Anything on this that could help?

The car was on a single yellow line.

Were you loading/unloading?

No I wasn't loading, I thought the yellow line rules were 9am and it appears after closer inspection that the lines come back into force at 8:30am :-(

Not knowing the location or how far you had to walk to get to your vehicle but I am trying to help. If you were loading (which you could have been ) then you are permitted to stop to carry out that function for as long as is necessary.

You see most members on this forum do not have crystal balls and it is difficult to imagine the situation, without your help.

So it was in the South Woodford CPZ on a single yellow?

Redbridge CPZ Maps

Streetview - Entry to CPZ from Hermon Hill

What state are the signs in today? - the one in streetview is covered by foliage.

Hi, here are a couple of pictures of the car I took on the day, I haven't been back since so I am unsure as to the signage, but I will pop back over there and take some photographs.

Yes I think it is part of the CPZ, it's just up from the entrance of Victoria road. I was at the block of flats in the background of the third photograph. So there is no time limit on loading on a single yellow?

1 minute observation is verging on procedural impropriety, I fail to see how a CEO could have a genuine belief that the vehicle was parked in contravention after 1 minute when numerous exemptions could apply and could not be determined within 1 minute.

Agreed, and that's what I would say in the challenge. Don't lie if you were not loading/unloading or collecting anything at 8.50 - but were you possibly picking up your stuff for work (bags or briefcase?) and about to emerge at that point in time?! As they only observed the car for one minute they would have no way of knowing what you were doing and can hardly rebut a challenge that says you were getting your work files & bag/case from nearby premises and only took minutes to bring them and load them into the car...

Of course there's a limit on loading/unloading time (up to 20 mins, generally, but must be continuous so don't say you were 'getting ready for work' or anything else not involving picking items up to bring to the car).

Hi guys,

How does this sounds for my reps? Is there anything people think I should add/remove?


Dear Sir/ Madam

Re: Penalty Charge Notice ********* Registration ********

I am in receipt of the above penalty charge notice which was attached to my vehicle by one of your CEOs on 15th August 2013. I would ask that Redbridge council cancel the PCN for the following reasons. I believe there has been a procedural impropriety on the part of the council as the PCN clearly shows that the CEO only observed the vehicle for 1 minute. Whilst I understand that CEO’s are not always required to observe vehicles before issuing a PCN, in this case it has been the difference between the CEO issuing a ticket correctly or, in this case, incorrectly. If the CEO had waiting longer than 1 minute they would have been made aware that I was loading equipment for work from the building directly next to where the car was parked on Victoria road. I was parked on a single yellow line and was not causing an obstruction to other vehicles whilst I loaded my work equipment into the vehicle. For this reason, I see no reason for Redbridge council to refuse a cancellation of this PCN.

I look forward to hearing from you.

It is always helpful, and also helps the "apparatchik" on the council to more readily cancel the PCN, if you can provide some sort of proof that you were loading equipment, like a copy of an invoice for services or some-such.

It was DJ equipment which I use to earn a living being loaded into the flats in the background of the pics for storage until a friends birthday party 2 days later which the equipment was to be used for, so no invoice available as it was a favour. Said friend is the owner of the flat that was storing the equipment.Do you think they will quibble my argument if I explain what I was doing in more detail? Or perhaps I should draw up an invoice to my friend for services rendered, even though the service was free just to show that that is what I was doing there?

Lack of observation time is not grounds for an appeal on PI, just bad practice by the CEO and his bosses for allowing this. Back up your loading exemption claim by getting your friend to write a witness statement confirming your claim. If they reject despite this, take them to PATAS. They cannot possibly say no loading was observed if there was no observation time, so have shot themselves in the foot really

I wrote back to Redbridge council about this ages ago and haven't heard anything back from them for months… what should I do? When I phoned to check they had received my letter they confirmed verbally it was received but said they were dealing with a huge back log and it may be delayed. I don't want to phone again months later and rock the boat in case it has been lost or forgotten about…. is that the best course of action or should I see what is going on in case they are still processing it?

The delay is disgraceful, as you have only made an informal challenge, but way outside the normal time for issuing a Notice to Owner. An appeal against an NTO is allowed if there is no response after 56 days, but nothing is applied for informal challenges, except that it could be claimed to be an abuse of process if they now respond or issue an NtO. Poor management of parking is not an excuse for them.

However, it will be best to check with them in case documents have gone astray. Is your V5 address the same as it was when the PCN was received. Have you changed address and not updated it or arranged for mail redelivery ? YOu don't want bailiffs appearing out of the blue.

Time limit for service of a notice to owner

20. (1) A notice to owner may not be served after the expiry of the period of 6 months beginning with the relevant date.

(2) The relevant date—

(a)in a case where a notice to owner has been cancelled under regulation 23(5)© of these Regulations, is the date on which the district judge serves notice in accordance with regulation 23(5)(d);
(b)in case where a notice to owner has been cancelled under regulation 5 of the Representations and Appeals Regulations, is the date of such cancellation;
©in a case where payment of the penalty charge was made, or had purportedly been made, before the expiry of the period mentioned in paragraph (1) but the payment or purported payment had been cancelled or withdrawn, is the date on which the enforcement authority is notified that the payment or purported payment has been cancelled or withdrawn;
(d)in any other case, is the date on which the relevant penalty charge notice was served under regulation 9.

Just over 4 weeks to go before they're debarred from serving a NTO (all other things being correct e.g. addresses etc.), but even if they did serve one beforehand, this would be contrary to the SoS's guidance and the burden would then be on the authority to give justifiable reasons for the inordinate delay.

Thanks guys, so judging by what hcandersen is saying, I should just wait a couple more weeks and if they haven't sent anything then I'm in the clear right?

Also, my address is still the same, nothing has changed.