That case makes sober reading.
I've put together an appeal, however I waffle on a bit so I'm not sure how effective it might be. Nonetheless:
I have been issued with a PCN for an alleged contravention – 53 – Failing to comply with a restriction on vehicles entering a pedestrian zone, Perrin Road J/W Watford Road.
I believe there are mitigating circumstances and would like to request that you consider the following and please cancel the PCN.
I unwittingly entered the Perrin Road pedestrian zone. A vehicle restriction appears to have been enforced last year but I had no knowledge of its presence until now. I fully appreciate the value and purpose of the measures operating around the Sudbury Primary School hours of 8am to 9am and wholeheartedly support traffic congestion and road safety initiatives such as this, however not being a local resident I was unaware of its recent introduction and failed to recognise the restrictions that are now in place.
On the occasion of the alleged contravention I was travelling southbound along Watford Road in congested traffic. I chose to leave Watford Road by turning right into Perrin Road in order to join Harrow Road and continue my journey. I do accept that I made a mistake turning into Perrin road at this time given what I’ve since learned about the pedestrian zone, however, the trajectory that I legitimately followed to manoeuvre the junction meant that I did not see any warning sign about it.
Returning to the location subsequently I can see that there is a single warning sign positioned on the south side of Perrin Road on Watford Road. This would be visible to any driver travelling northbound on Watford Road before attempting to turn left into Perrin Road. These drivers are suitably informed by the signage and have adequate opportunity to abandon the manoeuvre to instead continue along Watford Road.
At the time of the alleged contravention there was no sign positioned on the north side of Perrin Road on Watford Road that would be visible to drivers travelling southbound on Watford Road. Since I was in slow moving congested traffic at the time I took the turn looking towards my right towards Perrin Road and understandably my attention was concentrated on the presence of any children or pedestrian activity across the road, first and foremost. The only warning sign pertaining to the pedestrian zone was positioned ahead on Watford Road, beyond the junction, at a distance and at an angle that is not easy to notice, let alone read. The only visible sign encountered on turning into Perrin Road informs of the “Wembley Stadium Permit Zone, on event days 10am – midnight” which is what I did observe at the time, but that did not apply.
I have since accessed images collected by Google maps and note that there was signage present on the offside junction of Watford Rd/Perrin Rd at the start of the scheme, but that at least from October 2022 there is an absence of signage at that position. Hence on the occasion of the 4th July 2023 I was not made aware of the vehicle restriction due to the absence of signage and attach images taken in support of this.
I understand that for the first two weeks Brent Council offered a grace period where drivers would be notified but not fined. This is a valuable provision for alerting any non-local driver about a policy that they would otherwise be unaware of. This is the only instance in which I’ve entered the pedestrian zone during restricted hours and am unlikely to be traveling here again during this time, so feel that the criterion for receiving a warning letter has not been effective in reaching out to motorists such myself who would have no other means of being informed of the restriction. For this reason, would you please consider cancelling the Penalty Charge Notice and instead issuing a warning notice so that I may be sufficiently alerted for the future?
Kind regards,
Original Signage (Sept 2021):
Subsequent Signage (Oct 2022):
Current Singnage:
