Free Traffic Legal Advice

 
Hi there,

Over the course of 48 hours from 26th Sept at 10:29am and 28th Sept at 09:45am I received 4 PCNs in relation to an error relating to the 'protected vehicle status' in my online permit account.

My resident permit permits two vehicles, one of which needs to be selected as the 'protected' vehicle. I had selected one vehicle to be protected by the permit, when I meant to select the other. I had no idea this was the mistake until I contested the first ticket and two days later received the council's response explaining. By which time I had a further 3 PCNs.

Upon receipt of the first PCN I was surprised as I knew I had bought a permit. I checked the confirmation email for my permit to make sure that I definitely had bought a permit and entered the correct details etc, and there was no mention of having to select a particular vehicle. I also had no emails alerting me to the vehicle that I had selected. I had an email confirmation of my resident permit and showed this to more than one of the officers issuing the tickets. They agreed that I had a valid permit but were as confused as I was about why it was not showing on their system.

I challenged the first ticket on the basis that I had a valid permit and it was only when I
received the response on the 28th Sept explaining that I had not protected the correct vehicle that I realised the mistake. I immediately corrected the protected vehicle in the permit account. I thought that it would be fair to take this into consideration and waive the subsequent 3 PCNs. I corrected my error at the earliest opportunity and I don't think it is fair to charge me 4 times for effectively just 1 honest and accidental mistake.

The response was to waive the second ticket on the basis of a 'processing error', but not the 3rd or 4th tickets. I did not get a full explanation as to the basis of the 'processing error' but I believe it could be due to the 2nd ticket being issued on the same day as the first. The 3rd ticket was issued on top of the 2nd.

Here's all the info I have to hand (I'm away for half term) regarding the tickets, including one PCN, 3 x my challenges, and 2 x council responses : https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/drk9bl0n4mkqdhii779b8/h?rlkey=evbtk1o4m79pgoxsm1mhsufxq&dl=0

I'd like to know your thoughts on whether I should go for the tribunal with the remaining two PCNs? I only have until Monday before they go up to £130 each, so it would be great to get a consensus by then!

I'd have hoped that as a first offender resident with 5 years of having a legit permit the council would not be so heavy handed as to fine me 3 times for this. It's also a little galling that they can excuse their own 'processing error', but not mine! But such is the way of the world I suppose.

Let me know your thoughts!! Any help much appreciated...

Joe
 


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Thanks for your help. For clarity here are all 4 PCNs; Challenges 2 (+ evidence), 3 + 4 (the first one was not emailed to me but the wording was virtually the same); 4 x responses.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice.

You need to redact your name, address, and email address from the docs.

All the points you raise are arguable, but none of them make the case open and hust. On the other hand you only need one successful point to win.

It seems to me the circumstances apply to all the PCNs so if one was cancelled so should the others as well. So I would persist with this one, but of course, in the end, if they prove obdurate, you might have to take them to London Tribunals and risk the full amount so it is your decision, as it's not my money.