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I wonder if anyone might be able to make some constructive suggestions re this pcn dispute. My friend next door is the caretaker of a large block of apartments next door to where I live - on a road which is a red route in North London. There are parking bays on both sides of the road. My friend is able to park in these bays for up to 1 hour. For the greater part of the day he is able to park his vehicle in the private bays of his residents when they become available ie. when they leave for work. But between 7.00 to 10.00am he has to park in the designated bays. This requires that he moves his car from one bay to another before each hour has passed. On a couple of occasions in the past he has left his car in one of the bays for longer than one hour and subsequently received a parking ticket and, stoically, paid the fine.
Somewhile back he received a ticket specifying that he was in one of the bays for longer than one hour. This was absolutely not possible because he had spent some of the time taking one of his residents to the local hospital. It would appear that the PA has confused one bay with another and issued a ticket erroneously. So we have sought to defend this matter. Unlike many of the local councils where PCN’s require to be defended within 28 days of the ticket being issued, TFL tickets notify the recipient that any representations should be made within 28 days of the Notice to Owner being received. This was received the following month. Please see the unfolding chronology of events:
1. 7th April 2008 Penalty Charge Notice received. £60 if paid within 14 days Specifies that appeals should be made using the Notice to Owner which otherwise £120 will be sent to the owner after 28 days of the PCN being issued.
2. 12th May 2008 Notice to Owner received.
3. 28th May 2008 Representations made (by letter with diagram)*.
No Notice of Rejection ever received.
4. 25th July 2008 Charge Certificate received. £180 now payable
5. 28th July 2008 Contacted TFL by telephone The officer states that our representation letter was received and a Notice of Rejection was sent out on 12th June 2008. It is explained that this was never received, the officer recommends putting these details in writing in order that the Charge Notice can be overturned.
6. 28th July 2008 Letter sent (registered delivery) to TFL explaining that the Notice of Rejection was never received.
7. 7th August 2008 Contacted TFL by telephone The officer states that a letter will be sent out in response and will be received within 5 days.
8. 19th August 2008 Letter from TFL received stating that if £180 is not received by 29th August 2008 county court action will be pursued to recover the debt. The letter states that the keeper will be given the opportunity to file a Statutory Declaration on the grounds that a Rejection Notice was not received. There is a striking error here; it says, “As no reply was received the charge certificate was issued on 24th July 2008.” Item 3 shows the reply that was sent and receipt of these representations has been acknowledged by the officer with each subsequent telephone conversation..
9. 21st August 2008 Contacted TFL by telephone The officer states that any objections to the way this process has been handled can be made in the Statutory Declaration.
This matter now seems to have become very messy. Firstly we appear to have lost the opportunity to defend our position re the original ‘offence’. Secondly a vital step in the process is not carried out because the letter either rejecting or accepting our representations is never received. Thirdly, despite TFL’s assurances that a letter from ourselves will get the Charge Notice overturned
this does not happen.
What appears so outrageous about the handling of this whole matter is that because of what can only be regarded as TFL’s maladministration the issue now becomes the concern of the County Court. Surely, apart from the huge inconvenience to ourselves trying to defend the matter, this is a clear waste of the courts time?
Now that the charge is set to £180 my friend feels compelled to pay the fine in order to avoid a visit to the court. I would prefer to defend the case...in the courthouse, if necessary. But it is not my decision. Any advice would be very welcome.
phone the TEC now ! I think you will have to file a stat dec out of time - but get advice from the TEC. go to the local county court to get the stat dec 'stamped' and sworn (free at county court). Fax the stat dec to the processing dept at the TEC - not the general fax number. again the tec will tell you this if you ask them.
the stat dec will halt the process - at least it should !
you must halt this, hopefully before bailiffs call and take your car.
if it was me I would have the car hidden is someones else's locked garage until I knew the stat dec had stopped things. people have been know to have their cars sold by bailiffs a touch preemptively..
meanwhile post up pictures of all the paperwork you have received - suitably washed of personal details.
TfL will always take it to the wire even when they know they are in the wrong.
make sure you explain to the TEC that it is a TfL case - the rules are different in london. - and there are strict limits on what you can put on the stat dec - I believe the TfL person was misleading you. if you fill out a non compliant stat dec TfL will reject it and come after you and then you have nowhere to go.
NEVER believe what TfL/a council/ tells you about the right way to appeal or do anything at all that stops them getting their hands on your cash. ALWAYS verify for yourself.
What should I do if I wish to contest the penalty charge?
If you wish to contest the Charge you must file a valid Statutory Declaration with the TEC, within 36 days of the date of the penalty charge registration. There are only three grounds upon which the declaration can be based. These highlight the procedures, the local authority have failed to carry out prior to registering the penalty charge. They are:
You have not received the notice to owner or enforcement notice;
You made representations to the Local Authority but you did not receive a rejection notice; and
You made an appeal to the Parking/Traffic Adjudicator (following the rejection, by the Local Authority, of your representation) and you received no response.
We are too late for that now. Have we missed the boat? I will try to put up the docs you askerd for later when I get home. As I said the decision to pursue defending thias issue rests with my friend. I really cannot say whether he will be up for it.
In anycase would you know whether the county court used is that which is closest to the pcn recipient or Tfl's HQ. I reckon it is the former.
Lamma, I was not able to get home from work in time to visit my friend's local county court. I am afraid it will have to wait until Tuesday. I sincerely hope that said mate does not have accident in trousers and pays up. Thanks for all of your help so far, Lamma
If you PM me an email address I have stuff that may help.
As said in the earlier post, I was not able to get to the court on Friday. This will have to wait until Tuesday. So, no, I do not have the form - assume you mean stat dec form?
the court is where you swear n front of a court officer (reading out aloud a written oath) that the contents of the stat dec are 'true and honest'. When you go to the court to do this you should have the stat dec form already filled out (so you can swear to it) and unsigned and sign it in front of the court officer.
do you have the stat dec form ?
have you spoken to the tec ?
PCN dispute with Tfl.
dispute. My friend next door is the caretaker of a large block of apartments next door to where I live - on a road which is a red route in North London. There are parking bays on both sides of the road. My friend is able to park in these bays for up to 1 hour. For the greater part of the day he is able to park his vehicle in the private bays of his residents when they become available ie. when they leave for work. But between 7.00 to 10.00am he has to park in the designated bays. This requires that he moves his car from one bay to another before each hour has passed. On a couple of occasions in the past he has left his car in one of the bays for longer than one hour and subsequently received a parking ticket and, stoically, paid the fine.
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Re: PCN dispute with Tfl.
Originally Posted by lamma
