Free Traffic Legal Advice

Happy New Year to everyone,

I was a passenger in the vehicle driven at the time of the alleged contravention and I can categorically state that, neither I nor the driver saw any clear sinage (we don't live locally so were being extra viliglant). We revisited the Road in question, and the sinage placement means we would have to be walking giraffe's to see them; its deliberate entrapment! The signs are too high to be seen clearly from a moving vehicle, let alone read while in motion.

We noticed from the phone footage that I shot on the revisit that a sign is on the one way approach road (Manor Park Road), before you get to Crownhill Rd, but on the day in question we were driving AND did not see this sign [https://maps.app.goo.gl/XVFig7R74B55BrkG7] 

I would have paid the charge had I not gone back to check the signs, they are the hinged type so are currently blank and you can't see it clearly from the still image on the PCN so we cannot check what is on them until next week when schools are back.

I am very distressed about this and need help to make representations. The driver would never have turned on the road if the sinage had been clear. I have blanked out my VRM but happy to DM it if needed.

Links to the PCN [https://imgur.com/a/cypGYsU] [https://imgur.com/a/p5pdt6H]

Approach before left turn ahead [https://maps.app.goo.gl/1gGCn5rmzoGpFUbK8]

Additional photos from return visit [https://imgur.com/a/hfLUNU6]

Any advice/help would be very gratefully received, would love also love @cp8759 thoughts on this.

Thank you

Brent's website is problematic.

The signage is inadequate and the previous sign on Manor Park Rd is obscure and easily missed.

I agree the signs on Crownhill Road are totally inadequate for anybody turning left from Manor Park Road bearing in mind this is the only possible approach. Quite why some council idiot decided on this particular sign placement one has to wonder !  However there is an advance warning sign, and this is clearly visible at the start of your personal video, so your case is not as strong as you might hope. However, from your narrative, it would seem the discount period has expired, so it is now a total no-brainer to take them all the way to London Tribunals.

It is also quite obvious that there is frequent passage of high-sided vehicles in the form of double-decker buses on Route 18, as per the latest GSV view. You might care to look up the timetable for this service to see the service frequency at the time of the PCN.

In addition to the above, there may be a 'technical' appeal based on Brent mismanagement of the enforcement process. Hopefully 'Hippocrates' will comment on this aspect soon.

Please un-redact your vehicle reg number, because it prevents us from looking at the video. Alternatively download it from Brent and post it here.

The video shows no buses passing before you come along, but I still think the signage is pants. However you must be prepared to take them to London Tribunals if you want a fair hearing. I see Hippocrates has said their website is problematic, so that is another arrow to your bow, albeit a 'technical' appeal argument but these often win appeals on their own even when the contravention is clearly made out.

So I would carry on.

Can anyone help me with representations as my 28 days ends today?

Just put in some rep now. They don't need to be lengthy as they will refuse them automatically. Yes, they only want your money !  Just say the contravention did not occur, due to inadequate signage of the restriction.

I finally received a reply from Brent a few days ago (took more than a week from date of NOR to arrive).

Please can one of the moderators make my posts editable so I can remove previous duplicates?

On page two of NOR the officer states that there are various advanced signs surrounding the areas warning drivers of the restriction zone times. There is only ONE advance sign on the one way approach road we took. The other signs are well after the left turn into Crownhill Road, far too late to avoid the roads in question.

At the time of the alleged contravention we remember there being a high-sided white van parked on our left, most likely why we never saw the ONLY sign on Manor Park Rd. The other signs are perpendicular to Manor Park, only clearly visible if you are appraoching directly head on; you cannot see them because there are perperdicular to Manor Park Rd. 

Can someone advise for an appeal?

Thank you.

https://imgur.com/a/ihfvBe8