Free Traffic Legal Advice

Good morning everyone and thank you for keeping this forum going and helping so many people with their problems!

Unfortunately another issue with one of the most notorious London boroughs - Newham.

Yesterday I parked on a single yellow line on one of the streets with the impression that on a bank holiday, you can park with no restriction. I even happened to do it in central London - years ago without any problems.
The reality was different and I found a PCN on the windscreen of my car. Then I dug around and found first on the government website that there are no parking restrictions on a single yellow line on a bank holiday. I also saw that most London boroughs do not have restrictions for the same either. However, it turns out that these rules do not apply to this specific neighborhood.

Do I have any chance to appeal to get the fine overturned and on what basis or mission is impossible? I am ready to do whatever it takes, even to court, if there is even a minimal chance of success.

Thanks in advance for any support and advice.

Please find the below links with pictures attached:









Newham website:
https://parking.newham.gov.uk/pages/OnlineReferenceEntry.aspx?loadtype=NOTICEREVIEW

PCN: PN38651553
Reg: RE12NHG

Thanks for the quick reply.

Now after I've dug around I've found that I was mistaken in thinking I'd found some information on an official site, it was the title after a Google search that came from the first London Borough. My bad, I apologize for misleading you.
Most of London's Boroughs do not have Bank Holiday restrictions, but unfortunately, I parked in the wrong one.

So I presume even if I appeal I will still have to pay at the end?

Thanks for clarifying the possible steps for me regarding appealing the PCN.

When you are saying: "the council manage to shoot themselves in the foot when rejecting those reps thus opening up more appeal arguments" what do you mean?

How long do you think the whole procedure will take to reach the London Tribunals stage and then you mean if I lose I have to pay 130£ only? Or there will be other charges on top of that?
Is there a chance that the London Tribunal will judge in my favor? or as you said they stick to loading or boarding passengers? I was left the car parked for at least an hour, so no excuse in this case.

I've parked at single yellow lines as I honestly believed that on Bank Holiday no restrictions applied. And yes car is in my name and address.

Thanks a lot for the quick reply!

I can appeal PCN to the council, but could you please advise me what should be my reason to ask them for cancellation of the fine? Should I do it via their website or in writing by post?
Possibly stating that my impression was that on bank holidays restrictions don't apply? and maybe that I've been parking during the bank holiday in different boroughs and there aren't restrictions?

Thanks in advance.

@bono_01 well the council photos do not show any contravention:







Many councils have got lazy and don't provide the tribunal with adequate evidence of CPZ signage, so I'd suggest you exploit that. The one thing you must not do is suggest to the council that their photos are inadequate, as you don't want to forewarn them.

The traffic order in this case appears to be The Newham (Waiting and Loading Restriction) Order 2011 and the relevant entries should be in Part 2 of Schedule 1. The order does not mention any controlled parking zones, so that creates an additional argument though it's a rather technical one.

You were parked in zone SSW, you can see a map of the zones here: https://lbnewham.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=6c213298647e4283a537266c72c1d086

If you work out exactly where you entered the zone, we can investigate if additional arguments about signage can be made.

As a general rule you should always make representations online rather than by post, anything sent in the post is scanned into the computer and the paper copy is shredded, so sending anything in the post is entirely pointless and you might as well submit it straight into their computer.

But don't rush, answer the questions above first please.

@bono_01 well you cannot appeal, at this stage you can only make representations to the council.

Based on your route you would have passed two signs, one here https://maps.app.goo.gl/v82xzhPCrWi7y3A57 and another one here https://maps.app.goo.gl/gZa9wqzVtqB2VPt59

When you have time please go back to the junction of Leytonstone Road with Buxton Road and check if the signs are still there and whether they are visible. It does happen that signs go missing, get knocked over and so on. If there is anything noteworthy, please get photos.

Also, and this is very important, you must not make any reference to the question of signs in any of your representations to the council or else they will focus on this when they prepare their evidence for the tribunal.

On top of that the council is likely to reject anything you say, so the wording at this stage is not very important as long as you don't reveal anything that is either self-incriminating, or that might help the council later on. The only real point of submitting informal representations in a case like this is to give the council an opportunity to mess up the response.

In the circumstances I would suggest you make an informal representation explaining that you thought bank holiday parking was permitted, if nothing else this will distract the council from the real issues.

@bono_01 yes that will suffice for present purposes. Send the representation online and keep a screenshot of the confirmation page.

Hi again to everyone, I've received a response from the council. Please take a look at the attached letter and advise.
Thanks in advance.

PS. The letter is uploaded via a link, as I could not attach it due to limited space.
https://imgur.com/a/REMOVED

@bono_01 you might want to remove your name and address from the image uploaded.