Free Traffic Legal Advice

I had received a PCN attached to my windscreen on date: 18/03/2023 with code 01: Parked on a restricted street during prescribed hours.

This I appealed using the councils online portal within the required period.

Following this I did not hear from them at all for another 3 months. When I did hear from them it was in the form of a Charge Certificate that stated that the penalty had not been paid in full and that the PCN had increased by 50%

I then called the Parking Services team to ask why they had increased the charge since I had appealed the original PCN and received no correspondence. The agent explained that a letter was sent to the address provided at the time and as no payment or further correspondence was received, the notice to owner was issued followed by the charge certificate. The agent went on to advise me to write in explaining that I had not received their correspondence which I immediately did.

One month later I received a letter repeating that they had written to me following my challenge but received no reply or payment. The letter goes on to say my submission has been received outside of the time to make an appeal as once the charge certificate has been issued, you have no further right to appeal. They go on to say they are prepared on this occasion to re-offer the discount of £35 to be paid within 21 days of the date of this letter.

Now I cannot understand how they can deny my right to appeal given they acknowledge my initial challenge and now know that I never received any further correspondence from them before the Charge Certificate was sent.

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The photos show a commercial vehicle:









So, were you actually loading or unloading something?

If so, you have grounds to fight the PCN on its merits so there would be no point in paying now.

Well, it depends on your attitude to risk. 

Normally we would advise you to wait for the final statutory document in the process called the Order for Recovery. This means the council have registered the debt at the Traffic Enforcement Centre at Northampton.  The OfR adds £9 onto the CC amount, being the fee to register the debt. At this stage you can submit a Witness Statement that you submitted reps but did not receive a rejection of those reps. The matter reverts, (AIUI), to the Notice to Owner stage. Unfortunately, the discount option is lost, so if you don't win an adjudication, you'd have to pay the full amount.

So you have a decision to make.  You haven't told  us the details of your reps against the original PCN and the circumstances that caused it to be served.

Crazy that they can log a debt against someone like this, and slap another £9 charge on top. My van was on site to load from  a catering trailer and to tow the trailer off-site.

Well the debt is "logged" but this is easily undone by filing form TE9 with the Traffic Enforcement Centre, and these debts don't appear on your credit score so don't worry about that either.

As long as you can supply evidence that you were loading I'd expect them to cancel at the Notice to Owner stage, so I'd definitely go for a re-set.

For now just wait, once the 14 day charge certificate period has expired, check the amount due at least once a week on https://parking.reading.gov.uk/. As soon as it goes up to £114 you can download form TE9 and fill it in (no need to print, just type it out on your computer and save), remember you are not the "applicant", the "applicant" is the council.

Once that's done you can email it to tec@justice.gov.uk with the PCN number in the subject line and both the Order for Recovery and the Charge Certificate will be revoked.

The council will then re-issue the Notice to Owner, again don't rely on the post just keep checking the council website. You'll know the PCN is back at the Notice to Owner stage when the outstanding charge changes to £70. At that point we will help you draft a formal representation.

Thank you for this.

Would you know how one would prove loading in this sort of scenario or what constitutes proof?

Quote from: DontStandForNonsense on August 02, 2023, 11:41:19 pm

Would you know how one would prove loading in this sort of scenario or what constitutes proof?

If it's your own business you'll have paperwork: receipts, invoies, delivery notes or similar. Maybe orders from clients, emails, text, whatsapp messages?

If you're working for an employer, they would have all of that.

If you regularly deliver to the same client, they might be willing to give you a witness statement.

If you were delivering to a nearby shop, they might have you on CCTV carrying the goods into the shop.

We tow the trailer to and from the location at the start of every day
There are set-up tasks and closing tasks including the exchange of goods between the trailer and van before the van is removed
Not sure how I would prove any of those activities as it isn't like I would have any receipts or delivery notes :/

You posted:
I had been swapping gas bottles at the nose of the trailer when the pcn was attached, and as soon as I saw parking attendant I asked why he had issued a ticket when I was a trader loading and preparing to tow the trailer away.

He apologised saying he had not realised the van belong to a trader and had not seen me before issuing the ticket. He went on to say he would make note and advised me to contest the ticket.

But they rejected your challenge:

Also, 'One month later I received a letter repeating that they had written to me following my challenge'

Post your initial reps and their reply pl. if you don't have their reply to hand then contact them and get a copy.

Let's target any formal reps against their argument and not reinvent the wheel.

We tow the trailer to and from the location at the start of every day

So it's not just you. Who is "we"?

Can you show us a photo of this trailer?

What goods are exchanged between the van and the trailer? Where do you get those goods from to begin with?

If goods are sold from the trailer, presumably there's a cash register, bank statements for card transactions etc?

Quote from: DontStandForNonsense on August 03, 2023, 01:01:06 am

We tow the trailer to and from the location at the start of every day

So it's not just you. Who is "we"?

Me and/or my staff

Can you show us a photo of this trailer?

Really just a box catering trailer. Parking services will be well aware of it. My trailer and those of others will be seen by their staff as well as CCTV 5 days per week.

What goods are exchanged between the van and the trailer?

Stock, food prepped off-site, utensils washed off-site, gas, water gallons, quite a few items.

Where do you get those goods from to begin with?

Wholesalers as and when our stock in the store run low (in other words, they are delivered to us elsewhere and usually not on the day we need them at the trailer.)

If goods are sold from the trailer, presumably there's a cash register, bank statements for card transactions etc?

Yes there is. But to be honest, as I mentioned earlier, they would be well aware of our trailer. It is just that the new warden didn't know the van belonged to the trailer so he issued a ticket. Now it feels like parking services are reluctant to back down because that is how they operate. I could provide them with a picture of my trailer attached to my van, or a video or me doing all of the loading or unloading activities as would have been done that day. I'm sure they could also request CCTV from the councils department but then that would probably expose the fact that they let all of the other 4 traders off that day...or worse, let them drag their heels EVERY day!