Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hi All,

1.TOPIC TITLE. give the details of the penalty charge notice (PCN) – include:
Council name or other authority: Manchester City Council
The alleged contravention (summarise - no need to quote in full): 12 - Parked in a residents or shared parking place without clearly displaying either a permit or voucher or pay and display ticket
Location: Rolleston Avenue
Date of contravention: 20/04/24

2. Outline your case/tell your story/explain the problem and how we might help.

I was visiting a friend in Manchester as I do very frequently.  She lives on Holland Street, but her back garden is accessed from Rolleston Avenue.  The area has recently become part of the Eastlands Residents permit parking scheme due to a new arena (Co-op Live) being built and opening to the public.  My friend has applied for a residents permit for her car, which is now active.  The letters received by my friend lead her to believe that Rolleston Avenue at the back wouldn't be permitted, which is a cul-de-sac.  I tend to park my car round the back when visiting due to the front not being too safe to leave your car.  I park over the back of her rear garden driveway gated access. 

I, and other cars (mostly residents) all received tickets on 20/04/24.  My friend is given the option of 2 Free Visitor permits, however evidence of tenancy/residency at the property is required for this.  Why would a "visitor" need to reside at the property, isn't that a "resident?"  The other option is a book of 10no 1-day use visitor cards, 2 further books can be purchased for £5 each.  This wouldn't suit our situation as I visit more than 30 times a year.  My friend has applied for the visitors book, but this hasn't arrived yet, and the other residents are advising of a backlog at the Council.  She logged onto her portal to see if there was a status update, but there wasn't anything to show the book application status.  She applied again on 21/04/24 as the option was there again for that. 

I logged an appeal via the website stating:
I was visiting a friend who has applied for an Eastlands Resident permit
which has become active on her car, however the visitors book of tickets that she
applied for hasn't come through yet or been actioned. Due to this, she couldn't provide
me with a visitor parking permit. Upon noticing the ticket on my car, my friend has
logged into her account and re-applied for the visitors permit book with the hopes that
this may speed the process up. I can only apologise for parking my car here without
having access to the permits, but I'm sure you understand the transition process when
implementing such schemes. My friend moved her cars around in her garden so that I
could park mine on the grass. I would like to request a gesture of goodwill from the
council in this instance due to the lack of visitor permits being supplied to a resident of
the permit scheme. When visiting, I will ensure I park my car inside the garden until
such a time that the permits have been issued to my friend to provide to her visitors. I
have attached photo evidence of my car securely parked off the street in her garden on
21/04/24, this photos is to confirm that my story above is correct, and I was truthfully
visiting a resident who doesn't have any visitor permits provided to her by the council
yet.

My friend has also logged an enquiry to the Council via her permit portal asking for clarity on the "visitor" permit requiring proof of residency at the permit address. 

3. Post the PCN and all subsequent notices or correspondence. The
Please see photos of the PCN:
https://flic.kr/p/2pMbFEH
https://flic.kr/p/2pM5qhJ
I have also noticed a news post from yesterday regarding this exact scenario, explaining that the Council haven't managed the implementation of this scheme very well, and have advised of the backlog, and that some "residents" have been ticketed.  They do advise that residents PCN's will be cancelled, but I am a visitor. 
See link to the news post: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/people-living-near-new-co-29041752

Thanks in advance.

@motor that wasn't the wisest informal challenge because the council photos do not show any evidence of any contravention whatsoever:















The photos just show a car parked on a road, nothing more. It would have been better to avoid any self-incriminating admissions (such as accepting that you were in a resident permit zone) and simply state that no contravention occurred. It is important to remember that in the first instance the council has to prove its case, you don't have to prove anything if there is no case to answer.

Anyway what's done is done, let us know when you get a reply.