Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi all,

Last year, in June, I received a PCN for parking on a loading bay (please find picture attached to this post).

To begin with, the PCN was issued on a Sunday. On that specific day, I entered into the road and looked for signs to see whether there were any parking restrictions. As you can see from the photos, the loading bay mark on the floor was barely visible There were also two black road sign posts, one of which did not contain any signs whatsoever. The road sign post which contained the actual loading bay sign was covered by overgrown bushes. I genuinely did not see the sign. Given that it was a Sunday, and the fact that there was inadequate signage, I decided to park in the bay.

When I received the PCN on the day, I immediately checked evidence on the Newham Council PCN portal. I saw that there was a charge of £1, which I paid. This is where I probably went wrong, as I thought I could get away with paying £1 for a PCN, and had a out of sight out of mind mentality. I did not receive any notification of an escalated penalty charge for the next 30 days, and assumed that the PCN had gone away. Rookie mistake.

In December, I received a higher charge PCN saying that the PCN doubled from £64 to £129. At this point I appealed on the grounds that the Council failed to maintain adequate road signage, and the loading bay was also unmarked. I stated that the Council have a responsibility to maintain clear signs, and this was in accordance with Regulation 18 of The Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996.

I received no response from the Council, and in January I received a Charge Notice. I notified the Council that I received no response to my appeal, after which they wrote back to me via e-mail stating that the they had sent the letter notifying me that the appeal failed. The letter was attached to the e-mail and dated 23 December 2024. I have a feeling that this letter was backdated, as I received both the higher PCN charge and the charge notice, but somehow did not receive this.

Anyways, the reasoning that was given was the following:

"I can confirm that there is a sign at the location and your vehicle was parked next to the sign (IMG_1053.jpg)

Our records indicate that a payment for the sum of £1 was received in settlement of the above PCN. Therefore £64 remains outstanding".

The council have stated that as a gesture of goodwill, they will revert the price of the PCN back to £64 and I have two weeks to pay. My question is, is it worth appealing this and taking this matter further and if so, what will the process be like? I don't mind paying the reduced PCN, but it seems as though the council are in the wrong here as they failed to maintain clear signs. From the pictures, you can see that the sign was clearly being covered by the bushes. It's ridiculous that the council expect us to study these signs when they fail to maintain basic standard themselves. On top of that the loading bay mark on the floor was also not visible.

I would greatly appreciate any advice/help on the best way forward with this PCN.

Thank you.



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Apologies, please find all notices attached and response from council regarding appeal. Thank you.

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Please look at the READ THIS FIRST - **BEFORE POSTING YOUR CASE!** sticky post at the top of the Forum.

You were told to only redact your name & address and to leave the vehicle reg and the PCN number visible. So please get that corrected.

The NTO is for £129 and should be £130.
The Charge Certificate is for £194 and should be £195.
The Charge Certificate is dated Jan 7th and that appears to be too early as the NTO was issued on the 13th Dec.

In addition there's a Notice of Rejection dated 23rd Dec which the OP says re-offers the discount payment but at £64 instead of £65.
And the NoR should still be in-time to submit an appeal.

Please post up all sides of all pages of the Notice of Rejection.

What on earth are they smoking in Newham council !
Looks like a serious enough error to be a procedural impropriety within the TMA 2004 regulations

They’re crooks and cowboys for sure. If you have a look at the response they sent me, it looks as if they backdated the letter. Just another council trying to rob the locals through PCNs.

Apologies yet again, you can clearly see that I’m a rookie here. I have attached both pages of the Notice of Rejection. Fortunately, I also have the screenshot for the £1 charge which I paid. Please find attached.

Thank you for providing the process for appeal. Given that you are satisfied there’s grounds of appeal post reviewing the NoR, am I correct in that the appeal to the independent adjudicator should be done through the London Tribunal Appeals portal?

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In December, I received a higher charge PCN saying that the PCN doubled from £64 to £129. At this point I appealed on the grounds that the Council failed to maintain adequate road signage, and the loading bay was also unmarked. I stated that the Council have a responsibility to maintain clear signs, and this was in accordance with Regulation 18 of The Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996.

I received no response from the Council, and in January I received a Charge Notice. I notified the Council that I received no response to my appeal, after which they wrote back to me via e-mail stating that the they had sent the letter notifying me that the appeal failed. The letter was attached to the e-mail and dated 23 December 2024. I have a feeling that this letter was backdated, as I received both the higher PCN charge and the charge notice, but somehow did not receive this.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

As I understand you, in December 2024 you received the Notice to Owner dated the 13th Dec. You then submitted a formal representation (challenge) to the Council.
When did you submit the representation and was it online or Royal Mail?


You then received an email.
When did the email arrive with you and please post up the text of the email. Redact your name & address and email address. Leave everything visible.

The letter dated the 23rd Dec does not appear to be a properly formatted Notice of Rejection. It does not say it's an NoR and there is no verification code for the London Tribunals. The code is required to submit an appeal to the Adjudicator. Nor does it state the timeframe for an appeal. The letter does give you 14 days beginning the 23rd Dec to pay the balance of £64. So it's arguably an out of process reminder letter and not a formal notice of rejection.

13/12/2024 = Fri = date of NTO and presumed date of posting
17/12/2024 = Tue = 2nd working day = deemed date of service = day 1 of 28 day relevant period
07/12/2025 = Tue = date of CC = day 22
13/01/2024 = Mon = day 28 of 28 day relevant period
14/01/2025 = Tue = day 29 = 1st day the Council could lawfully issue a CC

I'm wondering if it's better to wait for the Order for Recovery and to then submit a Witness Statement. Or try and submit an appeal to the Adjudicator immediately, without the code. See what others have to say.

you will get further responses.

Yep it’s all correct. Seems as though there’s serious procedural issues that were not followed by Newham Council. Let’s see if we get any further responses down the line. Thank you for your help.