Free Traffic Legal Advice

I received a PCN (53c Failing to comply with a restriction on vehicles entering a pedestrian zone) after driving through into one of these LTN's.

Its exactly the same sign as this guy here (https://www.ftla.uk/civil-penalty-charge-notices-(councils-tfl-and-so-on)/waltham-forest-53c-failing-to-comply-with-a-restriction-on-vehicles-entering-a-p/).

I appealed to Waltham Council saying the signage was inadequate and it was rejected. There is no advanced warning signs and i am not familiar with the area. I did not see the signs at the beginning of the street as i was concentrating on oncoming traffic and potential undertaking.

I have previously tried to appeal another one of these with London Tribunals for another borough and they rejected.
Is there any precedent for appeals for these LTN pedestrian/school zones being upheld on the basis of inadequate signage? I can’t seem to find any successful examples.

The council is offering the discounted rate of £80, which I’d lose if I take it to tribunal. I’m struggling to see the point of risking £160 if signage-based appeals are almost always rejected.

Interested to hear others’ thoughts or experiences.

The problem with the requirement for signage to be 'adequate', is that it is subjective. Your 'inadequate' is a council's 'adequate'. So you have to convince an adjudicator that your view is correct. Each case turns on it own facts, there being no hard and fast rules that one can follow to prove 'inadequacy'. That said, a lot of appeals are won where the driver has to turn left or right into the restriction. At a junction, a driver must be alert to traffic and pedestrians at the junction, so without any advance warning of the restriction that alerts him not to attempt the turn, one can state the signage is 'inadequate'. HOwever, it is the adjudicator who decides, based on the civil law test of "on the balance of probabilities". That is why we always recommend appellants request a hearing at the London Tribunals, and never a decision on the papers.