Council appeal response took over 3 months Options

[AJAJ]

I got a windscreen PCN last October in Bristol. Sunday on street parking charges had recently been introduced and it caught me out. I wrote a polite letter to the correct response address to challenge the PCN and explained the circumstances then sent it on 21 October.

Three weeks later as I had not heard back from them I sent a further letter on 14 November to ask if my first letter arrived. I never heard back and forgot about it. Today they finally replied and say that the PCN stands.

Given all the time that they have taken to respond is there a chance that they have exceeded the time that they should reply by by any chance?
Thanks

[Advertisement]

[AJAJ]

The Council sent me a further email-

"The exemptions and parking rules and regulations are included in a legal document which is a Traffic Regulation Order, any requests or questions regarding this you will need to contact James Dowling the manager of the Traffic Regulation Order team (email -----------.gov.uk).

With regards to your appeal as explained in the previous letters sent to you, in order to proceed with this matter you either need to pay amount of £25 in the next 11 days or await the Notice to Owner. Should you choose to appeal further Parking Services (appeals team) will not be able to enter into to any further correspondence received prior to the issuing of the Notice to Owner."

It's odd as the PCN said that the £25 fee would only apply if I paid within 28 days of the issue date and that was October last year.

[Neil B]

It's odd as the PCN said that the £25 fee would only apply if I paid within 28 days of the issue date and that was October last year.

No, it wouldn't have said that.

[hcandersen]

They have to serve the NTO no later than 21 April which is getting very close.

21st is a Sunday and 19th is Good Friday.

The NTO must therefore be served no later than 18th which means posting no later than 16th.

They appear to have given you a further 11 days until around 5th; you could almost touch 18th from there.

[AJAJ]

It's odd as the PCN said that the £25 fee would only apply if I paid within 28 days of the issue date and that was October last year.

No, it wouldn't have said that.

This is what it said

" The penalty charge will be reduced by a discount of 50% to £25 if it is paid not later
than the last day of the period of 14 days beginning with the date on which this PCN
was served."

[AJAJ]

Well I tried to pay the £25 reduced rate this evening as it's the last date given to pay the reduced rate but the 3GS website ( the company that Bristol use to collect penalty monies) did not accept the PCN number.

Anyway I tried but there is some confusion about the due date. The PCN (issued back last October) gave 28 days to pay the reduced rate, I didn't pay then as I was waiting for a reply to the letter that I sent to them the day after. I eventually got a reply letter on 9 March and that gave 14 days from the date of receipt of the letter to pay the £25 reduced rate, that would have been 23 March, I didn't pay that as I queried it with them as I no longer had the PCN, they replied by email on 13 March and attached the PCN, I responded by asking where on their website I could find the relevant rules that applied to parking at that site as I wanted to see what the statutory time periods were for processing PCNs.

They responded with a list of places to park and the charges, that was not what I wanted so I asked again and eventually was told that it was a Traffic Regulation Order, they said that they would send a link, even as late as last Friday the team leader for TRO's said he would send a link but nothing has arrived. They also said in the 20 March email that I would need to pay the £25 within 11 days which is today.

So I've been given three separate dates to pay £25, I've tried to pay today but it wasn't accepted.

I'm just wondering now if the conflicting dates given amount to misinformation?

Thanks all.

[Incandescent]

Looks like you'll have tp contact the council tomorrow, (Monday), to find out what is going wrong. Next stage is the Notice to Owner, when you can submit formal reps. If/when you get this, make sure you emphasise that you have been trying to pay the discounted amount but have not been able to. I don't think these payment shenanigans will get the PCN cancelled, but if they refuse to re-offer the discount, I'd take them to adjudication, it doesn't cost any more, the PCN penalty stays the same.

[AJAJ]

Looks like you'll have tp contact the council tomorrow, (Monday), to find out what is going wrong. Next stage is the Notice to Owner, when you can submit formal reps. If/when you get this, make sure you emphasise that you have been trying to pay the discounted amount but have not been able to. I don't think these payment shenanigans will get the PCN cancelled, but if they refuse to re-offer the discount, I'd take them to adjudication, it doesn't cost any more, the PCN penalty stays the same.

Thanks I'll give it a go although I'm not sure if it's the council or their collection agency who I should contact.

[cp8759]

Personally I would do nothing. They only have another 20 days to serve the notice to owner and then it'll be out of time. Even if they do, they will almost certainly re-offer the discount at the formal reps stage so there's no real benefit in paying now.