Free Traffic Legal Advice

Hello,

I have lived in Southwark for several years and have had a parking permit throughout that time. They sent the renewal notice in September and I logged on to make the payment but could not get through to the next screen that day. I made a mental note to come back later and completely forgot.

I then went overseas for the birth of my nephew and came back to parking fines for every day I had been away (except Saturdays and Sundays). My flatmates didn't see the fines because there were roadworks out the front of us so I was parked at the other end of the street. They finally saw it on the day before I came back but I was already in the air at that stage so they weren't able to do anything about it. I arrived back on the Monday night, immediately renewed my parking permit and appealed asking for all or at least some to be waived since £1300 of fines seemed grossly punitive.

They have waived four because they were done within 24 hours of the previous fine but the other six stand.

Can you give me an idea of what my chances are of getting these reduced/waived further at appeal? I would rather pay the reduced amount now than the full amount later if my chances are nonexistent.

But if there is a decent chance then I will continue to appeal and would ask for your assistance in formulating the appeal. I have attached all the fines and one of the letters than I received. They are all the same with just the details of each fine changed but I can post them all if you need me to.

Thank you so much for your help.

You will find APCOA parking enforcement in Southwark is quite shoddy and quite often their enforcement is illegal.

They will continue to give you discounts at all almost every stage if you deal with it correctly. This forum has been very helpful and if you are patient and work with us we can help you get them dealt with.

Please do share info. In the manner requested. I suggest reading the sticky post if you have not done it yet.

Hi,

I checked the sticky note as recommended and the only thing I haven't included, I think, is my email to them. Not sure how to embed that so just going to copy and paste it.

Is there anything else you need? Or need in a different format?

Thank you!
Holly.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to challenge the following parking fines collectively:

JK14008609
JK14008766
JK14008813
JK14078229
JK1408803A
JK14088131
JK14088222
JK14088313
JK1407637A
JK14090326

All relate to contravention 12s.

I did try on the website but it would not allow me to do more than one at a time but given the circumstances I thought it would be best to do an email about all of them collectively.

I received my renewal letter on the 2/9/24 and when I read it I logged in to do the renewal, as you will be able to see on your system. At the time the website would not let me click through to the next screen to do the payment and I thought I would come back to do it later, but I forgot. I am normally very prompt and as you will see from previous years I always pay immediately after getting the renewal notice.

I then had to go back to Australia for the delivery of my nephew on the 27th September 2024.

I have arrived back in the UK this evening to this very distressing discovery. I have this evening submitted an application and paid for a new residents permit starting today, it would not allow me to backdate it.

Ever since moving to Southwark in 2021 I have always paid my residence permits as soon as I received the renewal. This was a genuine mistake that I could not correct straight away because I was away and unaware of the error.

Given this is a genuine mistake and I have until this error always been prompt and correct with my permits can we please waive the above fines? If it would help could we please backdate my residence permit for this year?

I have attached the itinerary of my flights and boarding passes as confirmation that I have been overseas and my previous parking permit renewals and applications for evidence of permit numbers and payments and my current application. You will see in 2022 I only have the email reminder but you can see from the date of 2023s renewal that I paid straight away and was current for those 12 months. I also phoned in 2022 because the email did not come and I confirmed payment was successful at that time.

If you need any other evidence please let me know and I will supply it as soon as possible.

Kind Regards,

The OP has said nothing about impounding, which is a point as that was a remedy they should have used rather than issue an excessive number of PCNs.

Some of the PCNs were issued right after permit expiry if I'm reading the list correctly and should be lower level code 19s.

Your dates are causing confusion as presumably you don't mean November for some but October.

London Councils guidance is clear on this;

If a previously valid permit has expired then code 19 should be issued.


This is certainly the case for expiry within say 7 or 14 days and it matters because code 19 is a lower level penalty, £80 in this case, which the council have a duty to select.

All of the PCNs seem to have been issued within 14 days of permit expiry - is that correct?

Issuing multiple PCNs like this is vindictive against a resident and they also had the remedy to impound where storage charges are cheaper than PCNs.

Southwark will probably say they have no policy on issuing lower level code 19s but they are signed up to London Councils guidance like all in London.

Some councils also give grace periods for permit expiry let alone the lower level penalty. 

I would say you could challenge all at formal stage on this basis but see what others say.

One point - I presume this is an electronic/virtual permit - this should show up on the CEO's system.

Some councils also give grace periods for permit expiry let alone the lower level penalty. 

FWIW Greenwich have a grace period of 1 week.  Not seen this written anywhere (policy etc), but I asked a CEO.


Surprised Continuous contravention not been mentioned. 


See London Tribunals case 2110166557 which seems similar.

The authority's case is that the Appellant's vehicle was parked in a residents' parking place or zone displaying an invalid permit when in Lausanne Road on 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 19 and 21 January 2011 at 09.00.



The Appellant's case is that the permit had not been renewed because they had not received a renewal notice from the authority. The Appellant and his wife were on holiday from 31 December 2010 until 23 January 2011 during which period the Penalty Charge Notices were incurred.



I have considered the evidence and I find that the Appellant's vehicle was parked in a residents parking place displaying an invalid permit when in Lausanne Road on 4 January 2011. It is the Appellant's responsibility to renew their permit and they are not entitled to rely on the courtesy renewal letter, which may not have been received.



However, I find that the Appellant's vehicle committed one contravention of parking in a residents' permit bay without clearly displaying a valid permit when in Lausanne Road on 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 19 and 21 January 2011.



I find that one continuous contravention has occurred; the vehicle remains at the same location throughout the period these Penalty Charge Notices were issued. Further, I have taken into account that the residents' bay is operational from 8am to 6.30pm Monday to Saturday and I find that the situation would be the same if the residents' bay was operational 24 hours a day 7 days a week.



There is no rule of law or regulation that entitles an authority to issue a penalty charge notice every 24 hours or as in some of these Penalty Charge Notices less than 24 hours. An enforcement authority has other powers at its disposal for a continuous contravention, such as removal.



For the reasons given this appeal is allowed.




 
 

The PCNs issued on 2/11, 4/11, 10/11 have been cancelled. (these should be October as has been observed)

Pl post at least one of these letters(if all the same) otherwise each one which has a different reason.

They finally saw it on the day before I came back but I was already in the air at that stage so they weren't able to do anything about it.

I read 'I' was in the air as 'it'(as in car) hence my confusion

OP, you're waiting for the next notice, Notice to Owner, before you get a further opportunity to make reps, assuming you're the registered keeper with a current DVLA V5C address.