Brent Council Parking Charge 3 consecutive days due to change of vehicle New RinGo site mess

12b3

I have been parking in Brent in front of my residence for the last 15 years and have had the on road parking permit , I did a change of vehicle on the new council parking website which they outsourced to Ringo recently , the site is extremely user unfriendly and changing a vehicle is not straight fwd  at all , due to this once I made the change I sent an email to brent parking as below and they replied that it was changed ok failing to mention to me at that point these changes for some reason will get reverted in 28 days back to the vehicle I no longer have!  After 28 days passed they issued me £65 fines for three consecutive days. On the third day only I noticed only the tickets on the screens and called them , it turned out the correct process was to delete the old vehicle on the site and add the new one , no where in the site this was mentioned in fact they gave an option to change the vehicle and did not clearly mention about the 28 day rule , I saw online on a neighbourhood forum, a number of people complaining about the same issue.


I appealed on the fine and the letter for the first fine has come back rejecting the appeal. I am concerned that they will reject my other two appeals as well and fine me for a clear miscommunication on their part.

 I think I could not have been more clearer in my email sent to them and their reply was not clear, is there any way I can contest this further ? 


My email sent to them : 

I want to register a new residential vehicle actually change my current one from

XXXXXXX.

TO

XXXXXX

This is the only vehicle I have now. I changed it on the site but I'm not sure if the change is permanent or not?

Please can you help me.

Regards

Their Reply: 

Thank you for your email.

I can see from our system that you have been able to make your purchase no online.

If you have any problems, please contact us on 0208-290-8300 and pick option 3.

Apologies for the inconvenience this has caused.

Kind Regards

Permit Officer

NSL Part of Marston Holdings

on behalf Brent Council

www.Brent.gov.uk

I sent the above as evidence in the appeal but they rejected an replied back with :


I write with reference to your recent correspondence received in connection with the above Penalty Charge Notice (PCN). Your informal challenge has been considered by this office in accordance with the requirements of the Traffic Management Act 2004. After a careful consideration of the grounds you have made and all other related circumstances, the decision has been made not to cancel your PCN. The reason for the rejection may be summarised as follows: The PCN was issued as the vehicle was observed parked in a permit space or zone without a valid virtual permit or clearly displaying a valid physical permit where required. In your correspondence you have stated that your vehicle has a valid permit to park. Please be advised that a change of the vehicle registration in respect of a parking permit is only valid for 28 days as per automatic message the permit holder would have received after making the amendment. After 28 days, the permit will revert back to the original vehicle. A new permit was not obtained until 5th March 2024. Information on parking permits can be found on your permit account, on the Brent Council website

brent.gov.uk/parking

or by calling the permit section during the office hours on

020 8 290 8300

or by emailing

parking.permits@brent.gov.uk

A valid permit was not clearly displayed inside the vehicle at the time of the contravention and no match was found for the vehicle on the permit system. There is a high demand for permit holder parking bays within the zone and therefore it is necessary to keep these bays clear for valid permit holders who clearly display a valid permit or have booked a valid permit online (virtual permit). Only residents are able to book residents parking permits and visitors parking permits, which will allow them and visitors to park in the roads where parking is permitted within the zone. Due consideration has been given to the information provided, however, Brent Council is satisfied that the PCN was correctly issued and that the contravention occurred in this case. I have enclosed some photographs taken at the time the contravention occurred for your information. You may refer to

https://brent.tarantoportal.com

to view all of the photographs taken of the contravention. Please read and understand the following important information. The discounted rate of (£65.00) will be accepted if payment is received within 14 days from the date of this letter, thereafter the full rate of (£130.00) will be due. If the PCN has not been paid within 28 days from the date of the notice being issued the Council will serve a Notice to Owner (NTO) to the DVLA registered keeper of the vehicle. The form offers the DVLA registered keeper the chance to make a formal representation or pay the full charge of (£130.00). If your representation is rejected at the NTO stage, the registered keeper may appeal against the council`s decision on specified grounds within 28 days beginning with the date of service of the Rejection Notice to the Environment and Traffic Adjudicator. The Council’s policy is to only consider one informal challenge. Therefore, should further correspondence be received before a NTO has been served, it may remain unanswered. If the PCN is paid in full before the NTO is issued, the case will be closed and there will no longer be a right to appeal further. How to pay • Online at

www.brent.gov.uk/parking

. Please follow the online instructions. • By phone

0208 099 0700

using a debit or credit card. • By post Cheques must be made out to London Borough of Brent and sent to London Borough of Brent, Parking Services, PO Box 210, Sheffield, S98 1NE. Please ensure that the PCN number and the vehicle registration number are clearly written on the back of the cheque. • In person By cash or card at the London Borough of Brent Car Pound Marston NSL Car Pound, 10 Lumen Road, East Lane Business Park, Wembley, HA9 7RE. The office is open between 9.30am and 7.00pm, Monday to Friday. If you pay by cash, please ensure you obtain a receipt. REMEMBER: YOU MUST ACT WITHIN 14 DAYS TO RECEIVE YOUR DISCOUNT

daveyjp

If you have a number of vehicle owners in the area suffering the same problem due to a poorly designed system get together and contact your local Councillors.  Ask them to raise it with the Director responsible for parking services.

Gr1pr

For advice on council tickets etc , try posting on the ftla parking forum in the appropriate section, after reading their posting requirements, so the free traffic and legal advice forum, thanks 

12b3

Thank you for the suggestion @Gr1pr , case is still pending , was able to draft a response for the appeal from the advise I got on there ; link to thread:

Brent Council Parking Charge 3 consecutive days due to change of vehicle New RinGo site mess (ftla.uk)

Le_Kirk

I hope you corrected their spelling/grammatical errors: -

In December 2023 my vehicle with a valid residence residents' parking permit was stolen, I refer you to the emails from the Metropolitan Police at pages 3 to 7 of the attached file named “2 - supporting documents.pdf”

issues faced by residents residence is well documented

On 29 January 2024 I wrote to Ringo/ Brent parking seeking help and confirmation whether weather I have done a correct change of vehicle or not clearly stating in the email what I wanted to do, this email is on page 1 of the supporting documents file.

Couple of other residence/residents' instances that needed checking.

12b3

Thank you  everyone here and especially @Gr1pr for your suggestion of the ftla parking forum , I am happy to report that through the help I got there I was able to win this case against the Council on the grounds of procedural error. 
My argument above would not have won it for me on it's own , the LA messed up the evidence pack which helped.

Coupon-mad

Thanks for confirming.  Great outcome!