Hi I’m seeking help. This is the first time I’ve ever received a PCN my whole life and very upset.
Over the Xmas period I was on holidays out of the country 9th Dec 2017 to 1st Jan 2018 and have returned to discover 4 x PCN for reason code 21 “building works suspension” on 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th Dec 2017.
Each fine £130.
My street is a resident permit zone of which I have an annual permit.
I am based at 101 and the suspension sign indicates outside 79-81 from 13th Dec 2017 to 23 February 2018.
I parked my car partially in front of 81-83 on Saturday 9th December and did not see any suspension advance sign.
I then flew out of the country and only returned today 1st January to discover the 4x parking fines which prompted me to search the street to understand why. Further along the street away from my house I noticed the sign. I do not walk that end of the street given I live at 101 and I checked there was no other notice sign along the rest of the road.
I do not recall the suspension notice being up on the 9th Dec.
What is my right to challenge to seek this PCN to be cancelled :
1) having parked legally as a permit holder well before the suspension period activated on 13th Dec.
2) the suspension sign is further down the road and no way I would have been aware of it
3) no advance notice given otherwise - I did not see the notice when I parked on the 9th before I left on holidays
4) As a reasonable person had I been in the country and received the first PCN I would have moved my car to avoid receiving the other 3 - can they charge me multiple times for the same offence given it is impossible that I could have been made aware?
5) I am the registered owner and have no friends or family that could check or move my car during the 2-3weeks whilst I was away out of the country. This time frame is normal for a reasonable person to holiday over Xmas and park legally in their street as a permit holder.
Please help as this is so upsetting and has been a horrible return from my holiday to receive 4x PCNs, especially if I had been aware I wouldn’t have parked there!!!
I am now beyond the 14 day window and subject to the full amounts but feel this is worth challenging especially the multiple fines for the same parking when I was out of the country.
Any ideas please
Don't panic. There are steps you can take to probably get this down to 50% of one PCN at the most of not all if the car was in situ when they suspended the space.
However, I note that Camden has been sneaky with the suspension - 00.00 to 23.30 each day for 2.5 months - could they be trying to ward off continuous contravention appeals?
Go onto Camden's site and get the council's pics and post the first PCN. Use a site such as Flickr for pics.
You could argue that it is from 00:00 on the first day to 23:30 on the final one, thus a continuous contravention.
If the OP's car was in the way, why was it not relocated?
It would be help for the OP to have documentary proof that they were out of the country e.g. an airline booking.
Yes, rather sneaky, but they could have towed you away, so you'd probably have ended up with more to pay. I suspect an adjudicator would want to know why only 23.5 hours and not 24. This is really devious gaming of the system, and an abuse of process IMHO. However key question is was the period of notice sufficient ? Suspension is from 13th Dec to 23rd Feb;quite a long time and not an emergency, so one would expect a at least a weeks notice. Other question to ask is were there sufficient notices posted ? However, I do think the OP has been a teeny bit naive in just parking up and leaving the car for nearly a month without making some more detailed checks on possible suspensions. And why blank out part of the sign ? We need to see the sign, where it was placed, and the PCN, with only the PCN Number, and car details blanked out. One has to ask if the suspension is for building works why the car wasn't moved out of the way.
Hi all thanks for the replies. I’m from Australia originally, this is first time I owned a car in UK and did not know that I needed to check for suspension parking whilst I was on holidays. I have a resident permit so believed this was all that was required. Suspension parking is not something that exists in Australia.
I have proof that I was overseas in Australia for the 2 weeks so it is impossible I could have known once the PCNs were issued.
Can you please provide more detail about the 23.5hr vs 24hr timing and my grounds to challenge?
Can I challenge the multiple PCNs given I could not be aware of the first PCN to have time to move the car?
Does the 14 day count include weekends and public holidays as I’m conscious I am now beyond that period?
Attached are the 4 PCNs they were water logged from snow/rain so difficult to read.
I suspect that didn’t keep issuing tickets or tow due to the Xmas period. Perhaps the parking inspectors weren’t working 19th Dec to 1st Jan.
I received no letter or email about building works at 79-81 in advance and did not see any notice in the street on 9th Dec when I parked the car there.
What should I do? I tried to submit a challenge on Camden council but their website was down last night (1st Jan) I can try again today.
Don't challenge without drafting something here first for comment.
There is no point in worrying about the times on the suspension sign.
Have a look today for council pics.
Thanks I have drafted a note as below, also the Camden website is still down which prevents me being able to view the PCN details or to lodge a challenge. My only choice is via mail or in-person and my time is running out.
Does the 14 days include weekends and public holidays?
Here is my draft:
I am writing in regards to PCN notices as follows:
14th December 2017 – CU49622914
15th December 2017 – CU49623032
16th December 2017 – CU59635905
18th December 2017 – CU49656621
I am challenging all 4 PCNs issued on the grounds of:
1) Insufficient advance notice advising of the future suspended parking
2) My car was in situ before the parking space was suspended
3) Insufficient warning signage indicating that parking was prohibited
4) I was physically out of the country in Ireland and Australia (have proof of flights/itinerary) before the suspension commenced and therefore as a reasonable person could not have been aware of the initial PCN being issued, nor the ability to respond by moving my car to avoid the further 3 x PCNs or to challenge within the first 14 days
5) The times of the suspension are from 00:00-23:30 which appear Camden Council may be trying to ward off continuous contravention appeals which feels like an abuse of the system. If so, only one PCN should have been issued in total.
6) One of the PCN issued was on Saturday 16th December, when this is not a permit restricted day.
7) If my car was obstructing the building works outside 79-81 Messina Ave, why was my car not towed/removed? From what I can see, the builders have been able to place their skip equipment (I cannot see a skip licence reported on Camden Council) in the allotted space without interference from my car. I would also assume over the Xmas period, building works were not being carried out, therefore additional reason my car has not obstructed works.
8) Upon my return from overseas and discovering the PCNs, I have tried to log on to the Camden Council website to view my PCN details and to lodge my challenge, however the website is not working “Due to technical difficulties on our end, we are not able to process any PCN challenges at the moment. Please check again in a few hours. We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.” If the Camden Council Website is not working, I am not able to view the details of each PCN to allow time to challenge within the 14/28 days.
I would delete points 5 and 6 and add this to point 4:
"I understand that in any case these 3 PCNs must be cancelled owing to being in continuous contravention."
Exactly how much were you encroaching on 79-81? Is it clear where these properties start and end?
Street view:
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.543092,-0.1947815,3a,90y,21.49h,77.08t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_LdI3fqWCkUmFa9-fFUCHg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
I was partially in front of 81-83, but not 79 at all where the builders skip is based.
I just called Camden Council about their website being down to lodge a challenge, and he said I can only write via post and the days are still ticking even if their website is down.
I also asked about the 23.5hrs, he did agree that was unusual and he'd expect it to be 24hrs, however he said he couldn't comment further.
OP - see this case at PATAS (now succeeded by London Tribunals)
Thank you that's very helpful!
Further to previous post, here are two more LT cases that impinge on the supposed requirement on residents to check their cars every day (did the LA warn of this when issuing a permit?) and the advance warning needed of a parking suspension.
Super helpful! I've submitted my challenge online and referenced those cases. Now I sit back and wait for next steps I guess.
In the event they reject my challenge, is there any additional information I should obtain to support?
Hi again, I submitted my challenge to Camden Council via their website on 2nd January and have not received any reply from Camden Council yet. It says within 10 working days. However I received a “Notice to Owner” dated 12th January demanding payment.
I thought they had to suspend further demands until they reply to my challenge?
Do I need to reply to the Notice to Owner to submit a further challenge? I have not received any rejection/response to my original challenge.
You challenged outside of the discount period so it looks like they just ignored it or didn't consider it.
You must make a formal appeal to the NTO. Have you just had an NTO for the first PCN?
It’s for the first PCN issued on the 14th Dec.
Due to being overseas until the 1st Jan, all of my PCN challenges are outside the first 14 days (if public holidays and weekends are included in the count) therefore will I receive an NTO for all 4x PCNs and need to submit separate formal appeals 4 times?
On 2 Jan you posted:
I just called Camden Council about their website being down to lodge a challenge, and he said I can only write via post and the days are still ticking even if their website is down.
You now say you submitted your challenge online on 2 Jan. Pl clarify.
And post the back of one of the PCNs.
And post all of the NTO. Forget who posted what, when,how and to whom, we need to get dates and timetables up front before we wander off into constructing argument.
I’ve just realised this NTO is for a 5th PCN which was not physically on my car.
It is the 1st PCN issued on 13th Dec which I have not responded a challenge to as this is the first I am aware of it.
The physical ticket must have been removed/blown away from my car as I only got the PCNs issued on 14, 15, 16 and 18 physically.
I’ll attach the NTO and reverse of the PCN.
I submitted challenges to the 4x PCNs issued 14-18 Dec to Camden online on the 2nd Jan when their website was reinstated.
Attached NTO for PCN issued on 13th Dec which I did not receive the initial notice on my car physically.
Do I challenge via Camden Council site or follow the NTO instructions?
You must respond to the NTO by making representations
Hi I am awaiting a formal reply to my challenges submitted on 2nd Jan 2018.
I received an NTO for the PCN issued on the 15th Dec 2017 even though I haven’t received any rejection. Is this normal?
I have the email confirmation of my challenge submission and haven’t received any other responses to the challenges since 2nd Jan.
Camden state they respond within 10 working days to challenges which they have not.
What action should I be taking? And should they have issued an NTO without replying to my challenge?
Make the same representations again
Always respond to a Notice to Owner - appeal or pay, (but paying is pointless as adjudication costs nothing extra)
The NTO either asks to fill in the form and post OR go to the PCN challenge page on the Camden website which I already did which I’m awaiting a response. So I should fill in the PCN challenge again? In case they have missed it even though I have confirmation of submitting my challenge.
Read the PCN. It says you must challenge a Notice to Owner notwithstanding any earlier challenge so just do it. The same as before.
If you don't make a formal rep to the NTO you're in for a bag of hurt in the form of an unappealable charge certificate and then order for debt recovery.
I just logged in to the Camden site to submit another PCN challenge but when I entered CU49623032 it says “The PCN has been cancelled and therefore can no longer be challenged”. Yet I have an NTO dated 17 January 2018. I’m confused. Is the PCN cancelled or do I need to submit a challenge to the NTO another way?
When I look up the 4x PCNs I challenged on the 2nd January all say cancelled. Why have I received 1x NTO?
This sounds like good news - I would call them and go through all the PCN numbers especially the one on the NTO and confirm status.
Good news - the NTO was sent in error.
The council rep advised out of “good will” they cancelled my 4 subsequent PCNs but kept the first PCN in place as they claim posting the suspension notice at 10.30pm the night before was sufficient time for me to know about the suspension even though I’d flown out that day.
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