Islington suspended parking bay

mightywhites29111971

Hi,

I received two tickets because Islington council suspended the bay. I was not aware of the suspension until i went to my vehicle and notice d the two tickets on my windscreen. There were no signs displayed when I parked my car there. I appealed and received the following response.


Penalty Charge Notice No. IS29001332 Date of Issue 07/03/2013 at 09:55
Location of Contravention Trinder Road, N19

Thank you for your email regarding the above Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) which was recently received at this office.

The PCN was issued because the vehicle was parked in a suspended parking place.

The yellow notice next to the parking bay clearly stated that parking was suspended from 8:30 on 06 March 2013 to 18:30 on 08 March 2013.

You have stated that there was insufficient notice of the parking suspension as the sign was approximately 30 metres from your vehicle. However, the photographs below show that the vehicle was parked in close proximity to the sign, which can be seen in the second photograph positioned above the vehicle parked in front.



Although there is no legal requirement to give notice of bay suspensions, where possible we aim to give four days warning to minimise inconvenience to residents. In this case, warning signs were put in place on 22 February 2013.

We also advise permit holders to be aware of the possibility of bay suspensions in the information given out with all new and renewal applications. If you leave your vehicle unattended for more than a few days, you risk returning to find a bay has been suspended, as sometimes bay suspensions are required at short notice. If you are going to be away for a period of time, you can check whether any suspensions are planned while you are away by contacting us on 020 7527 2000 or using the handy checker on our website:
https://myeaccount.islington.gov.uk/eforms3/cf/Suspensions/

I have noted your expectation that you would receive a letter from the council regarding any bay suspensions; however, this is not possible. Resident permit holders living throughout the controlled parking zone and, at certain times under the Roamer Scheme, the whole borough, are entitled to park in resident permit bays. Therefore, it is not only the resident's in the immediate area of the parking suspension that would be affected. We cannot notify some resident permit holders of a suspension and not others and to notify all permit holders of every suspension would not be practical or cost effective. The signs give clear details of the suspension and you must check for parking suspensions regularly. I appreciate that they are an inconvenience but are necessary in order for works to be carried out around the borough. Please also bear in mind that parking space in Islington is very limited in relation to other boroughs.

As the PCN was issued correctly, payment is now due. I have decided that we can accept the discounted amount of £65.00 provided we receive that before 07 March 2013. Please bear in mind that on that date the charge will increase to £130.00.

If you wish to continue to contest the matter, the next stage is that a Notice to Owner will be sent to the person responsible for the penalty charge. This is a necessary legal step and further correspondence will only delay this process.

The Notice to Owner will establish liability for the PCN and the grounds under which representations may be made. If representations are made at this stage and they are rejected, there will be the right of appeal to the independent adjudicator at the Parking & Traffic Appeals Service.

You can make credit and debit card payment on - 020 7527 2000 - at any time. You can also pay on line at https://www.islington.gov.uk. If you prefer to pay by cheque, please make it payable to LB Islington and send it to the above address. Please write the PCN number on the back of the cheque. You may also send postal orders (quoting the PCN number).

Do I have any grounds to appeal this. I have a residents parking permit for the area. I don't see why it should be up to me to check if my vehicle is going to be in an area that will become suspended. I used to live in Hackney where they would sent letters to local residents informing them of suspensions in the road. Any advice will be most appreciated.

Stroma

I suggest posting on https://www.pepipoo.com for this as well, they are the experts on this, they will need to see copies of everything you have , including images of both sides of the PCNs scrubbed of personal info. And photos of the suspension signs and a google streetview if possible.

Create a new thread on the council section of the forum

mightywhites29111971

Thanks, i'll do that now

Stroma

They do need to see your PCN both sides as well as it may not be fully compliant, just scrub the images of your personal details, not the document itself

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=77614

mightywhites29111971

Thanks Stroma, PCN's have now been added.

spacey2012

Do you have photos of the suspension signs and notices, if so post them on pepipoo as well ,many have been found to be none compliant and only advisory notices.

Stroma

spacey2012 wrote: »

Do you have photos of the suspension signs and notices, if so post them on pepipoo as well ,many have been found to be none compliant and only advisory notices.

It's on the pepipoo thread, and doesn't look like its compliant sign IMO

mightywhites29111971

Thanks Stoma. Is there anything else I can do about it? My appeal has already failed, and I think unless you were looking for the sign you would never see it.

Stroma

mightywhites29111971 wrote: »

Thanks Stoma. Is there anything else I can do about it? My appeal has already failed, and I think unless you were looking for the sign you would never see it.

Your informal appeal has failed, most councils automatically turn down this no matter the merits of it. It's a game of bluff for them. Providing you keep to the timeframe this ticket will not cost you more than the full price of it. But you have a very good chance of winning this.

mightywhites29111971

So what should I do now?

spacey2012

How have you appealed, have you received the NOTICE TO OWNER.
If not any appeal is informal and they are usually dealt with by a revenue protection operative than someone with knowledge of the system.
The Appeal has three possible stages:
Informal appeal to council : Usually rejected
NTO appeal to council Ditto, again usually rejected
Appeal to parking adjudication service : Not Contested in around 30% of cases and won by default .
Or won by around 36% I think they said last time by the Defendant, so that is a 66% chance of success before you start.
There is a Timeline which has to be followed and councils abuse this as well, so you need a strict Diary and steam ahead to the next stage if they refuse to answer, you do not wait for them.
Once the deadline is reached, you move on immediately.
If the suspension notice is non compliant, that is your best angle of attack.
That needs exploring, ask directly on peipoo about the sign itself.