Free Traffic Legal Advice

I sent this yesterday,

Have you read my email dated 17th December?
I could not enter representations up to 28 days as you had prematurely issued the Charge Certificate?

Kind regards


I received the following response today. I’m totally confused now ……




Good Morning,
 
I am unsure of why another case has been mentioned hence the confusion.
 
Please be advised you have stated you have not received prior correspondence. Therefore, the next process is to wait for an Order For Recovery to be issued, within the Order For Recovery there will be a statutory declaration enclosed. There will be three grounds on the form, one ground will apply to your situation. Once actioned you must send the form to the address outlined on the form.
 
When the Traffic Enforcement Centre action your paperwork, they will send us a revoking order, and yourself one. You will be contacted by the local authority.
 
The Penalty Charge Notice will then be reset, and you will then have the option to pay the reduced amount or make a representation against the charge.
 
Regards,


Each time I’m corresponding with the same person as LB Redbridge so it’s not that they are not aware of the all facts  of this case. And PCN number is always included in emails….🤷
 

So should I wait till the 13th for the outcome or go straight to the stage 2 complaint as you suggested @cp8759 ?

@WaltWhite wait till the 13th, I thought one of the previous replies you'd received was the stage 1 response, but obviously it wasn't.

Quote from: Incandescent on December 31, 2024, 12:07:31 pm

As far as I can see, the sender of the email knows absolutely nothing about the process, because none of the reasons above seem to fit your circumstances, although you did attempt to submit reps but the system would not accept them, so I would tick the second ground if it were me. You did make representations !

+1, council officers often try and be helpful but have no idea what they're talking about. @WaltWhite please correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I can see none of the three statutory grounds for filing a PE3 apply to your case.

Happy New Year.
I did try and submit reps on the 15th but the system wouldn’t allow me to. I then emailed them to the Parking team at the council a couple of days later when I got their contact details. No response to them though yet.
Would that count as one of the statutory grounds?

Quote from: WaltWhite on January 01, 2025, 01:29:56 pm

Happy New Year.
I did try and submit reps on the 15th but the system wouldn’t allow me to. I then emailed them to the Parking team at the council a couple of days later when I got their contact details. No response to them though yet.
Would that count as one of the statutory grounds?

No, you have to use the formal complaints process.

Do you have a timed / dated screenshot from the 15th showing that the system wouldn't allow you to submit a representation?

Yes. The file ‘Properties’ show the screenshot as taken on the 15th Dec. Hopefully that’s ok?

Just received this today. Advice here gratefully received.

As per thread above I have made an official complaint but not heard anything yet.

It is a letter intended to intimidate you into paying by using the words "County Court". People then panic and cough-up thinking it means a CCJ. Well, it doesn't. In the enforcement process of all PCNs, there is no possible prospect of a CCJ, because this possibility was deliberately excluded from the legislation. That is why there is the Traffic Enforcement Centre.

My personal opinion is that such letters are unlawful but there is no legal way of getting this accepted, it seems.

OK so what is my next step here?

Quote from: WaltWhite on January 08, 2025, 06:04:16 pm

OK so what is my next step here?

Wait for the complaint outcome.

This is the original reply to my stage 1 complaint:

Dear
 
Your case reference:
 
I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your complaint received on 24 December 2024. I am sorry that you are unhappy with the service you have received. The points raised in your complaint will be considered under the first stage of the Council's complaints procedure and you will be sent a response by 13 January 2025.
 
If there are any delays in providing you with a response we will let you know.


.................................

So the latest is that I did not receive a response by today (13th), or either an email informing me of a delay to responding......

After chasing I have now received this response....

14 January 2025
Dear Mr
Your complaint 25459741

Thank you for your recent complaint received on 24 December 2024.
I am the Resolution Officer, and I am writing in response to your complaint. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding. I have been liaising with the relevant team to clarify a particular point.
I understand from your form that there are key aspects to your complaint which to be resolved as follows:
Your complaint is regarding premature issuing of Charge Certificate for PCN AF30026923.You want the Charge Certificate to be cancelled so you can submit representation.
I have carried out a full review of all aspects of your complaint, as noted above. I am sorry for the inconvenience this matter may have caused. I have liaised with the Parking team and also looked at parking records concerning this matter.
Please note, all PCNs have a statutory process. Unfortunately, we are unable to deal with the PCN outside of the statutory process. I noted from the records that the Parking team has been in liaison with you in this regard and has given you appropriate advise on 30 December 2024.
The extract below is from the email sent by the Parking team, where they have asked you to wait for Order for Recovery to be issued and explained the process thereafter.

“Please be advised you have stated you have not received prior correspondence. Therefore, the next process is to wait for an Order for Recovery to be issued, within the Order for Recovery there will be a statutory declaration enclosed. There will be three grounds on the form, one ground will apply to your situation. Once actioned you must send the form to the address outlined on the form. When the Traffic Enforcement Centre action your paperwork, they will send us a revoking order, and yourself one. You will be contacted by the local authority. The Penalty Charge Notice will then be reset, and you will then have the option to pay the reduced amount or make a representation against the charge”

Regarding the concern about the premature issuance of the Charge Certificate, records indicate that the PCN was posted on 14 November 2024(date of notice), and the Charge Certificate was posted on 13 December 2024(date of notice). Therefore, there has been no premature issuance of the Charge Certificate. The notice dated 14 November 2024 states that if you fail to pay or make representations before the end of period of 28 days beginning the date of notice, an increase charge of £195 may be payable.

I note that Final reminder to Keeper has been issued on 6 January 2025 (see attached), the next notice to be issued is Order for Recovery. Unfortunately, the Charge Certificate cannot be cancelled, and you must follow the advice to resolve this matter.

Based on my findings, I am not able to uphold this aspect of your complaint.

This response covers Stage One of the Council’s complaints policy. We take all complaints seriously and are committed to getting issues resolved promptly and efficiently.

I trust that I have dealt with your complaint satisfactorily. If, however you are not satisfied with my explanation, in some circumstances we may consider a request that your complaint is considered for a review.
You will need to
• tell us why you are unhappy with our decision
• include any new information or evidence that could support your case, or highlight
anything that you do not feel has been considered when you made your complaint • tell us what outcome you are seeking
A request for a review should be made within 20 working days. In some circumstances, we may not escalate your complaint, however, we will write to you giving our reasons for this.

If we accept your request for a review, a senior manager will be appointed to reconsider your complaint and we will write to tell you the outcome of the investigation within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely


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As stated earlier in this thread, the Parking team appear to have confused my case and given me contradictory advice.
They do not accept what is stated here about the Charge Certificate being issued prematurely, preventing me from being unable to send my reps on the 15th Dec

I cant take the risk of this building up and up.
What do I do now?