I think you have a very strong case to put in front of an adjudicator, but could we get the authority to fold before then, I wonder?
..........
On Sunday 1 June, I parked at the location which is a parking place situated opposite no. 53 Brockwell Park Gardens. There was a single traffic sign within the parking place which clearly stated the following:
Parking: Mon-Sat 7am - 7pm.
As it was a Sunday and in the absence of any other traffic signs to the contrary, parking was therefore unrestricted.
Nonetheless, a CEO issued a PCN.
The alleged contravention is: Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours. (temporary traffic order)
It is unarguable that the only traffic sign displayed did not convey a 'no waiting' restriction. It is therefore the authority's burden to prove that the alleged restriction(no waiting) was conveyed in accordance with regulatory requirements. These are as follows(Part III of the Schedule to The Road Traffic (Temporary Restrictions) Procedure Regulations 1992 refers):
PART III
TRAFFIC SIGNS
6.—(1) In this Part of the Schedule, “the authority”—
(a)in relation to an order, means the traffic authority who made the order;
(b)in relation to a notice issued under section 14(2) of the 1984 Act, means the traffic authority or the concesssionaire who issued the notice.
(2) In this Part of the Schedule, a reference to an instrument is a reference to an order or notice issued under section 14(2) of the 1984 Act as applicable.
7. The authority shall take such steps as are necessary to secure—
(a)before the instrument comes into force, the placing on or near each road to which the instrument relates of such traffic signs in such positions as the authority may consider requisite for the purposes of securing that adequate information as to the effect of the instrument is made available to persons using the road;
(b)the maintenance of such signs so long as the instrument continues in force; and
(c)in a case where the instrument contains provisions suspending statutory provisions to which section 14(7) of the 1984 Act applies, such removal, replacement or covering up of existing traffic signs as the authority may consider requisite for the purpose of avoiding confusion to the users of the road.
Clearly, the authority have failed to satisfy 7(a) because there were no traffic signs conveying 'adequate information as to the effect of the instrument is made available to persons using the road'.
Similarly, the authority failed to satisfy 7(c) because at all times(and indeed still) the only existing traffic sign in the parking place was not 'removed, replaced or covered up'.
I would caution the authority against relying upon the single laminated A4 sheet blowing in the wind and attached at midriff height on the traffic sign post which I saw only after receiving the PCN. Not only is this not a 'traffic sign', its font size is so small as to make it unreadable. Its contents(which I have subsequently been able to retrieve online) relate only to the restriction and do not meet the authority's regulatory burden to place adequate 'traffic signs' and to avoid misleading motorists by failing to cover up the existing 'traffic sign'.
The PCN must be cancelled at the earliest stage and I look forward to your prompt confirmation.
Yours..
