TOWER HAMLETS PCN CHARGES £665! SUSPENDED PARKING BAY, PCN NOTICE, TOWED FROM A SUSPENDED PARKING BAY Options

[Fenchurch]

My car was parked in a suspended parking bay in Tower Hamlets on 8 November. I have a valid on street parking permit for the Zone. It is a quiet street near to my block of flats which often has parking spaces available. I don’t drive the car that often as I can walk to work or, like most in London, take public transport, and only have it for occasional use. I happen not to pass down that street when travelling to work as it is in the other direction.

I was not aware that a notice/notices had been erected in the street notifying of the proposed parking suspension on that day. So I have no photographic evidence of the notice other than that provided by the Council online which is not very helpful as the sun is shining on it and so it can’t really be read. I also have no photographic evidence of where precisely the car was parked in the street on the day it was towed.

I went to use the car yesterday (18 November) and found that it was missing. After first thinking it had been stolen I eventually called TRACE and was informed that it had been towed and impounded back on 8 November! I had no idea it was gone as I had no reason to pass down the street and had not needed the car in the meantime. I had received no other notification in the post. Of course now I wish I’d checked on it sooner.

On calling Tower Hamlets car pound, I was informed that the charge was in total an eye watering (literally) £665 (consisting of a £200 tow charge, £65 PCN charge and £40 storage charge per day). I have this morning retrieved the car and paid the charges, otherwise the costs would have continued to wrack up quickly at a hefty £40 after 9am each day.

The PCN notice ‘contravention time’ is 9.01am. I was told on the phone that it was towed at 9.17am although there is no other evidence of this time in the documentation. The guy on the phone from the pound also said that if the car was already parked there before the notice was put up, then they were obliged to just move it to another nearby location (which I believe they could have done as there are often spaces in the area). Whereas, if you come and park in the bay after the notice has been put up, then they are entitled to tow it to the pound. He also said that he thought that the notices were put up, up to 5 days in advance of the suspension date but wasn’t sure about that.

I was given the TH appeal information form (‘Representations Against Removal of a Vehicle’) and I think the 28 day appeal time runs from today.

The key issue for me is that I know that the car must have been parked there when they put up the notices as I hadn’t used it. I know that the last time I was at the car was the morning of Friday 26th September before work as, ironically, I had to replace the on street parking permit which was expiring while I would be away. I didn’t actually move it that day. I had been away from London (for which I have flight ticket evidence) from early Saturday 27th October to Friday 2 November (when I got back late in the evening). So I can account for that period of time evidentially when the car would not have been moved. However, I know that I also did not use the car the week following my return as I just didn’t need it and so the car must have been in the street when, I suspect, the notices were put up. Frustratingly, I can’t prove that in any way.

When I collected the car from the pound, I queried if I could find out when the notices would have been put up. The attendant in the pound said that they receive a ‘suspension list’ daily detailing the street where the bays are suspended and which had a column detailing the Reg. numbers of any cars that are parked in the street when the notices go up. That is how the tow people know whether to either move or tow the vehicles. They will move those on the list but tow away any others. I did ask if he would have the record for 8 November but he denied that they would have it.

Queries

Given the scale of the charge I will have to appeal. So my questions at this stage are these:

1 How do I find out the date and time when the Suspension Notices were erected in that street? Are the Council obliged to take photographs of the cars that are already parked there? Is it possible to get a copy of the ‘suspension list’ that the Pound received for that day?
2 Where in the regulations does it say that they must only move the vehicle if it was parked there when the notices were erected, or that they may tow it, if the car parks there after? I have looked at the Removal and Disposal of Vehicles Regulations 1986 (R 5C) but that doesn’t go into that level of detail. Are there any other applicable Regulations that I should get familiar with?
3 Did sufficient time pass between receiving the PCN and the Council towing the car? Seems from the information I received on the phone that they left 16 minutes before proceeding to tow it. Do they need to wait 15 minutes before towing?
4 If the Notices were put up after my return to London (as I suspect) but during the period when I know I did not use the car, is it just my word against the Council’s that the car was already parked when they did that? Subject to there being any photos from that day, I assume it is.
5 After how long is the Council obliged to notify the Registered Owner in writing that they have the car in the pound? The guy at the pound referred to 14 days, 20 day and 35 days. In other words, he didn’t know. Are they allowed to just let the charges mount up before notifying the owner?
6 The Council’s pictures of the notice on the day the car was towed are not very clear. Should they have taken a closer image identifying the detail of the suspension, date and time, as evidence?

I appreciate that many of these questions are no doubt covered elsewhere on these forums but I am just starting out on this journey so I’ll need some more time to get to grips with it! Any suggestions or advice would be most gratefully received.

I have tried to link the pictures of the (redacted) PCN and the Council’s pictures from their website as follows:


















Many thanks

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[Redivi]

This needs moving to the Council Forum

Use the Report button

[nosferatu1001]

as above

You will also need to read other COUNCIL forum posts, so you can edit your long form narratrive into a nice, simple, easy to follow timeline of events, STARTING FROM WHEN the car was parked.

[Fenchurch]

Apologies, just realised that and have posted again to that Topic.

Many thanks