Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi

On 22 July, 24 I was driving from Devon to the Lake District and got diverted from the M5 due to an accident so ended up going through Bristol.  I had no idea I'd gone through a CAZ and I didn't see any signs probably because I was trying to find signs to find my way out of Bristol and back to the M5!

Roll forward to 24th Sept and I received the attached letter from Bristol CC stating they had recently tried to contact me and had not received any response or correspondence from me regarding a PCN and I now owe them £129 plus I had lost my right to submit a representation.

I never received said letter/PCN so this was a big shock to me.  All my vehicle/address details are up to date with DVLA etc and I haven't moved recently.

Annoyed but wanting to rectify things asap and not knowing this forum existed, I emailed the council (email chain attached) this is where I may have made a mistake. I've highlighted the original message I sent in yellow but the gist is I said I hadn't received any correspondence from them until now and was happy to pay the £9 CAZ charge and wanted to see if I could get the £129 reduced for that reason.  I got an email back saying they were putting my PCN on hold and the charge will remain frozen until they had chance to look at my correspondence.

On 23rd Nov 24, I received a second letter attached stating they had sent a PCN or Notice to owner on 13 August 2024, (I never received this).  They said this letter gave me the option to provide formal representation within 28 days but that period has now passed so I can't do this anymore. 

Having found this forum, I read about how this all works and thought I have a case to file a witness statement so chose to wait for a Charge Certificate which has arrived, the fee now being £180 + the £9 CAZ Charge.  As I understand I now have to wait for the Order of Recovery where I can submit a Witness Statement.

My plan is to submit a WS on the following grounds:

1. I didn't receive the original PCN from 13th August.
2. Based on a case I found on this forum; the PCN is unlawful because it is demanding the CAZ toll in addition to the penalty charge. This is unlawful; under the Road User Charging regulations, a PCN can only request the penalty charge and nothing else.
3. Their letter to you is unlawful because it is outside the process defined in law.  This defines exactly what a council can send to a PCN recipient.     

If someone can give me a bit of guidance that would be great as I don't want to mess this up by missing something, i.e does my approach sound about right or am I better just paying the £189 and be done with this?!

Many thanks



[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Thanks for the reply, are you saying don't include anything else I've stated above in the Witness Statement, just tick the box and that's all?

You are correct about submitting a Witness Statement when they register the debt with TEC and send out an Order for Recovery.  However, all you need do on the form is tick the box for "I did not receivd the PCN". Nothing else is required and the "Reason" box can be left blank.  Please note when filling in the form, that you are the "Respondent", the council are the "Applicant".

Thanks

Thanks for the reply, are you saying don't include anything else I've stated above in the Witness Statement, just tick the box and that's all?

The form doesn't allow you to do anything else and, as Incandescent says, you don't need to.

OP, this is what it looks like:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-te9-dart-charge-mersey-gateway-clear-air-zones-challenge-a-traffic-enforcement-order