Free Traffic Legal Advice

I drove into the bus lane. The PCN ocurred a couple of years ago (28/09/23) and I drive that road weekly, so I don't remember the details. That road has two lanes westward. The "middle" one ends in a forced right turn in the next intersection, so to carry on straight, you have to move to the left lane. As it's a busy road, traffic can create queues, and I might have gotten into the bus lane in anticipation to get into the left lane to continue straight in the interception. I hope this image clarifies it. Here's a link to the intersection in Google Maps. My car's position is about the same as the Post Office, that's why mi link points there.



I moved to a new house but failed to update my V5C. I updated it last year, but this PCN might be from earlier, and I haven't received any letters from the council about it. The first notice I got about the PCN is the Notice Of Enforcement from a debt collection agency, that I attach. Although the notice was issued on the 24th, I didn't get the letter until the 30th.



I requested evidence from Ealing council on Friday the 30th. The webpage said I would get an email that never reached, so I checked again today and got this image, although I didn't get any video. While the image shows my car clearly on the bus lane, there's no context (for example, did I move there because an ambulance was incoming?). I think, though, that it's pretty clear that I wasn't there to beat the traffic, as there wasn't any other vehicles, or blocked a bus, as there is none in the image.



Here's what I get if I try to watch a video of the infraction



I had a similar one before. It was the same scenario, the Council *may* have sent letters to the registered address (old address) which I didn't get, and I got notified by the recovery agency. That time, I did an out of time challenge which got me back to the claims stage. Neverhteless, the Council dismissed my claim saying that it was too late and told me that I could only pay the full amount (not the reduced amount) which I did. I was about to do the same, but I'm afraid that the council will dismiss any claims again, as they can simply say no, and I have either pay or go to court, which sounds really scary to me.

Thanks for your time, I really appreciate it.

Cheers!

The debt collector's letter is clear: you have a county court judgement against you, so the only way to approach this is via the court. Others will advise on how (or whether) to do that.

This isn't quite true. The Traffic Enforcement Centre is a special court that allows public authorities to instruct bailiffs to recover PCN debts. There is no judgment - it's a process that can be automatically reset in-time after issue of the order for recovery for certain legal reasons and, as here, there is recourse to an out of time statutory declaration, but there needs to be a good reason otherwise the authority (Ealing) usually won't accept. There is no danger of a CCJ but there is of the bailiff getting hold of one's car.

OP - the best advice is to pay before you get a bailiff visit as that adds £235. If an out of time declaration is successful you get back to the PCN stage and get a refund but you've been through this before and it looks like you don't have a good reason.

Is the bailiff notice addressed to your current home. 

From your video still the date of the PCN is 28 September 2023.

What date did you move
What date did you update the logbook

I wouldn't trust anything a bailiff says.

Ealing has form in chasing things up late - sometimes 4 to 5 years - so there may be something in that.

IMO, pay the debt as it stands and don't mess around.

If the OOT application which apparently you're 'in the process to request' is accepted, then your payment would be refunded.

If not, then you've minimised your losses.

This is not the time to play around with 'what ifs' as in 'what if they'd been an ambulance' (the answer to which is it is NOT a defence).

You have the option of not paying and submitting an OOT which would stop enforcement, but this runs the risk that if TEC reject then £235 could be instantly added to the debt.

Why take this risk?

4 days to provide procedural info here - the specifics of the contravention are not relevant at present - so:

Date of contravention;
RK's address at this time;
Date of issue of PCN;
Date RK moved;
Was mail forwarding put in place?

To raise just a few issues.

Fantastic! All clear!

Again, thanks for taking the time to help me with this one, I really appreciate it. I hope I didn't come as too whinny. I'll do as you recommend.


Cheers!