Free Traffic Legal Advice

The key is to provide evidence of difficulty in walking as that means assistance is needed. A note from any authority they will take notice of is what should work, and that could be a doctor (obviously), friend/family member with professional credentials, the imam etc.

Well, after supplying hard evidence in the form of a medical fit note issued by the GP of the elderly person which clearly stated he had diarrhea on the day of the alleged contravention, as well as further evidence showing that Newham's policy with observation periods/assisted boarding meant that my PCN should be cancelled... I have received this (lazy) notice of rejection.

I explained it correctly and made valid points, included the original PCN slip which showed 0 minutes observation time as well as what the standard observation time for code 40 etc...

The 1st point they mention is just lazy and absolutely factually incorrect. Newham's own policy state that picking up/setting down or assisted boarding can be done ANYWHERE except for bus stops, school keep-clears, pedestrian zig-zag markings and footway parking. There is no mention of disabled bays (whether they be for residents or for public use). This exemption applies for up to 2 minutes, and if longer than hard evidence must be supplied (I did so). No mention of the requirement for a valid disabled badge is found in the document/policy nor is it even hinted at, whether the assisted boarding took place in a disabled bay or anywhere else except the aforementioned.

The 2nd point is also false, as the serious offences they refer to are the one's mentioned above. Also, the serious offences which do not require an observation period and are subject to immediate enforcement are clearly distinguished in Appendix C of newhamparkingpolicyprocedures.pdf i.e those with 0 minutes and 'on-street'. An example of this which I did not mentioned above, is parking adjacent to a dropped footway i.e blocking a driveway. Surely my alleged offence under code 40 is not serious, as it has a observation time of 2 minutes. If it was serious, it would be stated as 0 minutes accordingly and then that point/paragraph would make sense.

I have a feeling that they did not even bother with looking at my evidence and just skimmed over what I wrote in my formal appeal. Also, they are offering me a discount at the rejection of formal representation stage, which is not normal from them. Would this win at the Tribunals or should I just pay to secure the discount, even though I am fully of the belief that I did NOT commit any contravention due to exemption.

It has got me starting to wonder why they are so biased in their judgement of appeals at these early stages.

Please view pages 10 and 28/30 of the attached document which outlines cancellation procedures for those dealing with PCN's, to find their policy regarding 'picking up and setting down' i.e assisted boarding. Page 28 goes in depth in terms of the policy. I understand that the document is old, however I cannot find a more recent and similar document. It is also found specifically in the 'PCN spreadsheet' on the FTLA website. In that document named newhamparkingpolicyprocedures, nothing is stated about picking up and setting down, however the period of observation is mentioned required for code 40 is.

In the second attachment, please view subtitles: 4.4 - Observation Policy on page 36 and the corresponding Appendix C. As far as I'm aware, that document is the latest edition I can find after searching 'Newham parking policy' on Google, it being the first result

I must also state that in the Civil Enforcement Officers handbook document issued by London Councils (publicly available document), for code 40, it states that an observation period is required, with A (picking up and setting down being an exemption, no mention of requirement of valid BB) being an exemption.

As for the latter you've mentioned, the person I was picking up is elderly, disabled and had that specific incontinence. As far as I'm aware, that does sufficiently meet the conditions for assisted boarding and I have provided hard evidence to the council to prove that. He does have a blue badge but he forgot it at home, and the council will not accept pictures of it as it was not in the vehicle at the time of alleged contravention.

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If it's any help I won a case against shepway DC about 16 years ago on assisted boarding. I had to park on DYL and find an elderly gent who had got mislaid in the local market! I was a private hire driver at the time. I used the help of the good people of the late PPPsite and won the case. Gould-v-Shepway DC, it should be on the PPP "library" if that's acessible from here. I won at Tribunal.