Author Topic: Manchester City Council, Code 06 Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay and display ticket or  (Read 271 times)

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seenit

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On Tuesday, I took my girlfriend out for a little lunch in the city for her birthday, we decided to drive as she had a hospital appointment at 2pm so it would've been easier for us to hop in the car and zoom out of the city afterwards than walk home and then drive out.

I parked on Ducie Street, opposite the Ducie Street warehouse, walked over to the parking terminal to pay and got the code to buy time using the 'pay by phone' app and purchased 2 hours from 12:21 to 14:21, returned to the vehicle at 13:50 to find the dreaded yellow sticky pocket on the windshield, I wasn't too concerned initially but instantly logged back onto the app to figure out why we have a ticket when I had most definitely purchased it, my eagle eyed girlfriend immediately pointed out that I had incorrectly entered my own registration by 1 digit. I entered XX61 XXX instead of XX71 xxx!!

I haven't had a PCN before and want to ensure that my appeal is water tight as this was (to me at least) a clear and obvious human error that would be reasonable for anyone to make, I still paid for a ticket and left before my time was up, any advice or drafting is very welcome and much appreciated

Attached: copy of the PCN
PCN IMGUR
apologies, did try to get a BB code as the help post asks but it would only give me the link option

location of the parking fine:
Google Maps Streetview

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Incandescent

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clear and obvious human error that would be reasonable for anyone to make,
It's things like this that they dine out very generously on !

Clearly it's your error not theirs, so any reps you submit need to be non-confrontational and reasonably humble, although not "crawling on your belly" type.  You will be asking them to use their discretion in view of this simple human error. It is entirely up to them whether to accept your reps or not. They have not lost any money at all so morally, should do so. Be aware that adjudicators can only decide on a law basis, and cannot consider mitigation. This arose from a High Court case a long time ago, probably in the 90s when decriminalised parking enforcement came in.

You could try something like this -

Dear Sirs

Re PCN <number> dated <dd/mm/yyyy> served at Ducie Street

I wish to politely request that the above PCN be cancelled as it only arose as the result of a very minor error when entering my car registration letter into <name of pay-by-phone app>

On the date in question, I parked on Ducie Street to take my girlfriend out in Manchester city on the ocasion of her birthday. I paid to park using <PbP app> for a full two hours and was therefore very surprised to find a PCN on my car when we returned from lunch within the two hour period. A quick examination of my PbP entry showed that I had made a very minor typing error when entering the registration number, typing XX61 XXX instead of XX71 xxx. An easy mistake to make, and I hope you will agree that an error like this, particularly when the council have lost no money at all from my error, is minor and does not require the imposition of penalty.  I hope therefore that you can cancel the PCN as a goodwill gesture. I shall make sure I am more careful in future.

Yours faithfully
« Last Edit: August 01, 2024, 06:34:57 pm by Incandescent »

stamfordman

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Manchester will probably cancel this given its policy and Incan's draft looks like it will do the trick.


Phantomcrusader

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It's odd that the penalty level is £50 when the regulations (see reg 2(2)(b)(i)) make the contravention a higher level contravention requiring them to impose a £70 penalty.

Due to this, it's reasonable to argue that a procedural impropriety (P.I) has occurred and so the penalty must be cancelled. It's a P.I because the council has failed to comply with this instruction

Quote
1.—(1) Penalty charges for relevant road traffic contraventions(1) must be set

(a)for higher level contraventions, at the level specified in column (2) of one of the bands in Table 1, and

(b)for all other contraventions, at the level specified in column (3) of the band selected for higher level contraventions.

(2) The discounted level for a penalty charge which is paid early must be set

(a)for higher level contraventions, at the level specified in column (4) of the band specifying the levels of the penalty charges;
« Last Edit: August 02, 2024, 08:45:19 am by Phantomcrusader »

stamfordman

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It's odd that the penalty level is £50 when the regulations (see reg 2(2)(b)(i)) make the contravention a higher level contravention requiring them to impose a £70 penalty.

06 is a lower level code - there must be something in that reg that is either wrong or applies to a shared use bay.

Phantomcrusader

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06 is a lower level code - there must be something in that reg that is either wrong or applies to a shared use bay.

According to the regs applicable to outside London, the code 06 contravention description they've used is a higher level penalty. The word "must" is used making it a P.I to not comply. The statutory guidance on parking enforcement says

Quote
The guidance has no special authority in regard to matters of legal interpretation. Where there appear to be differences between the guidance and the legislation, the legislation always takes precedence.
I accept it's bizarre to challenge on the basis of being under charged but it's there to be exploited if they don't cancel on the discretionary ground mentioned.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2024, 12:59:42 pm by Phantomcrusader »

stamfordman

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06 is a lower level code - there must be something in that reg that is either wrong or applies to a shared use bay.

According to the regs applicable to outside London, the code 06 contravention description they've used is a higher level penalty. The word "must" is used making it a P.I to not comply. The statutory guidance on parking enforcement says

I'm sure someone will clear this up but obviously all codes for P&D parking bays only are lower level in and out of London.
I think it may be an ambiguity in:
i.without displaying a permit, voucher or pay and display ticket;
In that this means a bay that is only for all of these (a shared used bay, which is a higher level) except of course it is also higher for permit only bays. Hence the ambiguity. And of course there is lower level code 19 and some others.
« Last Edit: August 02, 2024, 01:37:22 pm by stamfordman »

Phantomcrusader

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I'm sure someone will clear this up but obviously all codes for P&D parking bays only are lower level in and out of London.
What makes you think this?

It also works to our favour when outside London someone is issued a higher level code 12 PCN

Quote
Parked in a residents’ or shared use parking place or zone without a valid virtual permit or clearly displaying a valid physical permit or voucher or pay and display ticket issued for that place where required, or without payment of the parking charge.
without a valid virtual permit or without payment of the parking charge. Schedule 3 does not make parking without a valid virtual permit or without payment of the parking charge a higher level penalty.

It goes to show that those that draft the regulations are incompetent.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2024, 12:22:31 am by Phantomcrusader »

stamfordman

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I'm sure someone will clear this up but obviously all codes for P&D parking bays only are lower level in and out of London.
What makes you think this?

Well what makes me think this is the history of parking contraventions and the universal statement of lower level penalties for these codes although there may be an exception for one in Wales.

Patrol:


Standard PCN Codes v7.0

Phantomcrusader

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Is this guidance or legislation?

Quote
The guidance has no special authority in regard to matters of legal interpretation. Where there appear to be differences between the guidance and the legislation, the legislation always takes precedence.
I absolutely see where you are coming from Stamfordman. It's been long accepted that the description is a lower penalty but when the regs changed in 2022 so did some penalty amounts. Typically, most councils did not check the new regs and just carried on and now they are out of date which can be exploited.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2024, 12:45:32 am by Phantomcrusader »

Incandescent

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Is this guidance or legislation?

Quote
The guidance has no special authority in regard to matters of legal interpretation. Where there appear to be differences between the guidance and the legislation, the legislation always takes precedence.
I absolutely see where you are coming from Stamfordman. It's been long accepted that the description is a lower penalty but when the regs changed in 2022 so did some penalty amounts. Typically, most councils did not check the new regs and just carried on and now they are out of date which can be exploited.
Well, maybe they can, but there were some transition arrangements as I recall, so these need looking at as well.

Phantomcrusader

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Incandescent

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@Incandescent here they are.

I doubt any apply though but please look.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/71/part/7
I had a quick look and you seem to be right. What I was looking for was any fixed period for a council to continue with the old levels of penalty after the 2022 regs start, but there is no such period.   Only PCNs issued under the old 2007 regs keep the 2007 penalties even if enforcement runs past the date for the 2022 regs coming into effect

stamfordman

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Suggest we start a thread on this in the flame pit as there really doesn't seem to have been any operational change to the higher/lower regime anywhere and I'm not sure that anything is intended.
The question I have is what then falls into lower level as logically what follows is scrapping it.