Pcn in suspended parking bay

jgmackem

Please help! I need to know the best grounds on which to lodge my informal appeal against my PCN.
I received a local authority PCN in a suspended parking bay in Wandsworth. I parked on 13 Oct 2015 & there were no notices on adjacent roadside posts. I left early on 14th Oct for Manchester but not using my car did not walk past it (some 100 yards up road).
I received a voicemail message at 11;40 that morning asking me to remove my car from the suspended bay. I wasn't able to respond to this voicemail till the afternoon, by which time I had been served with a PCN & my car lifted to a nearby residents parking spot on the same street!! I am certain that there was no signs to give prior warning of this suspension, confirmed by all 10 residents I spoke to living close to these bays.
Wandsworth's written policy is to give 4 working days notice of suspensions by leafletting adjacent residents' houses & the windscreens of parked cars in the vicinity.This is in addition to a 4 day notice erected on adjacent street posts. Following this protocol, the warning signs & leaflets should have been visible from Wed 8th Oct. 2015. Again, local residents confirm that this procedure has not been followed.
Suggestions please - thanks.

ezerscrooge

You need to go to Pepipoo. That site deals with the council issued tickets.

http://www.pepipoo.com/

You will need to post up both sides of the notice and pictures of the signs etc (or provide links to photobucket etc.) .

Coupon-mad

Yes, do post on pepipoo form where the experts are, re Council tickets:

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

Don't post there without pics of both sides of the PCN! Most Council tickets can be won on appeal, in the end.

jgmackem

Dear Sir,
I am appealing against PCN WA95471524 on the grounds that Wandsworth Council's published procedure for notice of suspension of parking bays was not followed. The traffic order was therefore invalid and as such a contravention did not occur.


As a permit holder, I parked my car on Monday morning, 13th October 2014 in a residents' bay, with no suspension notices visible. Having very recently (24th July 2014) paid a PCN when parked incorrectly on this same road, I am very vigilant in carefully checking nearby signs and notices for any changes to parking regulations.

I am also aware of Wandsworth Council's advice to regularly check the bay occupied by your car for on-going changes to parking restrictions.
However, I did not walk to my vehicle the following morning (Tuesday 14th October), leaving early to catch a train for a business conference in Stafford. My employer can provide independent evidence supporting this statement.
I received a voicemail message at 12.37 asking me to remove my car from the bay. Obviously unable to action this request, I was served a PCN at 12.43.

I have carried out extensive research into the grounds for this PCN, including investigating Wandsworth Council's clear, unambiguous procedure for suspensions of parking bays. The procedure states;

“We suspend parking spaces by:
leafleting nearby cars and households
displaying a warning sign (at least four working days before start of suspension)”

If this procedure had been followed correctly, then leaflets should have been posted through residents' doors by Wednesday 8th October 2015. Likewise, warning notices should have appeared on nearby signposts by 8th Oct. Hence, residents should have had a chance to notice these signs and leaflets over a full 6 days before suspension!!

I consulted 10 residents adjacent to the suspended bay and they are unanimous in their evidence that;
1) No leaflet was posted into their property, nor on their car to give prior warning of this parking suspension.
2) None of the residents saw a suspension notice attached to roadside posts to give prior notice of parking suspension.
Again, they have agreed to provide their personal details to support these statements if necessary.





In an attempt to explain why this procedure was not followed, I have submitted a Freedom of Information request to Wandsworth Council to obtain precise records from the appropriate departments that set out;
1) When and by whom the suspension was requested.
2) The details of which employees were involved and the date they were assigned the task of distributing warning leaflets.
3) The details of which employees were involved and the date they were assigned the task of erecting suspension warning signs on nearby street furniture.

I understand that an informal appeal against a PCN gives the Council the opportunity to use their discretion and consider the mitigating circumstances presented by each case. My PCN was only served as a result of the protocol followed when a car is physically moved from a parking bay by Council representatives.

However, if you are not prepared to accept my findings set out above, you cannot yourselves assume that Wandsworth Council's procedure has been followed in this case.

As such, I would expect your department to investigate the facts that my Freedom of Information request will present. Furthermore, you should be satisfied that the suspension has been correctly authorised by a Notice under section 14(2) of the RTRA 1984 and that it contains all the details as required by regulation 10(2) of the Temporary Restrictions Procedure Regulations 1992.

Contrary to these regulations, there is photographic evidence presented in the PCN that the suspension notice used on the roadside post does NOT comply with the format set out by your Council's table of contravention codes and associated signing regulations. See table below.


CODE 21 Parked wholly or partly in a! suspended bay or space!
A suspension is marked by a yellow triangular sign, which gives details of the date/time and area suspended.

Photos of the suspension sign used by the Council also show that it contravenes the regulatory dimensions of symbols set out in the Department for Transport schedule of signs. A bay may only be suspended by statutory provision (Direction 7(1) Traffic Signs and General Directions Regulations 2002), utilising specific symbols. The “no waiting” roundel should be a minimum of 200mm diameter. The two roundels appearing on the Council's suspension sign have a diameter of 50mm. The design and dimensions for traffic signs are specified in law for the express purpose of bringing consistency and clarity to signage information.



Notwithstanding the legitimacy of the signage used for the suspension notice, I am sure you agree that the witness evidence I have gathered is strong enough to show that my vehicle was in situ before the parking bay was suspended and that the Council's procedure was not rigorously applied. I was not made aware of any impending suspension. As such no contravention occurred.

Given these mitigating circumstances, I would be grateful if you would uphold my appeal.

Coupon-mad

Loads of suspended bay threads on pepipoo so I couldn't find yours? Please link it and make sure you show them both sides of the PCN. That's a good appeal so I am guessing pepipoo have advised but I just couldn't see your case on there?