Thread: seems unfair?

Rite i live in newcastle & the area where I live has parking bays at the front which u have to pay & display for or have a permit, however there is private parking to the rear of the property which u need a electronic key fob to opperate the barrier. As there are three people with cars living in my house and ur only issued with one key fob, it means no sole person can retain it, so it has to be left in the house.
So one morning i pull up outside my house into one of the parking bays, to go into my property to collect the key fob which allows access to the private parking, I was in my house minutes while searching for the key fob, & notice out the window a traffic warden writting me a ticket, so I ran out and explained to her that I had no intention of parking and was mearly looking for my parking fob she said it was a legal binding document & once it had started to be issued could not be revoced and i would have to apeal in writting!

So i sent a letter of apeal explaining that I was in my property a matter of minutes & that I was looking for a fob to allow me access to my private parking facilites. I recieved no response and about 2 weeks later recieved a letter which was basically a payment reminder so i sent the letter again & herd nothing back for 3 month. Then today I get a letter from the council's legal service department saying I've got 7 days to pay or be taken to court!

Is there anyway I can protest this without going to court?

If all the paperwork is otherwise valid, then I'm afraid that you are liable. There is no 'matter of minutes' exemption to get something from the house.

You need to scan, wash and post all the paperwork that you have been sent by the Council.

This interests me if the timings are correct

So i sent a letter of apeal explaining that I was in my property a matter of minutes & that I was looking for a fob to allow me access to my private parking facilites. I recieved no response and about 2 weeks later recieved a letter which was basically a payment reminder so i sent the letter again & herd nothing back for 3 month

You have 28 days from the issue of the pcn to pay. At that point, the Council issue a Notice to Owner (which I surmise as your 'reminder'). You state that you wrote again with your appeal. However misguided that appeal was in fact or law, there is a statutory requirement on the Council to issue a formal rejection letter within 56 days, together with details of how to appeal further to the Adjudicator. Only if you fail to pay or further appeal can they issue a charge certificate - which sounds like the stage that you are at. If they fail to issue the letter of rejection within 56 days, then, AIUI, the appeal is deemed accepted and the PCN cancelled

the council will take you to court ? ? What Regs was this issued under ? Is it a council ticket even ? Can we see pictures of the paperwork please - scrubbed of personal details. there are exemptions for opening gates etc as I recall.

Newcastle is still issuing parking fines under the 1984 regs. as far as I am aware, so talk of PCNs and NTOs is liable to misslead the OP.

Originally Posted by nero12

Fixed penalty notices cannot be prosessed 91 days from the date of offence AFAIK
I believe they cannot issue court proceedings beyond this period. Patdavies may know. Maybe this is out of date for failiure to respond.

Or is it they cant ISSUE an fpn 91 days after an offence.??

Originally Posted by green_and_mean

Newcastle is still issuing parking fines under the 1984 regs. as far as I am aware, so talk of PCNs and NTOs is liable to misslead the OP.

Thanks for that.

In which case, ignore everything I said in my last post as it is totally irrelevant to non-decriminalised enforcement.

If this is an FPN, then we are dealing with a criminal offence; the liability rests with the driver and not the RK. The council will issue a statutory demand for the driver's details and then go after him/her regardless of who the RK is. If the RK does not supply the information, then a prosecution for failure to supply follows.

If the council have been told the driver's details (eg in one of the appeal letters) then they won't need to issue the statutory demand and will pursue the driver.

An FPN will be enforced as if it is a Magistrates' Court fine. This is automatic if the FPN is neither paid nor appealed; IOW, it is the default action.

As an appeal has been sent to the Council, then should void the FPN and lay information for a Court summons for the offence, should they wish to continue to pursue it.

So even more importantly, we need to see the paperwork from the OP.

Originally Posted by nero12

Or is it they cant ISSUE an fpn 91 days after an offence.??

Correct. Issued, not prosecuted. The authority has 6 months from the date of offence to lay information in a Magistrates' Court for the issue of a summons.

However, positive action must be taken to dispute an FPN to cause this action. Doing nothing is a 'default convict' and the fine may be pursued as if it were issued by the bench.