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So I looked out my kitchen window this evening and noticed my car was missing. I thought it must have been stolen but then I checked TRACE and the reality is the council stole it...

The reason for removal stated on Trace is:

"In a residents shared use place without permit"

And this is true, my resident permit has expired on the 7th or July! I did not realise this and I received no reminders or anything about it nearing expiry.

To make it worse I don't seem to have received a PCN. Or a PCN was issued and it was then removed from my vehicle so I did not know I had a fine at all.

Now the car impound want £200 for the removal fee, £65 for the PCN which I never received and £40 a day for storage. The car was taken on the 31st according to Trace so it looks like I'll be paying £305 or £345 to get my car back tomorrow.

I'm so sick of living in this city.

Hi,

Thanks so much for your reply.

You were right that the removal looked disproportionate, that is because I didn't have the full picture until an hour ago when I collected my car.

I made sure to be very civil to the attendant at the car pound, as there's no reason for me to take my anger out on him. So I paid the £305 which included one £65 PCN (for the date the car was towed) plus the towing fee and a day of storage.

(I find it crazy that they just snatch your car without telling you, if I happened to park around the corner it could have been weeks before I noticed it missing and it might have been when I needed to use it most.)

He showed me the file they held on my car that was stamped in red something like "repeat violator" I can't remember the exact wording and after talking to him further he revealed that I had a further six PCN's all issued in the last ten days. I immediately thought that someone must have been removing them from my car but when He let me into the lot to retrieve my car there was a stack of PCN's under the wiper.

I have a view of my car on the street but it seems that from my kitchen window a tree branch was blocking the part of the windshield where the tickets were sitting. So although I see my car from afar everyday, I did not see the PCNs. Also, I have not driven since June.


In summary, the penalty for me forgetting to renew my permit and for not noticing the PCNs has now totalled £305 + 6 x 65 = £695. That does not include the ULEZ charge I will have to pay driving home today.

It seems I'm at fault here but if anyone has any ideas of how to reduce this I would very much appreciate that.

I've made some pretty terrible financial blunders this year. I would be happy to post the location, and all the paper work but if there's no hope for my case then I will just get to paying these.

Thanks again

Here is the paperwork from the pound. https://imgur.com/a/sJBOU5O
(Don't think that the car make reflects my disposable income. It is a 1991 model I paid £1650 for many years ago.)

I've been doing a bit more research and found that when multiple PCNs are issued for one contravention sometimes the total penalty can be considered exorbitant.

Is this my best angle of approach? I'm still within the 14 day challenge period, my concern is that if I challenge now I may end up having to pay £130 per PCN if I loose my appeal?

Do a list of all the PCNs and include the dates and contraventions/codes and note the one that was used to impound the car. 

It's hard to see much to go on - they gave you over 2 weeks after permit expiry before issuing PCNs and we've seen a lot more than five issued before impounding but I suggest asking for discretion due to an oversight in not renewing and it seems you didn't get a reminder - have you checked spam/junk mail? You may get some if not all cancelled. 

It's madness not to check a car every few days in London because bays are often suspended especially in boroughs such as Tower Hamlets.

Is there a reason why you didn't check the car/signs?

OP, I know what I say might sound harsh, but its purpose is to give you focus.

Unless the council have regularly sent emails, let's say for the past 3 years but without prior notice did not do so this year, then it's no-one's fault but yours.

Also, adjust your perspective pl. All the CEO knew, and all the council know until you engage with them, is that a 33 year-old car with an expired resident's permit was parked in a short-supply resident's parking place for which residents, through the permit system, pay the council to enforce in order to maximise their chances of being able to park somewhere near their homes.

Of course they removed your car.

IMO, there's no responsibility or liability which attaches to them for doing so if they followed procedure.

I can't see any docs in your link - these are needed in order to examine the propriety of the PCN and removal.

As regards the other PCNs, the 14-day discounts expire progressively from 5-12 August. This means that you cannot be considered a 'persistent evader' and raises the question of why remove after the 6th PCN. This is for the authority to justify.

Good local knowledge.

So OP, we must look at probabilities. Would the council be able to show that a reminder email was sent to your registered email account in time?

IMO, probably.

But the key question remains: why remove after PCN 6? Why not after 2, 3, 4 etc?

I live in Tower Hamlets and they are still sending out renewal emails for resident permits about 4 weeks before  expiry/renewal date. I just got my email and renewed online no problem.  It's an automated reminder system so I don't think they can 'forget' you as such but emails do sometimes disappear into cyberspace never to be seen again by no fault of either sender or receiver.  So I keep a diary reminder separately.

The email address they use is whatever you have registered in their 'parking permit portal' so it might be worth you logging in to your account and looking in My Account>View my details to check what email address is listed.

Hi, I did as you suggested and checked my account details on the tower hamlets permit site. My email address is there and is correct. The screenshot I shared showed all the other permit reminders I have received going back to 2021.