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Quote from: Enceladus on August 25, 2024, 04:47:07 pm

Also please post up a draft of your skeleton on here for scrutiny and crediblilty check.

Here goes the draft...

I would like to appeal the PCN CR46209082 through the arguments in my formal representation. I would like to combine the appeal with the appeal against PCN CR46274186 and also would like to request a personal hearing. Both PCN's were levied after I was evacuated from my house by the council on Mar 22, 2024 and not allowed back till the afternoon of March 23, 2024.

Details: 
On March 22, 2024, we were asked to evacuate our house at short notice because of a gas leak in the area. Being an emergency, we were not given details about the duration of the evacuation.

After a few hours, we were told by a Met Police staff that we will be unable to spend the night at our home. We were given the address of a church to stay overnight. The police were not able to give advice on where to park our cars. We have 2 kids of 4 and 1 year old at home, so we had to use our car to transport the family, after taking basic food and milk supplies for the kid and the baby.

The car park at the church was occupied, and so I had parked the car overnight on Altyre road, and had planned to move it during the morning upon further instructions from the council and the gas agency. I kept calling the council through the morning about the next course of action for the residents, but they were not able to provide me with any updates. I had also been ticketed during this time. PCN CR46209082 was issued in the morning (08:34) while I was still awaiting instructions from the council to no avail.

As per the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, in the event of an emergency, it is imperative for the local council to:

Put in place arrangements to make information available to the public about civil
protection matters and maintain arrangements to warn, inform and advise the public
in the event of an emergency;

Food provisioning was not taken care of by the council. The council also failed to provide information about the expected timelines and make contingency arrangements (including food provisions) for families with kids. Had there been clear instructions on parking arrangements after the evacuation, we would have followed those instructions.

We made many calls to the council for updates, but they did not have much information about the status on the ground. They redirected us to the gas agency, SGN.

While the gas agency messaged us on Saturday at 10:56 AM, that we were allowed back into our homes, it did not tell us that the road access to our home was blocked and our car won’t be able to come in. We arrived on Lansdowne Road (which is one-way) but found the access to our home was blocked. There were no diversion signs, or information about where residents of Emerald House have to go.

I parked the car safely at the nearby Walpole Road, and went to inquire the staff and the police in the area about the diversion and instructions for residents of Emerald House. It was during this time that my car had been ticketed.

Had there been clear instructions on the diversion, or had we been told about the blockade in advance, we would have acted accordingly. I also had placed a clearly signposted message on the car, saying that there has been an emergency evacuation at our house. Besides, the ticketing officer has indicated an observation time from 11:30 to 11:30. I did not receive sufficient time for getting the information about the road block, or spotting the officer and explaining the situation to them.

We kindly request the adjudicator to cancel our PCN considering the council has not given us any directions during the evacuation on parking and blocked the way to our home without any information on return.

We are residing in .... and we have been residents for three years in Croydon. On March 22, 2024, we were asked to evacuate our house at short notice because of a gas leak in the area. Being an emergency, we were not given details about the duration of the evacuation.

After a few hours, we were told by a Met Police staff that we will be unable to spend the night at our home. We were given the address of a church to stay overnight (attached pic). We were not permitted to return to our homes till the noon of Saturday. We made many calls to the council for updates, but they did not have much information about the status on the ground. They redirected us to the gas agency, SGN.

While the gas agency messaged us on Saturday at 10:56 AM, that we were allowed back into our homes, it did not tell us that the road access to our home was blocked and our car won’t be able to come in. We arrived on Lansdowne Road (which is one-way) but found the access to our home was blocked. There were no diversion signs, or information about where residents of Emerald House have to go.

I parked the car safely at the nearby Walpole Road, and went to inquire the staff and the police in the area about the diversion and instructions for residents of Emerald House. I wanted to understand the situation before deciding the length of the time for which I had to buy parking, because it was not my original intention to park in that bay.

It was during this time that my car had been ticketed. The observation period in the ticket was under a minute.

Had there been clear instructions on the diversion, or had we been told about the blockade in advance, we would have acted accordingly. I also had placed a clearly signposted message on the car, saying that there has been an emergency evacuation at our house. Besides, the ticketing officer has indicated an observation time from 11:30 to 11:30. I did not receive sufficient time for getting the information about the road block, or spotting the officer and explaining the situation to them.

In their notice to rejection and informal rejection, the council makes no allusion to our situation and has provided only a generic rejection letter. The super-short observation period of under a minute has also not been addressed.

We appeal  to cancel the PCN on account of the above procedural impropriety by the council.

@cp8759 - would you mind giving some free advice this time around?