Free Traffic Legal Advice

You already won that Castle leisure centre PCN on the assisted alighting exemption (although it didn't apply there, but there we go).

This time it does apply as this is an on-street parking place. Remind us - how old is kid and how long and how far was the assisted drop-off.

An issue here is that the CEO did give 5 mins observation.

Code 19 is a lower level penalty we sometimes see councils give in the wrong zone where you have a permit for another zone as here. It's a lower level penalty of £110 instead of £160.

Hi,

Is it worth submitting a challenge to the pcn on the grounds of assisted drop off? I am sure they will reject it and no point taking it to tribunal if there's only a slim chance of success.

Thanks.

Unfortunately not, most of the roads are narrow and 1 way around that area. There weren't any C1 bays spare etc. At the time that was pretty much as close as she could get without blocking traffic. I'll try the appeal and see what happens, thanks.

The time between observations was 5 mins, school starts at 08:45 and she got back just as he had given the ticket

And she said to him and he said to her?

As far as we know, none of the specific circumstances surrounding the car with an 'invalid permit*' parked in a C2 bay was known to the CEO who therefore issued a PCN. Perfectly understandable.

*- if a C1 wasn't valid in a C2 bay then strictly it cannot be a code 19 which is predicated on the display/holding of something which at some time was valid. But I wouldn't worry too much about this at the moment.

Draft below, tried to keep it brief, have included examples that were provided to me in the past and the links. I understand why it was issued and it's not the CEO's fault, I would just appreciate if Southwark would cancel if possible and not to have to go down the tribunal route. It's worth a try while they will still allow the discount at least:


I’m challenging PCN JK16709240  on the basis of the assisted alighting exemption.

I parked briefly in a C2 bay on Sanctuary Street to help my 9-year-old daughter, who attends Cathedral School, out of the car and walk her to the gate. We have a C1 permit but no C1 bays were available at the time, and stopping in Redcross Way would have blocked this narrow one-way street.
I was away from the car for under 10 minutes, solely to assist her. I returned as the PCN was being issued and moved the vehicle immediately.
This falls under the accepted exemption for assisted alighting, especially involving young children, and has been upheld in similar tribunal cases, including:

Roy Gould v Shepway District Council (SH 05045K, 24 February 2008) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FLhLGP1wFnqPTGDJek3GKXuAUClSxU7i/view
Wajid Khan v London Borough of Waltham Forest (2160230738, 30 June 2016) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t3IPfXcxF0FkUHrS2N6KDkzrElZ4SVU3/view
Nasima Begum v London Borough of Redbridge (2220685150, 2 November 2022) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QkJe3v7ZdTObVDGKXdk9V-jEvx3xO8uj/view
Asim Bhuta v London Borough of Newham (2220099690, 22 March 2022) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZduk-P1Dujhkgcma1wYsU2rarGkkx2w/view
Nabil Rohman v City of Westminster (2230560708, 10 February 2024) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sNMXTXDU79DbHX41ugCoA9Ei844QtvhY/view
Noor Ali v London Borough of Tower Hamlets (2230556595, 23 March 2024) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l_Jl23NgxEmRdVvG63KB1LPSBcXLJf5z/view

I ask that the PCN be cancelled on this basis.

Normally we just walk, but she needed the car and so was going straight on from the drop off.

I was adding the examples in the hope of avoiding this just being rejected and having to take it further - under what's probably a naive view that if they can see other examples where this was overturned at tribunal they would save themselves the bother of taking this further and let this one slide.

Not sure on the argument re code 19 - it just states that I parked in a residents' bay with an invalid virtual ticket. I assume when they checked my reg it would've come up that mine was a C1 permit and I was in a C2 bay so they issued the ticket accordingly and with a discount. Had I not had a C1 permit then it would have presumbably been a different code and a larger fine.

Morning, my 2 week discount period ends today so I'll look to submit my response soon before I forget. I can just amend my original response with your suggestions, thanks.