Asking for advise for fighting a School Streets PCN in court on May16th. please

imogenrodgers

Hello, 

I am asking for advise as I go to an appeal court on May 16th. 

I am appealing  a school streets fine because I believe the council should exercise discretion in this case. 

My argument: 

1. I was not informed by Islington that I needed to apply for a School Streets Resident permit when I initially applied for my residents parking permit. It would have been opportune for them to notify me about these permits during that process. Islington council possesses extensive information about me at this address spanning over 20 years. They could have easily amalgamated this information to alert me to the existence of such permits. Neither have Islington sent a letter to my home about the necessity of these permits since the Scheme began. Additionally, despite moving my car during School Street hours within the last ten months, I have not received any penalties, which suggests that Islington has not fulfilled its obligation to its residents.

2. At the time of the alleged contravention, I was returning from taking my mother to an appointment, and it's worth noting that my car is registered as a blue badge car under Islington's Blue Badge scheme.

I have since applied for the School Streets Parking permit, and  have urged the council to consider the circumstances and exercise leniency in this matter.

However, It is going to a court and I am quite fearful of it all.

Is there any advise that you can offer me? 

Many thanks

(Removed by Forum Team)

DullGreyGuy

Presumably you are new to the area? Looking at the scheme, anyone who had a permit prior to the 18 month trial started were automatically added 

Blue Badge users need to apply for exemption like everyone else. 

Out of curiosity does your permit zone match the permit zone requirement on the sign at the entrance to the road? The sample signage they have on their website I would say is misleading if it's not just permit holder but permit holders with exemption but maybe they issue a different permit zone code once they give exemption. 

Leniency is a basis of law, you will need to show how they failed in a statutory duty of care or are being discriminatory etc. Courts aren't about fairness but what the law states.

Umkomaas

As we major on private parking tickets here, Free Traffic Legal Advice (FTLA) forum will be your best bet for council penalties. Register there but please note that a Hotmail address may not work - try using a throwaway Gmail account instead if you do have trouble registering, and post a new thread; here's your link:

https://www.ftla.uk/index.php?board=3.0

Read the sticky 'Read this first before posting your case' as well as reading through some of the other threads there ahead of posting your own details, to get the hang of what information they need from you in your opening post - but as a minimum you will need to post redacted photos/scans of all correspondence you've received from the council (both sides, if appropriate), as they need to see all the small print.