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PseudoSoul
Some advice before I get in touch with the council would be appreciated.

I had a PCN which I appealed and lost. Here's a timeline of what happened next:

29th July - Adjudication

13th August - Letter of adjudication recieved.

4th Sep - Application For Review sent

7th Sep - Date of Charge Certificate

7th Sep - Emails with EA about early issue of certificate (relative to decision received date)
"London Tribunals (or PATAS as they were previously known) have always sent decisions to the local authority and appellant on the same date. We assumed this was still the case. However I have now spoken to London Tribunals and they have advised that there is a backlog of decisions and some are being sent to appellants late. This is the first we have heard of this.
In the circumstances it does not seem reasonable to demand £195 at this stage. I have reset the case and we will accept £130 as full settlement if the payment is made on or before 22nd September."


22nd Sep - Email from EA:
"I can confirm London Tribunals have recorded that an application has been made to review this decision. The PCN has been placed on hold. If the application for review is unsuccessful you will still be able to pay £130."

9th Oct - Date of letter rejected review

15th Oct - EA response to my email saying I tried to pay via their online system but it would not accept the original amount of £130 as a payment figure.
"I have contacted our appeals team and to date they have not received a decision from London Tribunals. Once this information has been received an officer will contact you in writing with regards to payment."

6th Nov - Order of Recovery received

Question: Do I need to do anything with the court regarding the TE3 or just get in touch with the council to see if they will accept the £130 as final settlement?

Thanks.
Enceladus
QUOTE (PseudoSoul @ Sun, 8 Nov 2015 - 11:55) *
22nd Sep - Email from EA:
"I can confirm London Tribunals have recorded that an application has been made to review this decision. The PCN has been placed on hold. If the application for review is unsuccessful you will still be able to pay £130."

9th Oct - Date of letter rejected review

15th Oct - EA response to my email saying I tried to pay via their online system but it would not accept the original amount of £130 as a payment figure.
"I have contacted our appeals team and to date they have not received a decision from London Tribunals. Once this information has been received an officer will contact you in writing with regards to payment."

6th Nov - Order of Recovery received

Question: Do I need to do anything with the court regarding the TE3 or just get in touch with the council to see if they will accept the £130 as final settlement?

Did the London Tribunals reject your application for review because the application was late? It needed to be with the Tribunal on or before Wednesday the 26th August given a service date of Thursday the 13th August? You tell us that you did not even "send" your application until the 4th Sept, so it was late.

Assuming so, then it is possible that the LT might not ever inform the council as no review was actually held. You might want to ring the LT and confirm if they did or didn't.

What date did you actually try to pay?

This is a rare occasion where I would actually approach the council and try to arrange payment. However if you don't get a resolve in short order I would submit the Witness Statement or Statutory Declaration that came with your TE3.

Assuming a WS, select the ground that says "I appealed against the local authority’s decision to reject my representation, within 28 days of service of the rejection notice, but have had no response to my appeal." Whilst it is true that you did have a response it was not issued and served in a useful time-frame and consequently a Charge Certificate was issued early. The council get a daily bulk email report informing them of the outcome of that day's cases. You get snailmail.

The OFR would be ordered revoked and the CC cancelled and the council would have to refer the matter to the adjudicator for direction on how to proceed. In this case I would expect that the adjudicator to simply order you to pay the PCN as per the original decision, providing you clearly explain that you did try and pay etc., there has been an arguable failure in the council's systems. You would be standing on firmer ground if your application for review had been submitted within time.

I don't see that the adjudicator will determine that the early CC justifies cancelling the PCN, as this was down to a Tribunal delay.
PseudoSoul
Many thanks for that useful insight Enceladus.

I was thinking the council would be the first place to go to, but didn't want the bailiffs coming after me if I'd only paid a part of the amount in the Order of Recovery.

My review was accepted as an out of time review, as I had been on holiday in August when the decision had finally been posted out to me. I wrote to the council and they acknowledged that a review was pending (having contacted LT) and that I could still pay the original PCN amount if the review failed.

I tried to pay on the day after I received the refusal letter - 15th Oct - I then immediately contacted the council.
Enceladus
You haven't said if this relates to a parking, bus lane or moving traffic contravention.
And what date is on the original appeal refusal letter that you received on the 13th August?
Is the 13th August the date it arrived as distinct from the date you returned from holiday and you opened it?

Assuming it's for parking and the letter was not posted until shortly before the 13th, then the Charge Certificate is unlawful as it has been served on you before the Enforcement Authority was entitled to do so. Regulation 21 of The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007 would apply. So I would make a complaint to the council and ask them to cancel the CC. You could also ask the adjudicator to intervene. Leave the unsuccessful review out of it. Just point out that the decision of the tribunal was served on you on the 13th August by way of a letter dated ??/08/2015. And that therefore 13/08/2015 is day 1 of the 28 day relevant period as specified in the regulations. Therefore the Councils issuance of a Charge Certificate on the 7th Sept is unlawful. And that now the matter has progressed and an Order For Recovery, also unlawful, has been received.

If you don't get a fast resolve from the Council then I would submit the Witness Statement or Statutory Declaration. As I said earlier, if the penalty is still unpaid and the matter gets referred to the adjudicator there is a theoretical chance that (s)he would cancel the PCN, as strictly speaking a procedural impropriety has occurred. However I think it is much more likely as (s)he will simply reissue the order for you to pay the penalty amount. When cases get referred to the adjudicator it is for 'direction on how to proceed', not to re-hear the appeal. So (s)he can pretty much issue any direction that (s)he deems fit.

QUOTE
Charge certificates

21.—(1) Where a notice to owner is served on any person and the penalty charge to which it relates is not paid before the end of the relevant period, the authority serving the notice may serve on that person a statement (a “charge certificate”) to the effect that the penalty charge in question is increased by the amount of the applicable surcharge.

(2) The relevant period, in relation to a notice to owner, is the period of 28 days beginning— <--- Applies to you
(a)where no representations are made under regulation 4 of the Representations and Appeals Regulations, with the date on which the notice to owner is served;
(b)where—
(i)such representations are made;
(ii)a notice of rejection is served by the authority concerned; and
(iii)no appeal against the notice of rejection is made,
with the date on which the notice of rejection is served;

(c)where an adjudicator has, under regulation 7(4) of the Representations and Appeals Regulations, recommended the enforcement authority to cancel the notice to owner, with the date on which the enforcement authority notifies the appellant under regulation 7(5) of those Regulations that it does not accept the recommendation; or

(d)in a case not falling within subparagraph (c) where there has been an unsuccessful appeal to an adjudicator under the Representations and Appeals Regulations against a notice of rejection, with the date on which notice of the adjudicator’s decision is served on the appellant. <--- Applies to you
PseudoSoul
Yes, it was a parking offence.

The decision letter from London Tribunals was dated 13th August (so deemed served 17th August?), and I received it on the 24th on my return from holiday.

For your amusement, here's what happened on the 7th Sept via email. I think me writing to them prompted them to look at my case and issue the CC early?

Sent: 07 September 2015 12:25

Following a rejected PCN appeal I was given 28 days to pay the PCN charge. I have, however, placed a request for a review of the decision to London Tribunals, so I believe the payment will be put on hold until I receive that decision.

Could you confirm that this is correct?

Received: 07 September 2015 12:47

Thank you for your e-mail.

In order for us to put this case on hold we will need to receive notification from London Tribunals that you have submitted your request, and that they have accepted it.

Until we receive the notification the case will remain outstanding and will continue to progress.

Sent: 07 September 2015 13:09

Many thanks for the quick reply. In that case I will keep an eye on the original 28 day payment deadline. Could you kindly let me know what you have for the last day of payment?


Received: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 13:35:03 +0000

Good afternoon

A Charge Certificate was produced this morning, which increased the amount payable to £195. As far as I am aware we have not received anything from London Tribunals.

Sent: 07 September 2015 14:49

Whoa-there!

The decision letter I received from London Tribunals was dated 13th August - and not received until later. I make that 25 days from 13th August to today - minus any days in the post. Why has a charge notice been produced all ready?

Received: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 14:59:59 +0000

Good afternoon

There is no requirement for the council to allow 28 days to make payment after a rejected application to review an adjudicator’s decision. We are only required to allow a 28 day period after the initial appeal decision.

According to our records we received notification that your original appeal had been rejected on or before 27th July. We have allowed more than sufficient time before issuing the Charge Certificate.

Sent: 07 September 2015 16:10

I don't really want to have to go and dig out the statue on this, but I am pretty sure you will find it is date of service of the decision. The Adjudicators' website even says as much.

http://www.londontribunals.gov.uk/eat/unde...rcement-process

Charge Certificate

This is a notice issued by the enforcement authority increasing the penalty charge by 50%. The enforcement authority may issue a charge certificate where the penalty charge has not been paid and after:

A Penalty Charge Notice was served by post or a Notice to Owner has been served and the Authority did not receive representations within 28 days, beginning with the date of service of that notice;
A Notice of Rejection has been served and within 28 days, beginning with the date of service of that notice, no appeal to the adjudicator has been made;
An appeal has been refused by the adjudicator and no payment has been received by the enforcement authority within 28 days of the date the decision was served; or
The appellant has withdrawn their appeal and has not paid the penalty charge to the enforcement authority within 14 days of the date on which the appeal is withdrawn.

The decision was served to me in writing effective 17th August (13th of August letter date + 2 working days post). I can forward the letter for proof if required.

The charge certificate will be challenged legally if not withdrawn.

Received: Mon, 7 Sep 2015 16:29:49 +0000

Good afternoon

You are correct. London Tribunals (or PATAS as they were previously known) have always sent decisions to the local authority and appellant on the same date. We assumed this was still the case. However I have now spoken to London Tribunals and they have advised that there is a backlog of decisions and some are being sent to appellants late. This is the first we have heard of this.

In the circumstances it does not seem reasonable to demand £195 at this stage. I have reset the case and we will accept £130 as full settlement if the payment is made on or before 22nd September.

If you have made an application for review then you should hear from London Tribunals in due course.



So in theory they had already waived or cancelled the CC, but then things have gone straight to OfR.

I think the best course is probably to ask the council, but they don't seem to have been very effective so far!
Enceladus
Self evidently they did not cancel the charge cert and allowed enforcement to progress to the next stage. In any event the charge cert was issued and served before they became entitled to do so. The root cause of this is the failure of the Tribunal to serve the decision notice on you in a timely manner.

By all means write/email to the Tribunal Manager and ask him for help. But don't hold your breath, if anything is done it may not be timely. The situation might auto escalate to the bailiff stage.

So play safe, make sure you get the Witness Statement submitted before the deadline if you don't get anywhere with the Council, with or without the Tribunals help.

And I bet the Tribunal did send some sort of circular advising of possible delays due to the move from Angel, the re-branding from PATAS to London Tribunals and the introduction of a new computer system, all at the same time. Duly filed in the bin I imagine.
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