Lewisham PCN increase due to unreceived challenge response?

AlecX

Hi all, new here, and hoping to get some help-

I received a PCN from Lewisham council - I didn't understand why so I sent in a challenge using their online form. This happened in November 2021.
I got an email to confirm that the form was received, and asked me to wait for a response to my challenge - the actual issue/content of the charge & challenge doesn't matter, what does matter is the fact that I never received a response for my challenge. Instead, I received a charge certificate, 3 times the price of the initial charge for not responding to their response, through the post some time in December.

Unsure of what had happened, I called the only number available on the letters to seek justice, and after a lot of switching between teams (Lewisham PCN team & the Traffic Enforcement team), I was advised to email a specific address with an explanation of what I had explained of what happened as well as the original challenge, and was told that I would be charged the initial amount. - I did this, and got an automated response to say it was received and that I would have to wait for a response through the post.

Fast forward to just a few days ago, I finally receive the reply to my email - dated 30/12/2021 (it took 3 weeks!) - the letter explained why my challenge did not get accepted, but it also stated that I would now have to pay even more than previously stated on any of the previous letters, and that I would need to bring this to court if I were to appeal (and pay a fee). I tried calling the number again, and after yet another bout of passing the phone between the two teams, the Lewisham PCN team just cut the call on me after telling me that I would either have to pay the latest charge or have the bailiffs called on me (apparently a letter got sent out on the 15th but I'm yet to receive that one...).

I'm not saying I won't pay - I understood where I went wrong when I finally got the response letter, but shouldn't the charge be put on hold during this duration? I am willing to pay the original charge, but the increased amount is really unfair! Surely it's not my fault if I never got the letters they sent!

What can I do in this situation? Any help is greatly appreciated!
Sorry for rambling, and thank you in advance.

Coupon-mad

You wait for the Next letter, the Order for Recovery (OFR) which has an option to reset the case back to appeal/discount if the person either didn't receive a PCN, or didn't receive a response to their appeal in time and so could not appeal to the Adjudicators (TPT).

The best forum to advise you about filling in the TEC7 and TEC9 forms at OFR stage is pepipoo:

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

Free and bespoke PCN advice but don't use a Hotmail email to register.

AlecX

Ooh I see, thank you, honestly I don't understand half of what is written on the letters...

I'll check out the other forum too!

Thanks!