Have a local authority parking ticket

[Sueb343]

I have received a local authority parking ticket, I had purchased the correct ticket and put it on my dash (there is no adhesive on the tickets in my area) but it had blown off when I shut the door. I appealed and sent a letter with the paid ticket as evidence, their response was a ten page letter with pictures of my car, quoting bylaw blah and blah - basically they said because it was not displayed the fine stood. I responded with a letter of dispute but paid the £25 fine as I knew they would find a way of further penalizing me! Guess what, I received my cheque back today saying that they had received it after the 14 days(I don't have proof of postage) and now it is £50!! I am really aggrieved, what is likely to happen if I tell them I am not paying and they can take me to court?

[green_and_mean]

They do not need to take you to Court as you have already been issued with the 'fine' by way of the penalty charge. All that will happen if you don't pay is a couple more official forms we arrive in the post and then it will be passed to the baliffs who will chase you for the money owed plus a fee for their services. Since the cost has already gone up you may as well appeal to the independant adjudicator.

[queensclose]

They do not need to take you to Court as you have already been issued with the 'fine' by way of the penalty charge. All that will happen if you don't pay is a couple more official forms we arrive in the post and then it will be passed to the baliffs who will chase you for the money owed plus a fee for their services. Since the cost has already gone up you may as well appeal to the independant adjudicator.

 

 

what do you mean they dont need to go to court. what does TEC do in northampton bulking centre

[green_and_mean]

what do you mean they dont need to go to court. what does TEC do in northampton bulking centre

 

The keeper is already liable for the penalty charge regardless of any goings on at the TEC, if you can tell me of a single PCN that the TEC has been asked to register as a debt and then refused please let us know?

[Jamberson]

what do you mean they dont need to go to court. what does TEC do in northampton bulking centre

 

TEC rubber stamps the automated enforcement process. No one "goes to court". The enforcement process is already in place, and it allows them to come and seize your property, most likely the car itself.

 

A better line for you to take would be a courteous letter apologising for the late payment, and saying you definitely posted it on time, and will they please check the postmark on the envelope. That is far more likely to get you a cancellation that just refusing to budge.

[TheBogsDollocks]

The appeal text below has had some success where a person is able to send a copy of the P&D ticket with the appeal. YOu can give it a go at the next stage if you think it appropriate

 

Dear Sirs

 

I would like to appeal the penalty charge served upon me.

 

Enclosed is a copy of the Pay & Display ticket that I purchased and displayed for inspection. It can clearly be seen that I paid the appropriate fee and that the ticket was valid when the officer inspected my vehicle. Unfortunately, at some point during my absence from the vehicle, the ticket somehow became dislodged from where it had been clearly displayed and fell into the foot well. I accept that your officer could not have known this and acted accordingly.

 

However, now that the ticket has been presented for inspection it is clear that I did not avoid payment of the parking fee or that I had parked beyond time paid for. The only purpose a ticket needs to be displayed is to enable an officer to distinguish between those that have paid for parking and those that have not and those who have exceeded the time paid for. The ticket produced clearly shows that had your officer seen my ticket at the time of inspection that there would be no need to serve a penalty charge notice.

 

The only remaining issue is whether the fact that the ticket was not clearly displayed at the time of inspection warrants the council taking a hard line and upholding the penalty charge. I believe that for the council to take such a stance would be contrary to the advice of the DfT and the Secretary of State.

 

Paragraph 85 from the Secretary of State’s Statutory Guidance to Local Authorities advises;

 

85. An authority has a discretionary power to cancel a PCN at any point

throughout the CPE process. It can do this even when an undoubted

contravention has occurred if the authority deems it to be appropriate in the

circumstances of the case. Under general principles of public law, authorities

have a duty to act fairly and proportionately and are encouraged to exercise

discretion sensibly and reasonably and with due regard to the public interest

 

This statutory guidance is given legal authority by section 87 of the Traffic Management Act 2004 whereby statute instructs that the council must have regard to this guidance. Any failure to have regard to this guidance is a procedural impropriety as defined by regulation 4(5) of the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England)Representations and Appeals Regulations 2007;

 

4(5) In these Regulations “procedural impropriety” means afailure by the enforcement authority to observe any requirement imposed on itby the 2004 Act, by the General Regulations or by these Regulations inrelation to the imposition or recovery of a penalty charge or other sum andincludes in particular—

 

As a valid ticket has been presented for inspection it is clear to any reasonable person that it would not be in the public interest to penalise a person who paid the required fee and did nothing to the detriment of the public interest. I cannot think of a more appropriate situation where paragraph 85 applies than this. I therefore politely request that the council act fairly and proportionately in this matter and exercise their discretion sensibly and reasonably by cancelling this penalty charge. It would be best for all if we can resolve this without the need to seek independent adjudication.

 

Yours with love, hugs and kisses

Edited April 28, 2013 by TheBogsDollocks

[Sueb343]

Thank you so much for your helpful response, I will give it a go as I have nothing to lose and feel that the fine is some what unfair.

[TheBogsDollocks]

The keeper is already liable for the penalty charge regardless of any goings on at the TEC, if you can tell me of a single PCN that the TEC has been asked to register as a debt and then refused please let us know?

 

Actually TEC is quite strict when it comes to registering debt and if a council does not provide all the required information in the required formats then TEC will reject the application to register the debt. TEC turn down applications everyday for discrepencies in the paperwork/datafiles.

[green_and_mean]

Actually TEC is quite strict when it comes to registering debt and if a council does not provide all the required information in the required formats then TEC will reject the application to register the debt. TEC turn down applications everyday for discrepencies in the paperwork/datafiles.

 

Maybe she should wait until it goes to Court then?

[TheBogsDollocks]

Maybe she should wait until it goes to Court then?

 

No need to be facetious. You wanted to know about penalty charge debts that TEC had refused to register and there are hundreds if not thousands every day. If I recall correctly, if 3 records or more are incorrect then TEC reject the whole batch and a batch can contain hundreds of debt applications. The council will then either drop the matter or go through the batch and correct any errors so that they can re-submit the batch.

 

If the truth be told, it is those that fail to register with DVLA or who give DVLA incorrect information that will never have to worry about paying a PCN or the likelihood of bailiffs calling. As usual it is the honest and diligent that are lambs to the slaughter.

[Kiki1]

I have received a local authority parking ticket, I had purchased the correct ticket and put it on my dash (there is no adhesive on the tickets in my area) but it had blown off when I shut the door. I appealed and sent a letter with the paid ticket as evidence.......

 

How much was the ticket when you purchased it ?

Has the Council acknowledged receipt of the ticket in the correspondence you have received from them ?

Did you take a scan for your own records before sending it off ?