Your bafflement must have been the equal of mine when I opened the summons!! The only thing I can think of, and this is pure speculation on my part, is that I know my next door neighbour is having financial difficulties following a break-up and is struggling with her bills. Maybe they punched the wrong door number in. But, like I said, that is purely speculation on my part.

Apologies for the late response Nobnob but I have been away at short notice. Following some discussions with our bank and the council, some good news emerged. Firstly, the bank mistakenly cancelled our CT DD whilst my wife was cancelling some expired DD's. Secondly, the council admitted they did not send any reminders for any missed instalments (there wern't any apart from August) and have withdrawn the summons and cancelled the fees. They issued a somewhat grudging apology over the phone and I have demanded a letter with all the necessary details listed in it. Thank you for detailed response Nobnob. I now have an understanding on the workings of local authority CT offices. M

Hi all, I received a summons today from my council for being 1 month late with August' payment. I received no reminder for this payment, just a summons. I have never been in arrears and have always paid my council tax in full every year. Having never been in this position before I am furious at this unnecessary overreaction by the council. Is this normal practice for councils? The charges applied to this summons are also outrageous. £3 court costs and £112 charged by the council!! Unbelievable. I will speak to the council tomorrow and pay the August installment.I would however like the answers to a couple of questions if some kind soul could spare a few minute. Do councils really have the ability to issue a summons for a 'late' August payment before the end of the August month and almost a week before most people are paid? Before any reminder is sent? When I pay tomorrow does the summons go away? and the ridiculous charges? And does this summons have any affect on my credit score or record reporting? Thanks for looking M

I made an error based on the fact I am not skilled in the use of a blue badge. I was never issued a PCN correctly, the CEO was dishonest, Southwark council told me three times he had acted correctly and then they decide not to even contest the appeal. So again I ask you, if it does not affect the CEO's income/employment, why didn't he just walk away? It would have been of no consequence to him. If council's did not push their employees/contractors to reach targets there would be no need for dishonest CEO's at all!!

No need for that, you have already posted that some boroughs give 'attendance bonus'. You can't get the 'bonus' if you don't have the job in the first place, can you? And how do you keep the job? by not underperforming, maybe? The reason I am so convinced GM is the dishonest PA who caused this thread to start would have simply walked away once I returned to the car. It would have been no skin off his nose, but he attempted to defraud me out of sixty quid. For what reason, if it did not affect him in any way? After all he was at work so he would have got his 'attendance' bonus. Wouldn't he ???

Thanks Jon. I have never believed for one second that councils/contractors have ever stopped issuing ticket targets despite what politicians, councils or members of this board say. It is just too large a cash cow. After all, why did the PA in my case feel he had to dishonestly issue my PCN if it made no difference to him? Doesn't make sense, does it?

Success !!!! After over ten months of waiting, I was notified on Friday Aug 1st (my appeal was Monday 4th Aug) by Patas that Southwark Council have decided not to contest the PCN issued by their dishonest PA and I have won the appeal. This after being told in three seperate letters from Southwark that they where satisfied that the 'PCN had been issued correctly'. tw*ts. Anyway, another win for the little man.

I have very little sympathy with chancers when it comes to parking just as much as I have very little sympathy with PA's (CEO's) who rather than just saying 'next time you may get a ticket' when the situation permits, fall over themselves to issue tickets to people genuinely delayed in a P&D and otherwise law abiding. Alowing CEO's a right to excercise a modicum of common sense might help. Might explain to a degree why blue badges are so blatantly abused. I agree with the earning aspect of fines. It occurs in Finland. I remember reading the boss of Nokia being fined something like a 100,000 euros for speeding and I will admit I have witnessed drivers of expensive cars shouting abuse at PA's because thay seem to believe their BMW is above the rules. A £10,000 fine may change their attitude. However, they are the exception to the rule.

Yes, I admit I got hung up on the Sec of State angle. My error. Thank you for your post. However, I must object to your reasoning about the levels of penalties. To argue that the top level is £120 because we in London (because we are obviously so wealthy) would find the £70 maximium that everyone else in the UK pays as too low a deterrant and encourage illegal parking is utter tosh. £70 is more than half a normal family's weekly shop. Jeez G&M, how much do you earn?

Thanks. Thats the answer I had been looking for. I was not being awkward by questioning your posts, but with all respect 'because they can and do' is not a particularly helpful answer bearing in mind I opened the thread because I did not know why they are higher in London. Now that I know, it still stinks as unfair. Again, thanks for the info.

No they cannot set the price. If they were free to set their own, you think Westminister would 'only' charge £120. The penalty bands are set by the Secretary of State and councils choose which levels to implement and if you look at the TMA 2004 London is seperately specified with higher rate bands and I want to know why. For the third time my question, which you have not answered is, why does London have higher PCN charges than the rest of the country?

Thats the answer as to why there are PCNs, not as to why they are dearer in London.

Right, I misunderstood your post. I thought you mentioned spreadsheets in relation to the TMA. My bad. I am sure there are literally thousands of spreadsheets in council parking offices as we speak. I am just interested if there is a reason and if so what is the official line, especially as Ruth Kelly works for me and you, not the other way round.

I totally agree with your view. I have never bought the line about PCNs being there for road safety or not for revenue. When you say there are new spreadsheets, can I specifically ask what you mean and are they available to view? I would like to see them. Just for info, I e-mailed Ruth Kelly, our esteemed Minister for Transport, to ask for an explanation. I anticipate a reply in a few months !!

I just cannot see what the cost of delays has to do with a contravention of the Highway Code. If costs dictated penalty amounts then fines should be higher in London because policing costs are higher, but they're not.