2 PCNs for parking on the pavement in SW15 / Putney Options

[obwan1212]

Hello all and thank you in advance for any help and sorry – it’s a long one!

Tildesley Road on the Ashburton Estate in SW15 is almost entirely half and half parking with marked bays demanding that you park half on the pavement and half on the street. On 10th and 11th May I was parked half and half at the very end of the road which I can now see looking closely appears not to be a half and half parked bay, just a normal parking spot, although I and many on the estate park there regularly with no PCN. I received two PCNs just inside 24 hours of each other. I was away that weekend so didn’t see the tickets until I got back on the Sunday. The whole of the estate is free parking on the streets.

I made online representations to www.wandsworth.gov.uk/pconline for both PCNs on 15th May, and then no response at all other than an email auto confirmation of my representation - this one and a second very similar: 1st representation

I then received one NTO dated 29 June for the later issued ticket. The first issued PCN number is now not showing up as recognised on the www.wandsworth.gov.uk/pconline system, so it looks like this one may have been cancelled, but no communication at all.
Notice to Owner p.1
Notice to Owner p.2

Tildesley Road showing parking on both sides or road with half and half parking
Tildesley Road I was parked half half about where black Peugeot is.

Pavement and tape measure
Pavement Tape measure 2
Cars behind my car up on pavement
Pavement and tape, (yellow blossom in the gutter no yellow line)
Shows Learner plate enforcement bike behind
Showing first ticket on windscreen (so this must be second day?)

Since receiving the PCNs I’ve kept more of an eye on the parking space, and people are still able to park there all day without a PCN. I’ve taken quite a few photos showing other cars parked here or on the adjacent street and none seem to get tickets. I was wondering as there are no other posts on pepipoo for here, that is might not be a regular PCN offence, maybe. I can post these photos too with the reg blacked out if that might help.

There is a .pdf document published by Wandsworth: “Parking Enforcement Protocols In Wandsworth”

On page 5, under “Areas of parking enforcement in which discretion (leeway) is applied” is a bullet point “in the few uncontrolled roads in the borough (i.e. those where a CPZ has not been introduced) vehicles parked partly on the footway in narrow roads are not ticketed providing that they leave sufficient space for a wheelchair of double buggy to pass unhindered.” In the same document on page 2 it says CEOs “cannot ignore vehicles parked in contravention of the regulations” – which they seem to be doing for all the other cars parked on Tildesley and other streets close by in the last bay that ‘isn’t’ half and half.

On my photos, you can see that the parking warden has photographed using a tape measure to measure the width of the pavement that I’d left. My PCN is a Contravention code 62: Parked with one of more wheels on or over a footpath or any part of a road other than a carriageway and doesn’t mention anything further with regards to space. I’m guessing the tape measure may be to show I had not left sufficient space possibly, but this does seem to be an arbitrary measure as to what is ‘sufficient’ and not mentioned elsewhere in the pdf above, and you also can’t actually see the measurement in the photo, just a bit of tape measure, so who knows what width it is?

You can also see from the cars parked behind my car on the same street that the rest of this street is half and half parking. Also as the parking spot is close to a junction, you would have thought it would make far more sense for it to be a half and half, rather than block a junction. Even when parking half and half on this street I get scraped regularly.

Also, on Wandsworth’s website says that, “If an informal representation against a PCN is received within the 14-day discount period, the discount will be re-offered if we decide to uphold the charge”, but I’ve had no response nor offer of the original discount on this link: Appealing a Penalty Charge Notice

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

Should I make a formal representation and should I complain that I’ve not received a response and an opportunity to pay a reduced fine, and to who / how?

Thanks, all, Obwan

This post has been edited by obwan1212: Thu, 12 Jul 2018 - 10:00

[hcandersen]

If the authority reject these representations then they must provide valid reasons based in law. For example, if the authority were to claim that them not enforcing the prohibition is not based on it being disapplied but rather a policy-based blanket application of discretion then, in addition to giving the legal basis for such a policy, they would have to explain how, in the absence of explanatory signs (not traffic signs because in this case these may only be erected to show the effect of a resolution) this does not mislead motorists and how a motorist is supposed to sort the metaphorical wheat from the chaff given that they are neither blessed with the gift of clairvoyance nor possess crystal balls.

Penalty exceeded......l
I submitted a corrctly formatted and compiled challenge within the 14-day period on *** in response to which I received the following:

...their response

I did not receive a response either accepting or rejecting my challenge.

By virtue of the council’s obligation to hold and reoffer the discount (lines 1 and 2 of para. 2 of the following refer - http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/200461/p...y_charge_notice

the demand for the full penalty in the NTO is unlawful and therefore exceeds the amount applicable i.e. until the expiry of any extended discount offered in a reply to my challenge, the applicable penalty remains at the discounted charge.

This post has been edited by hcandersen: Fri, 13 Jul 2018 - 13:54