Hi wonderful and selfless people. I received a PCN a few weeks ago and, contrary to the advice here, I have already sent an appeal to the council and had it rejected. The PCN and initial rejection letter from harrow council is here:
https://imgpile.com/p/iQgNhnz Please could I get a second opinion on whether I have a good case to appeal to the independent adjudicator? I believe my main points of argument are
- It was a night drive, and the left hand side blue "bus and cycles only" sign's light was not working and therefore was near-invisible to a driver at night as was the case for me
- The final deflector arrow points directly into the bus gate, which is very misleading
Images and further details can be found here on my reddit post at the time of initial appeal here:
from r/drivingUK
Furthermore, their response letter claims several things which I believe to be false:
- "restricted routes are identified by thick white demarcation line": I assume they mean a thick white longitudinal line, this simply does not exist
- "Words BUSES AND CYCLES ONLY are painted on the carriageway itself": also does not exist
- "although not necesssary to meet the regulations - the roadway is paved with red asphalt": this is simply untrue, confirmed by the last image on my reddit post where the road is the same colour as the rest of the carriageway.
I am unsure if the response letter plays into my favour. Regardless, please could I get some advise on:
- Whether it's worth appealing now via www.londontribunals.gov.uk
- if so, how to word my case and what to include in the online appeal
In case it helps, this is how I worded my initial appeal to Harrow Council:
I would like to appeal as I entered the bus gate unintentionally and in good faith at 22:02. I am happy to share dashcam footage if accepted to support my case.
Main contributing factors:
- At the time, I did not see a blue bus gate sign on the left.
- Upon reviewing my dashcam footage I see that the left sign’s light was not working. The sign was non-reflective so it was very hard to see when at reading distance, contravening TSRGD 2016.
- In contrast, the signs on the right hand side were brightly lit, which naturally drew my attention away from the left sign.
- The final “get in lane” arrow painted on the road is pointing directly towards the prohibited gate.
This was my first time driving in this area so the lack of prior warning signs and unclear road markings made the bus gate very sudden and confusing. As a result, I instinctively kept left in line with my normal driving practice. Due to the light outage, I sincerely request that this PCN be cancelled please. Thank you.
