Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello Everyone,


I am really hoping someone is able to help me, as I am    dreading to have to borrow money to pay the £715 or £1430 in full fines fines.


My wife who is insured on my car but not the registered owner drove down a "School Street" (Strathmore Rd with Shacklegate Ln Teddington) during the hours of operation. It was our first weeks taking my son to his new nursery and she was not aware of the signage at the time of contraventions. We have since reviewed the signage and it is clear so do not dispute the contravention but the fact that we are getting 11 in such a short time period.


The issue is that she was only aware of her contravention after receiving multiple PCNs. To make matters worse we are in process of moving out from my father's address where the car is registered to a new address so did not see the letters until 11 had been issued.


We appealed them all to the council but the Richmond system forces you to appeal each one indvidually. The replied back with 11 letters rejecting them but acknolgoing that since we had committed 11 contraventions they would extend the payment terms to 60 days at the discounted rate which will be 13 Jan 2024.


My option is to either pay 11 PCNs at the discounted rate of £65 each or appeal to London Tribunals where if its rejected again would revert to £130 each.  From what I have researched on https://www.londontribunals.gov.uk/about/registers-appeals , you need to appeal each PCN individually and the London Tribunals would review each PCN independenlty which makes me think that I have little chance of success.


Do I have grounds for an appeal to London Tribunals on grounds that i only was aware of my contravention after receiving 11. It seems at the very least the first contravention letter was issued on 21 Sept 2023 after I had made 5 cotinuous contraventions.  Of course i would like to appeal them all but also dont want to take the risk of losing and have to borrow money to pay the full fares.

Here is a chronological list of the Contravention dates and when the letters were recevived.
Date of Contravention/ Date of Notice/ Appeal Rejection Date
1. 13/09/2023 , 21/09/2023,  15/11/2023
2. 19/09/2023, 28/09/2023, 15/11/2023
3. 20/09/2023, 26/09/2023, 15/11/2023
4. 21/09/2023 0856AM, 28/09/2023 , 15/11/2023
5. 21/09/2023 1457PM, 28/09/2023, 15/11/2023
6. 25/09/2023, 03/10/2023, 15/11/2023
7.26/09/2023, 03/10/2023, 15/11/2023
8. 02/10/2023, 10/10/2023, 15/11/2023
9. 03/10/2023 0859, 10/10/2023, 15/11/2023
10.03/10/2023 1441PM, 10/10/2023, 15/11/2023
11. 05/10/2023, 12/10/2023, 15/11/2023


Link to images of PCN and correspondances with Richmond Upon Thames

https://imgur.com/a/DwxLCyF

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

OP, I'm a bit confused and would appreciate clarification.

The registered keeper of the vehicle is?
The V5C records at DVLA would show the registered keeper's address as A(your father's address)until when and B(your new address) from ? (I ask because many of the PCNs are clearly due to the RK not actioning mail delivered to them. You say that you were in the process of moving from A to B, but this doesn't explain why mail would not be received and how apparently all of the PCNs were obtained by you after 3 October)
You have listed dates which you have described as 'date received' and then 'date of notice', but these are mutually exclusive and confusing because if you had received any of these, other than the last, when you say then why did your wife continue to contravene the restriction?

And the $64,000 question: what the hell does extending the discount to 60 days mean and how the hell is this compatible with appealing to the adjudicator within the 28 day period with ONLY the full penalty in play???(this is really posed to other experienced posters)

..and, sorry to say, as well all know you don't just rock up to a school on day 1, you visit beforehand and go through an application process. If you are saying that at no time during this period was the restriction noticed by you or brought to your attention by the school or education authority then there's something wrong with their communications processes.

Dear All

Thank you for your time reading and your replies

Here is a Imgur link to the full PCN and representations -
https://imgur.com/a/3OyU22M

In response to  HC Andersen as per the imgur link and notice of rejection representation letter. they state  "Due to the high accumulation of 11 PCNs, the Council are able to extend the 14 days period to pay the discounted fee for 60 days" However in the next paragraphs is states that my options are "Either pay penalty charge of £130 or appeal against the charge to the Environment and Trafffic Adjundicator". I then checked the PCN on the website to pay them and they are applying for full payment terms for some of them - implying that it was 60 days from the Date of Notice letters. This seems crazily unfair!

To clarify- the car and DVLA (V5C) record is insured at my fathers house whilst we now live  at new address.I provided Richmond with my new council tax which shows my new address but Richmond already rejected this plea- see rejection correspondances. Due to the differing addresses which could be my own responsibility -we  only collected the mail after visiting my father after the 11th contravention letter was sent.

It does seem unfair as in 2020 i received a warning letter from richmond for contravention in a newly enforced School zone in another part of richmond borough rather than a PCN.

Is it worth making formal appeal to London tribunals for  some of them and settle the others at the reduced rate? For example The first  date of notice was 21 Sept 2023 after which my wife had made 5 contraventions (13 Sept, 19th Sept, 20th Sept and 21st Sept x2) but this appeal is on the basis of being reasonable and fair which doesnt have much legal grounds.

At the very least I would like to make a formal representation for the fines which are now being charged at £130

Thank you again for reading

Cal

I am writing this for the beenfit of someone that might have a similar case in the future ! As i won (sort of)

What happened next ? I decided to pay the discounted fare of £65 for the back dated 5 X PCNs as i didnt think i would win those. I made an appeal for the first 6 PCNs to london tribunal on the grounds that i had not recevied the first PCN in the post until commiting 6 PCNs. I calcualted the date of the letter had a 4 day delay from actualling being delivered to my postal address so this allowed me to argue for 6 PCNs. I also admitted that i was at fault for the first PCN but was actually only claiming this at the discounted rate of £65 as Richmond had stated in writing on th rejection letter that they would extend the disocunted rate for 60 days- however the payment system still reflected the de facto £130 fine.

After i submitted the london tribunal case , Richmond updated their payment system to reflect all PCNs at the agreeed extented discount rate of £65 which spooked me and I was very much contemplating to settle them all at £65 and be done with it.

However to my my amasement i received a letter from london tribunal that richmond would not contest my appeal and the first 6 PCN were all cancelled.

That for me feels like a small victory but the learnings here are that
- a possible reason is not receiving the PCN in the post from the date of committing the cotinuous PCNs
- council could have felt that going to london tribunals and punishing someone with 11 PCN would result in negative press and be detrimental.
- It really is a bit of risk taking here as i was prepared that i could lose them all.

Good luck and hope this info helps someone save money