Free Traffic Legal Advice

The driver made a mistake and didn't notice the double yellow lines in a hurry, so a bit stupid to stop here for loading purposes.  However in their defence - the driver goes to this location few times every month, and there is a single white line on this road, however the council recently put double yellow lines (against the wishes of the residents), and since the driver was in a hurry and very familiar with the road, didn't notice the sudden change.  Also upon noticing the officer issuing the ticket, the driver immediately moved the car within the first 10 minutes, however the CEO gave the ticket within 9 minutes. Car was parked at 11:51, and moved at 12:01.  CEO issued the ticket at 12:00.  Evidence from the car logs with GPS location below. Also there doesn't seem to be any way to view the PCN evidence as the online portal is asking a web-code which is not on the ticket. Are there any grounds to contest this ? - not allowing grace period or any mistakes in the PCN ?

PCN Front


PCN Back


Evidence of moving the car at 12:01 from the internal car logs


Car Front


Car Back


Road


Google Street View
https://maps.app.goo.gl/oDNNJshs9xsMaEMa8

Quote from: flash2005 on July 12, 2024, 02:55:22 pm

The driver made a mistake and didn't notice the double yellow lines in a hurry, so a bit stupid to stop here for loading purposes. 

What were you loading and from where?

I was picking up a food packet from the church opposite.

Quote from: flash2005 on July 13, 2024, 08:43:53 am

Quote from: michael on July 12, 2024, 05:46:31 pm

Quote from: flash2005 on July 12, 2024, 02:55:22 pm

The driver made a mistake and didn't notice the double yellow lines in a hurry, so a bit stupid to stop here for loading purposes. 

What were you loading and from where?

I was picking up a food packet from the church opposite.

Loading is an exemption to yellow lines, but you have to justify the loading on the lines. So tell us more about the goods, like weight and bulk.

It was a personal pickup. Picking up a food box from the church opposite the road - 5 KGs approx. 20cm x 15cmx 30cm size.  The whole side street and the car park was fully blocked up with cars so there was no other space to stop

OK, so you should now submit an informal challenge to the PCN. I would suggest on the following lines: -

Dear Sirs

Re PCN <PCN Number> dated <dd/mm/yyyy served at <hr.mn> at Lambourne Road

I deny responsibility for payment of the about PCN penalty on the grounds that the contravention did not occur as I was engaged in loading.

On the day concerned I arranged to pick up a 5kg package of food from <address of church>, but found all nearby parking full, so was forced to park on the double-yellow lines nearby. I then walked to the church, collected the food package and returned to the car when the served PCN was seen. AS loading is an exemption to yellow lines restrictions, I request that the PCN be cancelled forthwith.

Yours faithfully

Many thanks.  What about the other points (e.g. grace period), also any evidence needs to be uploaded to support this ?

There is no grace period for parking on yellow lines, only in designated parking locations.

I wasn't able to file the informal challenge, because when I input the correct registration the PCN doesn't show. So I just realised that the CEO has made a typo in registration number of the car and one of the numbers is actually incorrect !!  Does this mean I don't need to file the challenge as the PCN is invalid ?

Failure to put the correct Reg Number on the PCN is, (or should be), fatal to the validity of the PCN. Does this reg. number actually exist ?

What you can do now is just wait for the Notice to Owner. This is sent to the registered keeper using information supplied by the DVLA.

The rules are that they only get one go at issuing a PCN, and they have to get it right first time, so the good news is that you've won. They can't issue a revised PCN with the correct registration number because they messed up the first one, it's fatal to the PCN as Incandescent says.

The only fly in the ointment is that they might try it on anyway, either because they don't know this, or because they assume you don't know this. You'll probably hear nothing more about this as they will probably realise their mistake and give up when they try to get your address to send you an NTO, but there's an outside chance you'll have to jump through a few hoops to prove they messed up. My advice is to hang on to the PCN as it's your 'get out of jail free' card if they do try it on.