PCN from Lambeth council - do i have to pay?

[marc643]

Hey guys, just hoping for some advice.

 

I received a parking ticket for being in residents permit holders. I had displayed a one day visitors parking permit but had stupidly put the number plate of my old car in the license plate section.

 

I wrote to the council saying that fair play should be considered as clearly an attempt to comply was made but a stupid error occurred, they have written back saying that I haven't made grounds for cancellation of the PCN.

 

Do I have a leg to stand on here with regard to contract law, this is clearly a case of them extorting me for the money with no good will added.

 

Would love to hear some feedback and advice, thanks so much in advance.

 

Best regards

 

Marc

[honeybee13]

Hello and welcome to CAG.

 

I hope the forum guys will be along over the course of the day.

 

My best, HB

[Jamberson]

On the face of it, you don't have grounds to get it cancelled. The reason they want a registration number is so that permits can't be passed from car to car during the day - it's one permit, one car. With the wrong reg number on the permit, it's invalid for use.

[marc643]

Thanks for your input Jamberson,

 

Yes what you say is very right, i'll probably just have to pay, but it is still extortion in reality though. I had good will to comply and actually had two permits one for the next day too as i was staying over night, and the other car is in my name so they could easily tell I simply made a mistake, but as a for profit business they are only interested in extorting the money.

 

Thanks for your advice much appreciated.

[ericsbrother]

You could ask them tyo cancel the ticket for the wrong vehicle as you hadnt used it. PCN's are basically fines for breach of contract and no-one has said that the fine is X plus the cost of the permit so why cant you have that money back?

[Jamberson]

You could ask them tyo cancel the ticket for the wrong vehicle as you hadnt used it. PCN's are basically fines for breach of contract and no-one has said that the fine is X plus the cost of the permit so why cant you have that money back?

 

This is not correct. PCNs are not issued for breach of contract. They are penalties ("Penalty" charge notice), like fines. You are issued with a penalty charge for contravening the regulations covered by the decriminalised parking scheme.

[MaisyMouse]

This is not correct. PCNs are not issued for breach of contract. They are penalties ("Penalty" charge notice), like fines. You are issued with a penalty charge for contravening the regulations covered by the decriminalised parking scheme.

 

In many cases, contravention of a regulation IS a breach of contract.

 

Pay and display tickets for example, where it falls off the dashboard as the door is closed. The penalty is for failure to display rather than not having paid to park in the first instance

[green_and_mean]

In many cases, contravention of a regulation IS a breach of contract.

 

Pay and display tickets for example, where it falls off the dashboard as the door is closed. The penalty is for failure to display rather than not having paid to park in the first instance

 

That is a breach of a traffic regulation order, NOT breach of contract.

[Jamberson]

It's a penalty for contravening the regulations. There's no contract, not least because the vehicle is in contravention - no-one is driving it when it's parked in a P&D bay - and a vehicle cannot enter into a contract. I think you are confusing PCNs with private parking charges, where they do rely on contracts (and which is very shaky legally, anyway).