Draft reps:
Dear Manchester City Council,
I contest liability for PCN MC25146793 because the alleged contravention did not occur.
In City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council v Obaid [2001] EWHC 536 (Admin) the High Court held that:
"to wait" means to remain in the same place for a period of time which is other than purely nominal.I pulled into the parking bay to read the sign, I was only stationary for a matter of seconds, and the CEO's photos confirm I was in the car with my brake lights on, my vehicle was therefore stationary for a period of time that was purely nominal.
While the council purports to enforce a no stopping restriction at this location, to convey a no-stopping restriction the Traffic Signs Regulations 2016 prescribe the use of Diagram 1028.6 which incorporates a broad 200 mm yellow line, and the Traffic Signs Manual confirms at 13.23.4. that:
13.23.4. Where vehicles are prohibited from stopping in a taxi rank, the symbol shown in S4‑3‑2 should be used on the upright sign. The road marking is the yellow bay to diagram 1028.5 (S7‑4‑7, see Figure 13-66) which includes a broad continuous yellow line similar to denote “no stopping”.This was upheld by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal in
Darren Armitage v Lancashire County Council (LQ00155-2208, 02 September 2022), where adjudicator Gillian Ekins held that:
11. Overall, on the available evidence, I found that the Council had failed to mark this no stopping except taxis prohibition in accordance with Diagram 1028.5. This was because there was no broad 200mm yellow line along the edge of the carriageway. The kerb edging they relied upon in lieu of the broad yellow line and also the bay marking with contrasting material were not established as permitted variants.
...
14. Accordingly, I allowed the appeal and confirmed there was no penalty payable by Mr Armitage.While each case is decided on its own merits, the merits here appear to be exactly the same and it follows that due to the missing broad yellow line, the council cannot enforce a no-stopping contravention at this location.
Yours faithfully,
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