This is my draft appeal. Any expert advice would be appreciated!
"The alleged contravention did not occur because the suspension had ceased to be required for its stated purpose before the PCN was issued.
The key contemporaneous evidence is the council’s own live roadworks map for 21/01/2026, which showed no active utility works on Wendover Road on the date of the alleged contravention. This directly supports my position that the utility works had been completed by 20/01/2026 and that the suspended bay was no longer required on the morning of 21/01/2026 when the PCN was issued.
This is corroborated by the CEO photographs, which show a fully unobstructed bay with no works, barriers, equipment or activity present in or around the suspended bay.
The council has produced no evidence whatsoever to contradict this evidence and show that the bay remained operationally required for utility works at the material time.
A suspension is imposed for a specific purpose. Once that purpose has ended, continued enforcement serves no lawful traffic management purpose. Instead of addressing whether the suspension remained necessary, the council’s position rests solely on the fact that the suspension signage remained physically in place and visible, essentially a mechanical interpretation.
Further, the enforcement authority committed a procedural impropriety by failing properly to consider my representations.
My representations specifically relied upon the council’s own live roadworks map showing no active works on Wendover Road on 21/01/2026. However, both the Notice of Rejection of Challenge and the Notice of Rejection of Representations failed to engage with this evidence at all. Instead, the council responded to matters I did not dispute, namely signage visibility and awareness of the restriction.
The enforcement authority has therefore failed to properly consider the substance of my representations.
I therefore respectfully request that the appeal be allowed."
