PCN issued wrongly! help!

r.kermali99

Hi people! I need some help!

Lambeth issued my mum a parking ticket for parking in a resident's bay, even tho she wasn't! She was parked in a bay for Pay&Display AND resident's permit holders!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/r.kermali99

The link shows a clearly valid ticket, and then a PCN issued during the valid time of the ticket!

Anyway, I wrote an appeal to lambeth stating the above, and they rejected it saying my mum was parked in a resident's bay. My mum says she wasn't but isn't 100 percent certain. And she also happens to be on holiday for the 14 day period that we have to pay (easter, so she's gone to
see my nan!), so we can't even go to the road and get her to pinpoint
the place where she got the ticket!

I now have a Notice to Owner.

They have not told me whether or not they have proof (ie. a photo
taken by the traffic warden) of the contravention, but on their website, there is a section for photos related to my parking ticket, and they all say 'NO IMAGE'. Am I to assume that if it does go further, that they don't have such proof because they haven't disclosed it to me at this stage? If they do have proof, does it mean they can't use it seeing as they've failed to disclose
it?

I only ask because there is a chance my mum might have got it wrong
and parked in the wrong place. I have seen the road myself and they
have areas where residents AND pay and display can park (which is
where she thinks she parked), and then down the road there are
resident's only bays.

And if it goes further is it just a matter of who's word to take?

What happens in this case?

It's just frustrating seeing this overzealous parking enforecement,
it's not like my mum didn't buy a ticket and tried her luck. She paid
the money for the ticket trusting everything would be OK only to have
her trust betrayed by this awful bureaucratic process that's now
trying to fleece money out of perfectly law-abiding citizens!! I am
definitely going to moan about this to Keith Hill. It's a farce.

So, what do you think I should do?

Many many thanks in advance.

Rizwan

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

https://www.pepipoo.com

Doozergirl

You need to go to the website above. Once you appeal, they do hold the penalty at the orignal price so your mum won't have to pay the higher fee....

as long as she appeals to PATAS (there was a from in with the rejection letter perhaps?) within 28 days of Lambeth's rejection letter.

When you go to pepipoo it will help if you can post up pics of where she parked - when she gets back to identify it of course. In the meantime they will check whether your actual PCN is legal.

r.kermali99

Thanks a lot for the website. It looks very helpful.

Does anyone actually have any experience of what happens when it does come down to 'my word against yours' ?

Is the burden of proof on the council to establish that my mum was parked in a resident's bay?

As soon as my mum touches down, I'm gonna take her to the parking spot and find out where she parked exactly once and for all! I'll definitely get pictures as well. But taking pictures after the event wont really be proof will it? *eugh* Mum just had to go on holiday at the wrong time!

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

The council have to follow procedure in these cases. That means the signage must be to regulation, warnings must be clearly visible, the painted markings must also be correct, the ticket must be worded and issued according to English law, and after all that they mustn't have made a simple mistake in issuing the ticket.

The person who issued the ticket will probably have taken a photograph which may also help your case if you can demonstrate any deviation from the rules above.

If you can prove any of the above was done incorrectly, you should be fine. I have used Pepipoo to successfully cancel 2 parking tickets, saving me about £180 in fines (because the councils involved invented their own road markings instead of using those in the road traffic act).