This is a first:
The Authority seeks a further review.
The issue at the review was whether an Appellant serving a Notice under Paragraph 7(3) of the London Local Authorities Act 1996 (as amended) can only do so by lodging the Notice via the Tribunals’ portal.
One would expect the Authority to check the legislation before applying for a review. It would appear that it has not done so because it has not at any stage offered any submissions as to why the legislation requires it. Despite me pointing this out in the review decision, the Authority seeks a further review. Its reason is that it had not attended the hearing because it had not been asked to attend.
When parties receive notification that there will be a personal hearing, they decide whether to appear.
The Tribunal will not offer specific invitations.
I have already commented in my decision that the application was ill-conceived because the Authority has not identified any error on the adjudicator’s part. The application had not been dismissed summarily without a hearing simply because the Authority suggested that it would attend. I have therefore set the application down for a personal hearing, but the Authority’s case is that this is not good enough because it needed to be asked to attend. The second application is also baseless as a matter of law.
The application is refused.
I am asking the head of enforcement of the authority to confirm that its officers are adequately trained to conduct proceedings before this Tribunal.
Anthony Chan
Chief Adjudicator Environment and Traffic
Copy here (https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1Hg3Xe_c_ypyZTZec6XpU-n9nSp3vIdTS).
I'm not aware of this particular technicality ever failing, indeed the adjudicators have started using sterner wording if you look for example at what Carl Teper said in Ian O'Flynn v London Borough of Lambeth (2230309483, 26 July 2023) (https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1KU5k-MmvJrj28ERY3tvQ2mbaFmVT0jGT&export=inline) just last week.
I'm happy to represent you at the tribunal if you wish.
For now all you need to do is send a formal representation using exactly the same text as last time:
Dear London Borough of Brent,
The London Local Authorities Act 1996 provides that a PCN must state that the full penalty of £130 must be paid before the end of the period of 28 days commencing with the date of the notice, however the PCN served in this instance wrongly states that the 28 day period commences with the date of service of the notice.
This is a material departure from the requirements of the statutory scheme, as a result of which no penalty may be demanded.
Yours faithfully,
Once you get the formal Notice of Rejection, I can do the rest for you.