Dear Sir,
PCN No. ***********
I refer to the above which I found on returning to my vehicle on ****. I am making representations on the following grounds:
Contravention did not occur
My argument is based in the council's own evidence and I thank you for posting the CEO's clear and contemporaneous photos. These show:
My car parked on an unmarked length of street in ******.
In these circumstances the authority must cancel the PCN because neither the prescribed road markings nor traffic sign which are legally required to support such a demand are in evidence. But the fact remains that the CEO did issue the PCN and unless this was a totally frivolous and random act must presumably have had a reason, however misguided. Consequently, I have researched the issue and discovered that the only basis on which the authority could reject these representations is if the location sits within a Permit Parking Area, defined in the regulations as follows(Schedule 1 to the Traffic Signs etc. Regulations 2016 refers):
“permit parking area”
an area—
(a)
into which each entrance for vehicular traffic has been indicated by the sign provided for at item 5 of the sign table in Part 3 of Schedule 5; and
(b)
where any parking place within that area reserved for the use of the permit holders as indicated on that sign is not shown by markings on the road (whether or not an upright sign is placed next to, or near, such a parking place to indicate that only the permit holders in question may use the place)
I would agree that if the area has been so designated then the absence of road markings is lawful, indeed mandatory. However, this is a two-part test and the council must satisfy both limbs. I therefore refer you to the first condition:
into which each entrance for vehicular traffic has been indicated by the sign provided for at item 5 of the sign table in Part 3 of Schedule 5
You cannot dispute that there is no such sign in your evidence(Permit holders only parking past this point) which begs the question: why?
While I cannot answer the 'why', I can deal with whether such a sign was placed to indicate the restriction, if indeed such exists, and the answer is, no. I refer you to my photo of the entrance to ****** dated *****. An adjudicator would accept that my photo, albeit taken the day after the PCN was served, correctly shows the entrance to the road and that there is no traffic sign at all, let alone one indicating a Permit Parking Area, which explains why none is in evidence in the CEO's photos.
The council has failed to satisfy the mandatory requirements for such an area and therefore, even if one exists, contraventions predicated upon the presence of this sign cannot be committed and the PCN must be cancelled.
My research also revealed that the council occasionally uses the argument that a Controlled Parking Zone sign in some way substitutes for a Permit Parking Area sign. As you know, it does not (one only has to read the definitions in Schedule 1 to the Regulations to recognise this point) and I should therefore be grateful if the authority would resist any temptation to confuse the issue in such a way.
My thoughts.
