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I saw the road marking 'Disabled' and parked as seen in the CEO's photos. I displayed my BB and clock and left. I did not look at the traffic sign because my stay was going to be short enough to fall within any BB restriction. I returned to find the PCN. I then looked at the traffic sign post and saw the suspension notice. This stated that the 3 bays which comprised this parking place were suspended from ** to 28 Feb. due to 'works'.

The CEO's photos show that the area was absolutely clear of any works or associated paraphernalia, including the road surface having been made safe for vehicles to park, and that the purpose of the suspension had clearly ceased. This is hardly surprising given the extended period of the suspension (over 4 months) i.e. whoever was undertaking the works would have given themselves a safety buffer of time when applying for the suspension.

I suggest that this is a case of left and right hands within the council not co-ordinating their activities i.e. whoever authorised this suspension had lost sight of the council's obligation to maximise the availability of these disabled spaces and had not checked whether the legal (Traffic Regulation Order) basis under which the council was permitted to suspend the space by the simple **** of signs existed on 25 Feb.(simply paying the fee does not satisfy the council's policy criterion of need) and the CEO simply applied a date perspective.

In summary, the only power under which a parking place may be suspended by officers derives from the TRO which requires that specified conditions must  be met before a bay may be suspended. The concomitant of this is that when this condition ceases to apply then the suspension has no legal effect. The **** of signs is simply a subsequent requirement and of itself is not evidence that a lawful suspension is in place.

I submit that the contravention did not occur and that the PCN must therefore be cancelled.

Is my take.

Edit- by way of example, see paras. 28 and 30 of one of MCC's TROs: https://tro.trafficpenaltytribunal.gov.uk/TRO/Manchester/MC232.pdf