Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello everyone,

I received a PCN through the post for parking in a residential bay. I was out delivering to a customer on the same road for about 2 minutes. I parked, went into the building up 4 flights of stairs (no lift) and then came back all in the space of about 2 minutes. I seem to recall seeing the CEO taking a picture of my vehicle and I told him that I'm delivering. His reply was that I was parked in a residential bay and then walked off. I observed the CEO walking away and checking other vehicles. After about another minute, I drove off.

Anyway, here is the PCN...





google street view


As you can see, it says the CEO drove off before issuing a ticket which I find to be completely untrue. If I saw the CEO producing a ticket then I would of explained to them properly. Also, there are several pictures of my vehicle in the hackney council website but they are all timestamped and it shows that all of the pictures were taken in one minute (1904 hrs). There was one picture of the road where my vehicle was parked but it shows that it was taken 3 minutes after (1907 hrs).

Here is pics from PCN website...





And here are my delivery notes that I will use for my appeal...






And I could easily appeal as I have done so in the past but I get the impression that something is not right. The delivery took about 3 minutes to do. There is no evidence that the CEO was preparing a ticket before I drove off and the time stamps on the pics shows that the CEO didn't even bother to give adequate time before deciding that a ticket should be issued. Even on the PCN website,, it says the ticket was issued at 1909 hours but their own evidence (the pic where my van is no longer there) suggest that I had left 2 minutes before they decided to issue a ticket.

So, I would like to see if any of you guys could help out in maybe taking this further than lodging a normal appeal or should I just forget about it and appeal and get it over with?

I am challenging the PCN on the grounds that I was engaged in the exempt activity of loading and unloading in a residential bay.

I am a delivery driver for ***** and I deliver regularly within the London area. These range from street-based retail outlets to corporate clients with penthouse offices and security arrangements. On the day in question, I was parked in Calvert Avenue delivering food boxes to a customer that resides on Cleeve House in Calvert Avenue.

I have attached documents showing evidence of the company I work for, the time of my delivery and the times that I was located in the area. Its unfortunate that the officer didn't observe me and I didn't have a permit badge displayed, but the rules do state that unloading my vehicle with goods can take place in parking bays.

Hopefully, with that in mind and with the documents attached, you will see its necessary to cancel the ticket.

This above would be my normal replay but I would love to add in more including...

• The CEO acknowledge me, walked away and  made no attempt to produce a ticket while I was stationary in my vehicle
• The CEO claimed he was observing my vehicle for 5 minutes but I was parked for only 3 minutes

No I drove off before 1909. The CEO took a picture of where my van was parked at 1907.

On the PCN notice it says observed at 1909 but when I go to challenge online it says -

First seen at Thu, 12 Oct 2023 19:03
Issued at Thu, 12 Oct 2023 19:09

But I left at 1907 as the picture that the CEO has taken, which is timestamped clearly shows this.

Here you go:

Dear London Borough of Hackney,

I am challenging the PCN on the grounds that I was engaged in the exempt activity of loading and unloading in a residential bay.

I am a delivery driver for ***** and I deliver regularly within the London area. These range from street-based retail outlets to corporate clients with penthouse offices and security arrangements. On the day in question, I was parked in Calvert Avenue delivering food boxes to a customer that resides on Cleeve House in Calvert Avenue.

I have attached documents showing evidence of the company I work for, the time of my delivery and the times that I was located in the area. Its unfortunate that the officer didn't observe me and I didn't have a permit badge displayed, but the rules do state that unloading my vehicle with goods can take place in parking bays.

Hopefully, with that in mind and with the documents attached, you will see it's necessary to cancel the ticket.

Should you not be so minded, I draw your attention to the fact that the CEO acknowledged me, walked away and  made no attempt to produce a ticket while I was stationary in my vehicle, it therefore does not appear that the CEO had started to prepare the PCN before I drove away. Had the CEO told me he was preparing a PCN, I would have waited and accepted service at the roadside.

As the CEO could have served the PCN there and then and choose not to do so, there is no power to serve a postal PCN.

In any event the time of contravention on the PCN is 7:09 pm, and the evidence shows that I had driven away by then. The fact that the CEO might have thought that a contravention occurred a few minutes earlier is neither here nor there, as no contravention occurred at the time alleged the penalty charge notice must be cancelled.

Yours faithfully,

This sounds great. I was thinking of producing a more attacking but badly worded appeal so I'm glad I won't have to do this now I will update on the outcome as soon as I get it

Personally email them and ask what the technicality was.

parking.permits@hackney.gov.uk

This is their address.  FOIR is not the right route.