Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hey guys

Thanks a trillion for kindly looking into it and supporting me. However, I have been researching on this found the following:

If wheels WERE on the pavement

Then our assisted-alighting argument becomes much weaker.

In London, footway parking is generally prohibited by statute and there is no general assisted-alighting exemption equivalent to what may apply to waiting restrictions.

However, councils can still exercise discretion in exceptional circumstances. We are challenging a permit-bay contravention that was never alleged. That could make the council think we’re appealing the wrong PCN?

The main issue is this:

None of the CEO photos clearly show a wheel on the footway.

For a Code 62 contravention, the council must prove that one or more wheels were on:

* the footway,
* a verge, or
* another part of the highway other than the carriageway.

I have prepared the following representation. Please let me know if you have any suggestions at all. I would love your expert opinion before submitting anything.

Dear London Borough of Barking and Dagenham,

I challenge liability for PCN BZ72022199 on the ground that the alleged contravention did not occur.

The PCN alleges that my vehicle was parked with one or more wheels on or over a footpath, or on any part of a road other than the carriageway. This allegation is incorrect.

At no time was any wheel of my vehicle on the footway, kerb, verge or any other part of the highway other than the carriageway. The vehicle was parked entirely on the carriageway adjacent to the kerb.

I have reviewed all of the Civil Enforcement Officer’s photographs supplied by the council. None of the photographs show any wheel of my vehicle on the footway. The photographs merely show my vehicle parked next to the kerb. I therefore request that the council identify which wheel it alleges was on the footway and provide clear photographic evidence supporting that allegation.

Furthermore, the PCN records an observation period of 17:09 to 17:09. The CEO photographs also show that I returned to the vehicle while the officer was still present.

For completeness, I had stopped briefly only to assist a pregnant friend who required urgent medical attention. I escorted her safely to her destination and returned directly to the vehicle. However, the principal issue is that the alleged contravention simply did not occur.

One of the CEO photographs appears to show me returning to the vehicle while the PCN was being issued. I have also taken photo and video with the officer in it (with his consent) explaining the emergency on the day. This supports my account that I had only been absent briefly while assisting a pregnant passenger requiring urgent assistance.

In the absence of evidence showing any wheel on the footway, I respectfully request that the PCN be cancelled.

Yours faithfully,

A parking place on the footway disapplies the prohibition!!.

In short, it does NOT apply within a parking place which is why I'm steering you towards this argument.

4)A highway authority may by resolution, or in the case of the Secretary of State by such notice as appears to him to be appropriate, authorise, from a date specified in the resolution or notice, the parking of vehicles[F7—

(a)]on, or [F8on or over a road or part of a road] which is a highway other than a carriageway[F9; or

(b)on or over a footpath or any part of a footpath];

and notwithstanding the provisions of this section or of any other enactment or any rule of law, it shall be lawful from the specified date for any person to park a vehicle on the [F10road or footpath], or on the part thereof, as the case may be, to which the said resolution or notice relates and is for the time being in force.