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Hi there

Caught on CCTV driving in a school zone on Monkleigh Road.

The signage is very hard to read on the signs directly outside the entrance to Monkleigh Road.

There is a more visible sign on the approach but I still think it is not clear. The font is quite small and it is on a bus stop. It's easily blocked by a bus if stopped next to it, and it looks like it relates to the bus stop given the placement.

Secondly, the signs seem to indicate that the zone restriction only applies during 'school term time' only (note this is visible on the additional images/videos I provided on Imgur; clearly the signs have been changed/added to since the Street View photos were taken in August '22). How are we meant to know when 'school term time' applies?! Does that not differ from school to school?

Imgur contains:
* PCN letter received from Merton Council
* Photo of approach, and the facing Monkleigh Road itself showing the warning signs
* Video of approach to Monkleigh Road - 1 taken from pavement, one from the road
https://imgur.com/a/NrcXFNc

Street View:
* Entrance to Monkleigh Road (note if you go one picture further to the right then the one of the images is a couple of years older and so the warning signs aren't there): https://maps.app.goo.gl/8RkcANGi71xZCv9B8
* Approach to Monkleigh Road with warning sign affixed to lamppost at bus stop: https://maps.app.goo.gl/E34qYWdbvJie1VXB7
* Note the signs appear to have changed since the Street View images were taken; see additional images of them on the Imgur link above

Thanks very much for any help anyone can offer.

Video:



There are quite a few things going on here, the first and most obvious point is that "School term time" is not a permitted expression according to the TSRGD 2016 (I did actually check) and the signage therefore fails the LATOR 18 test.

It's handy you've made a couple of videos as we can use them to prove if they actually look at the representations or not.

I will PM you some links to put in the representation, I've re-uploaded your videos to youtube and if you give them the links I'll PM you, we can use the view count to confirm whether they've looked at them or not (obviously do not click on the links I PM you as we want the view count to remain at zero). If they don't click on them, we can then prove they've failed to consider all of the evidence. If they say in the rejection that they've considered all the evidence, we've got them for lying as well.



Send that online and keep a screenshot of the confirmation page. In the meantime I've also requested the traffic order.

Could you elaborate on what you meant by you've 'requested the traffic order' please? I'm not sure what exactly that means, or the significance of it.

The council can't just stick some signs up, they need to legally create a pedestrian zone by enacting a local bylaw known as a traffic management order. Sometimes the order doesn't match the signs, and in the event of a discrepancy the order takes precedence over the signs. Most of the time the traffic order is fine, but in a significant minority of cases we see the traffic order says something different to the signs, or says the restriction is elsewhere, sometimes the traffic order even creates a restriction in a place that doesn't physically exist. It is therefore always worth checking, just in case something turns up. We've won many cases where the traffic order simply doesn't create the restriction that the council thinks it creates.

Thank you for taking the time to explain & for sharing the Traffic Order itself.

I've still not heard anything back from Merton Council.

I'm assuming this is not unusual.

Well the notice of rejection is full of mistakes, it gives the 28 days period from the date of the notice rather than the date of service, and we'd usually expect a failure of that sort to be enough on its own to win the case.

And there's still the issue of the signage being inadequate, I'd give a case like this at least an 80% chance of success though of course there is no absolute certainty as to the outcome.

You therefore need to decide whether you wish to carry on.

Thank you both for the advice. I definitely wish to carry on and challenge this.

What would the recommended next steps be?

I've looked over the Notice of Rejection again, specifically the 'Right to Appeal' page plus the Q+A. Is there any meaningful benefit of choosing a Personal decision over a Postal one?

NEVER POSTAL! Always personal/phone.  I would ask cp to represent you. He usually does it by phone and he will advise further.

++++1  !!

PM him as he is very busy.