)1 is the correct code according to this adjudicator
2170012879
Mrs Moss’s appeal was scheduled for a personal hearing on 7 February 2017, but prior to the hearing she contacted the Tribunal and indicated that she would not be able to attend the hearing. I therefore proceed to decide the appeal on the basis of the documentary and photographic evidence produced by the parties.
The Civil Enforcement Officer (CEO) noted all the details of Mrs Moss’s car and recorded that this Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) was issued because the car was parked on double yellow lines. A note was made that the vehicle was displaying a disabled badge and a clock set at 13:00. This implied that the car had been parked more than 3 hours earlier, which is the maximum time that a vehicle displaying a Blue Badge may park on double or single yellow lines.
Mrs Moss made representations on the basis that she was dealing with an emergency relating to her elderly and ill mother (whose Blue Badge I assume it was), and that in her hurry she had accidentally turned the clock to the wrong number. With her Notice of Appeal she submitted a letter from her mother, who said that it was she who had set the clock to the wrong time. Mrs Moss sought the Authority’s leniency in these difficult circumstances. However I do not need to decide the appeal on the basis put forward by Mrs Moss, for the following reasons.
Paragraph 1(e) of the Schedule to the Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007 requires that a PCN must state, among other things, “the grounds on which the civil enforcement officer serving the notice believes that a penalty charge is payable”.The PCN in this case stated, "...the following contravention was believed to have occurred – 30(o) Parked for longer than permitted ".
The CEO’s evidence was that the car was parked on double yellow lines. That, on its face, is a contravention, unless an exemption applies. There is an exemption that allows a vehicle properly displaying a Blue Badge and clock to park for three hours. However that is an exemption (albeit a time limited one) to the prohibition on parking signed by the double yellow lines - it is not a permitted period of parking. Parking is only permitted in parking places. This is supported by the fact that the Standard PCN Codes issued by London Councils for use by Enforcement Authorities provides a number of suffixes for Code 30, indicated by the letters/number “flmnopsu1”. These translate, respectively, as free parking bay, loading place, parking meter, red route, Blue Badge holder, Pay & Display ,shared use bay, electronic payment, electric vehicles bay.
Whilst the suffix “o” refers to Blue Badge holders, it is quite clear from the context that that means that Code 30 may be used where a vehicle is parked in a parking bay designated for use by such badge holders – it does not mean that it is to be used where a vehicle is parked on double or single yellow lines.
An analogy is where a Traffic Management Order provides an exemption that allows a vehicle to park on yellow lines for up to 20 minutes for the purpose of loading or unloading; if a vehicle is seen loading or unloading, but for longer than 20 minutes, a PCN will be issued for parking in a restricted street, not for parking longer than permitted.
It follows that Mrs Moss’s car could not have been parking "for longer than permitted".
In these circumstances, whilst a different contravention (e.g. parked in a restricted street) may have occurred, I am not satisfied that the contravention actually alleged did occur.
I therefore allow the appeal.
