Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello

today i received a pcn on chiswick high road, london whilst doing my job as a self employed telecoms engineer for parking on the pavement. the job required me to work on cables coiled in a manhole chamber in the back of my van on my workbench. I was on the pavement.

Van was coned off, beacons flashing and my work area was fully barriered off whilst i was working on the cables with the rear doors wide open in the back of the van. there was space for pedestrians to pass the other side of the van.

a member of the public informed me that i had just been issued a ticket, the officer did not speak to me at all. i have been doing this job for 15+ years so am well rehearsed with them telling me i need to move/giving me a time limit etc. they did not approach me where i was working at the back at all, all the photos are just taken from the front (perhaps to try and make it look like the van is just parked there and not actually working there)

I had a similar ticket like this once before (maybe 13 years ago) and seem to recall being advised to tell them on my appeal that i am a statutory undertaker for a utilities company (virgin media) and to provide a copy of jobpack showing the location i was instructed to work at.

Should this be the way i contest this pcn here? Is there anything other i should add?

Links to photos below,
Thanks



PCN:
https://imgpile.com/p/WH1kquK

PCN evidence:
https://imgpile.com/p/MF9Zz5x

Photos i took from site for context:
https://imgpile.com/p/UWjg70Z

Surely if you're going to do a job like this, you need to get a permit to work from the council ?

Permit for what?

IMO, the council doesn't decide whether the statutory exemption to the alleged contravention applies:

(7)(a)Nothing in this section shall make it unlawful under subsection (1) of this section to park a vehicle of any of the following descriptions, that is to say:—

......

(ix)vehicles used in connection with the placing, inspecting, maintaining, adjusting, repairing, altering, renewing or removing of apparatus or accommodation therefor in, under or over a road;

Whether there was a breach of any other local or statutory Act, Order or prohibition is another matter and doesn't bear upon this contravention IMO.

OP, pl elaborate on what you were doing and the role of the vehicle in this. For example..

I am a **** and I undertake works for **** on a contracted basis. In this instance, the scope of the works was as follows:
*******
*******

The nature of the work is such that essential equipment is not portable but is set in the rear of the vehicle which therefore acts as a piece of mobile plant/workshop, that is to say the vehicle must go to the site of the works because what is being examined/repaired cannot be moved to the vehicle, ** get quite annoyed if their cables are cut.

At the time of the alleged contravention, I was examining and testing cables which, as can be seen in my photos, were trailed across the footway to the rear of my van, hence my barriers.

Exemption 7(ix) of section 14 of the GLC General Powers Act therefore applies and the PCN must be cancelled.

I leave it to the authority to decide what further action to take as regards the biased photographic evidence which omits any view of the rear of my van.

OP, pl fill in the gaps and post your own draft here.

Are you the registered keeper of the vehicle?

Check their website please and report back what it says.

Thank you so much for all the help. we got the ticket overturned!

I received the following from them:

"Thank you for writing to us regarding the above Penalty Charge Notice.
We have noted the points raised in your letter and have cancelled your Penalty Charge
Notice due to technical grounds.
You were issued a PCN for parking with one wheel (or more) on the pavement or off the
road. Pavement or off-road parking is not allowed unless signs say otherwise. This rule
applies 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and is enforced because vehicles:
• can get in the way of pedestrians, especially blind people or people with prams; and
• can damage paving or underground pipes.
Please accept our apologies for the inconvenience this may have caused you.
This case is now considered closed, no further action is required."