Hi All. Back again. This one is so frustrating.
The driver of the vehicle found a PCN attached to their windscreen when returning from a restaurant in Ilford, Redbridge. They do not visit this area very often so are unaware of restrictions in and around this area. However, they did check the signs upon entering the area and when parking.
PCN is shown at the bottom of this post. I've also uploaded all images I'll be referring to on google drive - hope that is ok:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1z9bwDy9vIGG_g6Iz4Xxk2oU6r70GGKm7?usp=drive_linkThe route the driver took to get to the parking space is shown in
map.jpg. All of this is recorded on dashcam, with additional photos taken from the dashcam footage and from the passenger of the car taking photos after the PCN was found.
The driver turned from Ilford Lane into Jersey Road. The signs upon entry are obscured. All of the signs on jersey road are also obscured, some of which are shown in the photos, but all can be clearly seen in the dashcam footage. These are photos 1 to 5 in the google drive link.
The driver then turned left briefly onto Lowbrook Road and then right into Paget Road - where the parking space is immediately on the left after the double yellow lines.
The photo
google street view.jpg shows what the parking restriction sign should have looked like. But if you look at photo
6 - driving into paget road.jpg, you can see that the sign is facing in the wrong direction. Photo
7 - paget road sign.jpg shows the sign from the other side and it is obscured. This is next to the space the driver parked.
Photo
8 - paget road looking at lowbrook road.jpg shows the sign located on Lowbrook Road opposite the parking space, which is also obscured. Photo
9 - lowbrook road.jpg is a sign a little further down on Lowbrook Road which is also obscured.
Point being none of the signs on approach to parking, at the parking spot, or when walking away from the parking spot were visible or legible. I dont have evidence of signs further along Lowbrook Road, but the driver has confirmed that they were obscured as well.
The PCN evidence the enforcement officer has uploaded shows a clearly legible sign. This is photo 10 -
PCN Evidence Photo.jpg. However, I have located this sign on Google Street View and it is quite some considerable distance down Paget Road. You can see how far down in
11 - PCN Evidence Location.jpg. Unfortunately, the driver did not go down there to verify this sign.
Google street view of sign taken photo of:
https://tinyurl.com/2dnfhwwtIt's interesting the enforcement officer chose this sign to photograph so far along. There is a sign closer to the parking spot, which I am guessing was also obscured, so they did not choose to use that as evidence. However, the driver has no evidence of this and the location is quite far for them to go back and check.
The evidence photos the enforcement officer uploaded conveniently fail to show the sign right next to the parked vehicle, nor the signs opposite on Lowbrook Road. This seems to me to be deliberate.
EDIT - in fact, the last photo taken of the vehicle is at 13:00:46. The photo taken of the legible sign is at 13:03:59. The enforcement officer had to walk for over 3 minutes to find a legible sign to take a photo of.
After finding the PCN, the driver stopped to speak to an enforcement officer who was nearby (he may not have been the same person who issued the ticket). He confirmed that the signs being obscured were known to Redbridge Council and they they would be sending someone to replace them. Why they are issuing tickets whilst the signs are obscured seems very underhand to me!
Please could you advise on whether:
1. This is contestable and likelihood of being successful
2. How to challenge the ticket
Thank you!
