Ms Priyanka Chopra

[Priyanka Chopra]

I arrived at my car from collecting my child from school to find a ceo loitering around. He suggested that i was not allowed to leave my car in a parking bay without a valid pay and display ticket visible and that I cannot leave the car for collecting a child from school. We argued as the ceo who patrolled the street before him was happy to give me 5mins. We argued and I realised that it was pointless so drove off. after 6 weeks I get a notice to owner. I challenged it claiming the pcn was never issued. the council wrote back stating that the ceo states that he handed the pcn to the driver who threw it away. this is pure fabrication and i have already lodged an appeal to the adjudicator. Interestingly, the car was docked at 3:30pm. the photographs taken at 3:33pm. and the ticket issued at 3:35pm. There is no photograph of the tax disc. anyone had a similar experience. personally i belive what has happened is that he issue dthe ticket after i left and chucked it away himself!

Edited December 11, 2009 by Priyanka Chopra
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[Bernie_the_Bolt]

This is interesting because PCNs can now be issued by post in the case of drive aways.

 

Here, however, it seems that this did not happen and you claim that no PCN was served. This is your word against the CEOs. It will come down to who the adjudicator sees as more reliable as a witness.

 

In your shoes I would look for other possible grounds for appeal. Are the bays correctly marked, is the TRO valid, does it contain a boarding and alighting exemption etc etc.

 

Best of luck!

[buzby]

No tax disc photo is required. I'm assuming the picture IS of your car, and showing the VRM? The original PCN doesn't have to be affixed to the vehicle - so a statement by the CEO that the ticket was 'thrown away' seems a bit of a fabtrication. For timings, does your GPS still retain its location and timing log? Tese can be very useful in cases like these.

 

As for the veracity of the claim, they are correct - use of parking bays requires a ticket, and not getting one because you didn;t plan to stay long isn;t mitigation an adjudicator woud accept. I agree with BtB, you'll need to seek out a stronger issue to challenge, like no TRO or incorrect signage/line markings to invalidate the claim. Incidentally, what you might have been 'let away with' in the past isn't relevant, and could work against you.

[TheBogsDollocks]

Some traffic orders permit boarding and alighting while parked in P&D bays. Collecting a young child from school can be classed as assisted boarding. Check the order to see.

 

I also advise that you obtain a copy of the CEO's log book entry as it will need to have a record that they handed the PCN to the driver as claimed. If the log book does not state this then any sensible peson would ask the CEO why did you fail to record such an important fact and any failure is likely to cast enough doubt to win you the case.

[Priyanka Chopra]

Thanks to all of you for your response. I have now received the evidence from the issuing office - a copy of pages from the ceo's log book which have no name signature or identification marks - is this normal? Interestingly, the entire event is logged in capitals without a single spelling mistake - however, there is an addition in brackets alleging that I threw the ticket away except it is spelt "thourough" with an attempt to correct. The photographs supplied still have no date or time on them except now they a have a print out of the file names as they appear on their computer hard drive - g:\03.11.09\2345\SDC10545.JPG-03.11.09 15:33 - again, is it normal for the date to appear twice and time to appear after the file ext. I am not a computer buff so would be grateful for some input. I am hoping to file an adendum to my representation to the adjuducator before the end of this week.

 

Finally, my best compliments of the sesaon to you all

PC

[lamma]

there is probably metadata in the photographs (if you go them in softcopy - as computer files)

[Priyanka Chopra]

Just hheard from thre adjudicator. My appeal was allowed on the grounds that the contravetion did not occur. The coulncil could not provide any evidence that my vehicle was parked for any other reason than collecting my child from school. Vehicles parked in a pay and displlay bay are generally exempt from restrictions to alllow passenger(s) to board or alight a vehicle and is extended to include the time taken to escort a young person. The adjudicator also found, given the evidence from both parties, that he or she remained unconvinced that a PCN had infact been handed to the driver. I though all of you out there might like to know the outcome.

[buzby]

Good to hear. If you want to wind up the Council, make a FoI request asking for the number of tickets issued at this location that have been cancelled by the adjudicator. It could be interesting!

[lamma]

Congrats. Tell the other parents, The odds are there have been quite a few 'thrown away' PCNs issued there. There is a chance that the CEO just looks at reg numbers and churns out a few without ever serving them. And let them know about assisted alighting ! even a served PCN will fail due to that.