Enfield, code 11 parked without payment of parking charge, N18

Good evening,

I received the below PCN yesterday outside North Middlesex Hospital. There were no spaces in the hospital car park and a queue of cars waiting, so I dropped my son off at A&E reception (we were visiting my dad), exited the car park and turned left onto Bridport Road.

The only payment options on Bridport Road are by phone (text, app or call). My son had my phone with him, so I went to retrieve it and was gone only a few minutes. By the time I returned, a PCN had already been issued. The observation period is just one minute (15:39–15:40), and the photos of the car are timestamped 15:42 with the ticket already on the windscreen.

I find it unreasonable that a motorist using a mobile-only payment system is given no more than a minute to make payment, particularly where there is no alternative method available.

I intend to contest the PCN, but in your experience is this worth pursuing, or do councils usually stick rigidly to the letter of the rules in cases like this?





Pic of distance from parked car to A&E reception

I intend to contest the PCN, but in your experience is this worth pursuing, or do councils usually stick rigidly to the letter of the rules in cases like this?

Experience of this forum is that the London councils are venal and rapacious, and Enfield is no exception. They very rarely give way, but notwithstanding this we always recommend putting in some representations. However, just so you know, >95% of all informal challenges to a PCN served at the roadside are rejected. Councils do this, because they know that most people then just cough-up to get the discount. Formal reps against a Notice to Owner, the next stage, are usually looked at in more detail, but the discount option has gone by then.

It is, however, difficult to think of a robust appeal argument in your circumstances as the council have not done anything untoward; a CEO saw your car, it had no parking session, so served a PCN;  what else would you expect ?

Maybe in your favour is the convention that time is always allowed in which to pay for parking after having parked, otherwise nobody could ever park legally ! But appeal decisions on this go back to the ticket machine era. What was  not allowed, and appeals failed on this,  is to go to get change for the machine, and your circumstances seem to fit this sort of scenario. There is no requirement in law for any period of observation, and indeed, for a parking bay requiring mobile phone payment, it is difficult to think why any observation period should be necessary.
Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but it is cold reality in London

Anyway, wait a bit for others to comment.

The PCN has been correctly issued and all you have is mitigation but they must consider a polite ask.

But did you start a parking session?

Hi, no I didn't, I saw the attendant walking away from the car when I was walking back and didn't see the point as he'd already issued it and I wasn't staying for long. I'll just have to contest and see what happens but not expecting much, as you say it was legit just seems overly harsh they can do that with no observation period when the only way to do it is by phone.

What was the CEO supposed to observe? If you had had your phone you would have been there buying a parking session. But you weren't.

You've been unlucky and it goes to show how vital a mobile phone is these days.