No great surprise, I have received a NoR
It disputes only the contention that the sign was covered by foliage - admittedly a weak point - but even then alludes to the signage being clear, not to whether the clear signage was in fact obscured by foliage. What it signally does NOT address is the point about the Lambeth website being inconsistent with the PCN itself. This was the wording of my challenge, left unaddressed:
3. I am making a collateral challenge on the grounds that the penalty charge discount amount date as published
on Lambeth’s website does not coincide with the 14 day period on the PCN itself. The PCN states:
“If the penalty charge is paid before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the date of the notice, the
amount of the penalty charge will be reduced by 50% to £80.” The end of the 14 day period would thus be 11
June.
Yet on your website [extract taken today 10 June] it states:
The amount outstanding on the Charge Notice will increase to £160.00 on Tue, 17 Jun 2025. Please pay £80.00
now.
Moreover, the website gives the date of issue of the PCN as 18 May (which is when the CCTV was recorded)
while the PCN itself bears the date 29 May. Taken together this is all clearly misleading. I refer you to a recent
case decided at the London Tribunal [224036272 decided 15 October 2024] on similar grounds i.e. where
Lambeth’s website was inconsistent with the information given on the PCN. The adjudicator Mr Houghton said:
“In bare summary the Appellant submits that the Council’s website was giving incorrect and/or confusing
information regarding payment dates……The motorist is entitled to have clear and correct information from a
Council as to what is required to be paid and when; and in my judgement these errors are serious enough for the
Appeal to be allowed on the basis of a collateral challenge.”
I have been back onto the Lambeth website and it is now telling me that the penalty will go up to £240 on 19 July, i.e. it anticipates that I will not pay at the reoffered discount rate within 14 days and then assumes that a Charge Certificate will be issued, whereas the NoR itself says :"You can pay £160 if you miss the discount period. You have 28 days from the date of this letter being served to do this and it will close the case". Date of letter Tuesday 1 July, deemed serve 3 July, plus 14 days for the reoffered discount gets us to 17 July or payment in full by 31 July. So where does the seemingly definitive issue of a CC on 19 July fit into that timetable? I am minded to appeal to LT shortly after 19 July and then complain that they are threatening/seeking to issue a CC while an appeal is in progress, even if they do not actually issue it. This was the very point that adjudicator Houghton ruled on in my favour in the Rectory Grove 52M case last year.
Screenshot taken today (it's come out a bit small but the key message in the box is "The amount outstanding on the Charge Notice will increase to £240.00 on Sat, 19 Jul 2025. Please pay £80.00 now.") plus previous Lambeth website screenshot and also NoR:
https://imgur.com/a/xww7pMm
