time email or write (do NOT phone) the Council to tell them that the Notice was only received on 11th May so when was it posted and will they re-offer the discount please?

vax2002

They have to keep a log of proof of posting with the date posted on.
They have 14 days from the offence to post, once posted it is deemed served.
The franking code can be read by any common franking machine reader and will show the date it was franked.
The envelope is your only guarantee.
Write and ask them to state what date they have it logged as posted.