Dear London Borough of Wandsworth,
Ref: PCN WA87399625
I would like to make representations against the above PCN on the following grounds.
1. The PCN states a penalty charge of £110 for contravention code 52M Failing to comply with a prohibition on certain types of vehicles (motor vehicles).
Wandsworth Council's website lists 52M under "moving traffic contraventions all charged at the band A higher rate."
Source:
https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/parking/pcns-and-parking-fines/pcn-contravention-codes/Band A higher rate is stated as £130. The above PCN meanwhile states the penalty charge for a 52M contravention as £110 meaning it is invalid.
2. The grounds of appeal on Wandsworth Council website do not match statutory grounds.
There are five statutory grounds of appeal, which can be summarised as:
1) the recipient was not the owner at the material time,
2) the contravention did not occur,
3) the vehicle was taken without the owner's consent, and
4) the recipient is a hire firm and the vehicle was on hire, and
5) the penalty charge exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances of the case.
Wandsworth Council's website meanwhile only gives the following grounds:
1) The contravention did not occur
2) The vehicle was on hire
3) The vehicle was sold
4) Other
As "
other" is not a statutory ground (and merely reflects the authority's power to cancel a PCN for non-statutory reasons), only 3 of the 5 statutory grounds of appeal are listed.
The website is therefore misleading as to what grounds are applicable.
3.The time delay between charge certificate and order for recovery.
The charge certificate is dated 22nd February 2023 whilst the Order for Recovery is dated 31st August 2023. This equates to a period of 6 months and 9 days between postal dates of both documents.
This is an inordinate delay within the meaning of
Paul Richard Davis v The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (1970198981, 30 March 1998), at least absent some good reason to justify the delay.
It follows that the PCN must be cancelled,
Yours faithfully,
Send the representation via the council website, and make sure to keep a screenshot of the confirmation screen. It's best to put it all in a PDF file and upload it to the website as an attachment, in order to get round any character limits and also to preserve all indentation and
.
