Free Traffic Legal Advice

Signs on Laycock Street near Upper Street:

Signs at the junction of Laycock Street and Liverpool Road:


Note, these signs are pretty irrelevant as they only cover the road where I was parked if you approach the road from the south. If you approach the road where I was parked from the North, you are not met with any entry restriction signs.

In the seesaw of decisions here's a loss from yesterday but the adjudicator didn't consider how you'd know at the roadside when a match is not a match and relying solely on a CPZ plan that may have said 'next match'...

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Appellant   Cheryl Cosgrove
Authority   London Borough of Islington
VRM   MK18TDZ
   
PCN Details
PCN   IZ35553105
Contravention date   07 Jun 2025
Contravention time   15:20:00
Contravention location   Arthur Road
Penalty amount   GBP 160.00
Contravention   Parked resident/shared use without a valid permit
   
Referral date   -
   
Decision Date   23 Apr 2026
Adjudicator   Martin Hoare
Appeal decision   Appeal refused
Direction   Full penalty charge notice amount stated to be paid within 28 days.
Reasons   Ms Cosgrove wrote: ‘I had made an effort to ensure that I was parked legally by checking the nearby signs. However, I was not aware of the specific restriction at the time due to unclear or misleading signage. The sign state match days.. there is no mention of events.. I have been informed there are a few signs across Islington, but again unless you know this or that events are included in the restrictions.. I didn’t know there was a concert and that there was additional parking restrictions in place.. I had my elderly father with who has a blue badge.’
The football season had finished and this was not a match day.
The civil enforcement officer’s photographs establish that this car was parked in a permit bay without a valid permit at 15.22 on Saturday 7 June 2025. The sign explained that a permit was required on a matchday Saturday 1.30-4.30 pm.
A zone entry point sign indicated ‘ next match day Fri6,Sat 7 June’.
The Authority explained ‘Match day controls also take any events including concerts at the stadium that has over 10,000 people there……
The match dates are also clearly displayed on the Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ) signage which are located at the entry points of each zone.’
The Authority provided a plan , plotting the entry point signage in place on 7 June 2025.
The car was parked in a permit bay without a permit despite adequate signage.
Had a Blue Badge been displayed it would not have conferred a right to park in a permit bay.
The appeal is refused.

You can raise anything with the adjudicator. Do you not have details on how to join the hearing?

Points to cover which I think were in your reps/appeal anyway. How did you check that it wasn't a football hime tie? I can't recall without reading it all back.

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The only parking sign at the location specifies match days and you checked and it wasn't a football match that day at the Emirates.

Islington's website starts at the top by saying:

Emirates Stadium restrictions
Find out about additional parking restrictions on Arsenal home match days.

Why would anyone think there was a restriction if Arsenal wasn't playing at home and look any further.

Islington has enclosed pictures from another street that is a dead end from both ends so you couldn't have driven through this and you have no idea what if any entry sign was passed. In any case controlled zone entry signs control single yellow lines not parking bays, which have their own signage and your duty was to check if it was a football match day.

Refer to allowed decisions.

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Joker - this decision possibly relevant but we don't know if authorisation is the same as this for only one 'next event. How many 'next matches' were on the sign.

Case reference   2250234820
Appellant   Chloe Arnold
Authority   London Borough of Newham
VRM   SX64EFL
   
PCN Details
PCN   PN21502865
Contravention date   29 Dec 2024
Contravention time   09:56:00
Contravention location   Ham Park Road
Penalty amount   GBP 130.00
Contravention   Parked resident/shared use without a valid permit
   
Referral date   -
   
Decision Date   29 Jul 2025
Adjudicator   Edward Houghton
Appeal decision   Appeal allowed
Direction   cancel the Penalty Charge Notice and the Notice to Owner.
Reasons   I heard this appeal by video link.
The Appellant’s case is essentially that there was no signage in the immediate vicinity to inform her that the day in w question was an event day. This may be so. However the Council clearly relies on this information being given on Controlled Zone signage which the motorist must pass in order to reach the eventual parking place – a standard form of stadium signage.
In the present case, however, although plans have been provided together with photographs of the signs relied on, these are of very poor quality and do not clearly show either the location of the signs or the location where the vehicle parked. I am not satisfied this evidence is sufficient to prove what is needed to be proved, namely that the Appellant could not have reached her parking place without passing such a sign.
I would also add that the Secretary of State’s authorisation for the sign allows the lower panel to be varied to the “date of the next event” – not the date of the next event and the event following that.
The Appeal must therefore be allowed