Bus Lane Penalty Charge Notice

seanavfc92

Hi all,

I just thought I'd let you know that I have successfully managed to cancel a PCN from Leeds City Council.

To cut a long story short, I was charged for contravening code 34J - being in a bus lane on Canal Street in Leeds.

For anyone who knows the area (which I didnt), will know that to turn left into HMP Leeds you have to cut across the bus lane in order to enter the prison. As I wasn't from the area, I wasn't aware that the bus lane was in operation 24/7, and therefore entered the bus lane at the last minute thinking that was how I needed to turn.

I was told I had 14 days to pay £30 or it would rise to £60 before 28 days.

I emailed them asking for the PCN to be cancelled, which to my surprise, they did! As I'm currently dealing with a PCN from Excel Parking, it felt good to have one charge cancelled; let's hope the other one does too!

I sent this email shortly before signing up to this forum, so I assumed this would be classed as a soft appeal and was expecting it to backfire after reading the advice on here (referring to myself as "I"):

To whom it may concern,

I am writing in regards to the penalty charge notice I have received for being in a bus lane on Canal Street, dated xx/xx/xxx.

My Penalty Charge Number is: xxxxxxxxxx

As I am not from the area, and therefore do not have local knowledge, I was unaware that the bus lane was a permanent fixture.

At no point did I see a sign to say that it was in use at all times.

I apologise for being in the bus lane, but as I was turning left into HMP Leeds, I presumed that you needed to be in the left lane to turn.

As previously mentioned, I apologise for contravening code 34J but ask that the penalty charge notice to be relaxed in this situation.

Kind regards,

Like I said, I thought this appeal would've done nothing to help, but it's nice to be proved wrong!

whatmichaelsays

Leeds City Council in generosity shocker!

In fairness, there's nothing in the appeal that would force LCC to back down ("ignorance is no defence" and all that) so fair play to them. I use Canal Street every day - this revelation could shave some time off my journey!

seanavfc92

whatmichaelsays wrote: »

Leeds City Council in generosity shocker!

In fairness, there's nothing in the appeal that would force LCC to back down ("ignorance is no defence" and all that) so fair play to them. I use Canal Street every day - this revelation could shave some time off my journey!

I was told if I did it again I wouldn't be getting out of it... must have caught them in a good mood!