Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Civil penalty charge notices (Councils, TFL and so on) => Topic started by: seannieprice on January 21, 2025, 07:14:57 pm
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Well done for fighting. ;D
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Thank you to everybody who offered advice on this.
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Great news - just checked the appeal details via the London Tribunals portal and as of this afternoon the PCN has been cancelled : "This authority will not be contesting your appeal against liability for the Penalty Charge
Notice and therefore the notice has been cancelled on this occasion due to an error made
when issuing the PCN and the case is now closed." Common sense has prevailed.
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Today's update - an incorrect code HAD been issued! All now amended and we're able to view the appeal details. Lambeth Council still haven't uploaded any photos - London Tribunals told my auntie on the phone today that Lambeth have until 5 days before the hearing (now 18/2) to do this.
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Sometimes the council puts and incorrect verification code on the letter, and when this happens the tribunal will change it. Your aunt will need to call them up and ask for the verification code.
Another scenario might be that if she appealed by sending a paper form in the post, the verification code might not have been set up, in which case you can just ask them to put it in.
Don't put the verification code on here or anyone on the internet will be able to get your Aunt's postal address, phone number etc as that's all recorded on the case record.
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Thank you for your guidance on this, I really appreciate it.
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@seannieprice I now know from your PM that your aunt has spoken to London Tribunals, rather than the council. It is important to get the terminology right or else you'll get incorrect advice.
Anyway, you should log onto the tribunal portal at https://londontribunals.org.uk/ and see if the council has uploaded any evidence, if there is any evidence the council will upload it there.
If by the time of the haring there is no evidence then nothing else really matters, your aunt will win by default due to lack of evidence.
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Lambeth Council on the phone yesterday they told her that the hearing on 15/02/25 would be by phone.
The Tribunal say in their letter ot will be on papers and it is the Tribunal, not Lambeth Council, who decided this, and it is the Tribunal (who are very reasonable) who will change it to a personal hearing by telephone if requested.
BUT, more importantly, have you responded to @cp8759 's PM (Private Message)?
If you take up his offer he will arrange the change of hearing type, but it may very well be that Lambeth fold before it reaches a hearing.
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Have you called Lambeth about pics? I'd be surprised if they haven't got any.
Anyway, take CP up on his offer. I guarantee he will get this cancelled.
As for the VRM, there are three possibilities:
- A mistake by the CEO
- The plate has been altered say by a bit of black tape to change a character
- The plate is a clone
I've had a quick look at VRMs and there are other Fords with similar plates but a mistake recording the VRM is common. The car colour is also not always recorded correctly but it's not a requirement to enforce a PCN.
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@cp8759
When my auntie spoke to Lambeth Council on the phone yesterday they told her that the hearing on 15/02/25 would be by phone.
I don't drive myself and have never dealt with something like this before but, naively perhaps, I don't see how my auntie has a case to answer. The description of the car logged on the PCN does not correspond to her car, something that the details registered with the DVLA would confirm. If Lambeth DO have a photograph of the car in question, I can only see it showing a registration number different to my auntie's - surely there can be no more conclusive proof that the traffic warden made a mistake when typing in the car details to generate the PCN?
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@seannieprice this case it at risk of going dangerously off-track, not least because it's been listed as a postal appeal and there is a distinct risk the appeal could be rejected. In the circumstances I really think your aunty should be represented, I'm going to drop you a PM about that.
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Seems to me Lambeth are acting "wholly unreasonably" in taking the matter all the way to adjudication.
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Thank you. She's going to phone them and ask for the photos (if they exist). Hopefully they do exist, as this will show that the car in question is not my auntie's.
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There are no pics on Lambeth's site - you must call them and ask for these. They nearly always take pics but Lambeth seems to have had glitches with putting up evidence.
They are also saying they'll issue a charge certificate on 10 Feb but your aunt seems to have registered the tribunal appeal for after this so hopefully Lambeth will amend the status.
And hopefully they won't contest this but if it goes ahead I urge you to ask for a telephone hearing where you can speak as her rep.
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Hi.
My 80 year old auntie received a PCN just before Xmas for parking in a resident's space in Brixton without a permit - she lives 200 miles away in Cheshire and has never driven to London in her life! A breakdown of details below :
My auntie received a letter from Lambeth Council (sent 03/12/24) claiming that on 31/10/24 she had been issued with a PCN (LJ33238296) for parking in a residents place on Lorn Road without a permit - see https://imgur.com/a/bCwFc8q
The return address for this letter was in Darlington so, because no postcode for Lorn Road was quoted within the letter, she presumed that Lorn Road was in Darlington. My auntie was at home in Warrington, Cheshire all day that day so obviously something was wrong.
My auntie replied to the initial letter from Lambeth Council immediately - see https://imgur.com/a/W1Q4zEF
She highlighted that she had been at home all day on 31/10/24 and nowhere near a Lorn Road (in Darlington, as she then presumed). On looking up the PCN she also noticed that the car in question was described as a white ford - my auntie's car is dark grey - see https://imgur.com/a/g7La8SE
The PCN also stated that no photograph of the car in question had been taken/was available.
My auntie then received a letter from Lambeth Council (sent 08/01/25) telling her that her appeal against this had been rejected - see https://imgur.com/a/bKBmUdL
My auntie then reported this incident to the police, as advised in the letter from Lambeth Council, in case her licence plates had been cloned. She was given a crime reference number.
My auntie replied to this rejection letter on 16/01/25, reiterating the obvious mistake that had been made - see https://imgur.com/a/NnPdRtL
At this stage she was still under the impression that Lorn Road was in Darlington.
She subsequently received a letter from Lambeth Council (sent 19/01/25) acknowledging her second appeal. This letter highlighted that the issue would now be heard in London on 15/02/25 - see https://imgur.com/a/rRYejxQ
My auntie spoke to Lambeth Council today on the phone and they were very sympathetic but insisted that the hearing would have to go ahead on 15/02/25 as stated. They did confirm though that the Lorn Road the incident took place on was in London, not Darlington (SW9 0AD). My auntie, who is almost 80 years old, has never driven to London in her life. Her car on the day in question was on her drive 200 miles away in Warrington, Cheshire. They did reassure her over the phone that she would not have to attend the hearing in person, and that she would receive a 'pack of evidence' in the post no later than 10/02/25.
Any advice on this would be welcome please. My auntie is not tech savvy so I said that I'd try and get some help for (I can upload a letter giving her consent if that's required).
Dismissing the slim possibility that her plates have been cloned, I'm surmising that the 'traffic warden' mistyped the registration number of the illegally parked car. The fact that the PCN incorrectly describes the car as white and not grey would seem to support this. To reiterate though, the PCN states that no photo is available.
Thanks in advance.
Sean
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I would be surprised if Lambeth don't have photos.
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I'm seeing my auntie tomorrow so I'll have access to the letters and email she's received then.
Welcome to the Council tickets board!
Please make sure you take/make copies of all sides of all paperwork received and anything she sent to Lambeth.
Then have a read of
https://www.ftla.uk/civil-penalty-charge-notices-(councils-tfl-and-so-on)/read-this-first-before-posting-your-case!-this-section-is-for-council-tfl-dartme/
and post the docs here in the right order if you can.
When posting docs only redact yr aunt's name & address - leave everything else in.
Once we've seen the docs it will be possible to give tailor-made advice.
P.S. probably easier if your aunt gives you written authority to act on her behalf.
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Lorn Road looks to be a public highway. I'll move this to the council forum.
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I'm seeing my auntie tomorrow so I'll have access to the letters and email she's received then. That's interesting about the Lambeth Council / Darlington mystery. The address on the letter was Darlington so my auntie presumed that the parking offence occurred there. The address of the offence was a Lorn Road though (the letter doesn't even quote a postcode) and a quick google shows that this is actually an address in SW9 (Lambeth). My auntie's car was no more in Lambeth that day than it was in Darlington (as first thought). This explains though why the tribunal is scheduled to take place in Lambeth. Thank you for that...things are making a bit more sense now even if the accusation is still utter nonsense!
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I'm pretty sure this will turn out to be a council PCN for Lambeth, they appear to use a mailing address in Darlington. In which case time is probably against you or it will escalate in cost and the opportunity to appeal will be lost. Hopefully you can get sight of the paperwork to confirm - if it is a council one then there's a good chance one of the helpful gents on here will represent your Aunt at the tribunal.
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Without documents it'll be almost impossible to offer sound advice.
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Hi. A PCN number has been issued but it doesn't state clearly whether it's a private or council charge - it's all very ambiguous. I don't have the letters/communications to hand at the moment, I just thought I'd try and get some advice on my auntie's advice (she isn't very tech savvy). Lambeth Parking control lots of parking spaces all over the Uk apparently.
Thanks.
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Please have a read of the sticky above: Read me First (https://www.ftla.uk/private-parking-tickets/read-this-first-private-parking-charges-forum-guide/) and post up the relevant documents. It's not clear if this is a private charge or a council charge - seems odd that Lambeth would be enforcing a (private) ticket from Darlington....!
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Hi.
My auntie (who is almost 80) received a letter in the week before Xmas telling her that she had been fined for parking in a residential carpark in Darlington on 31/10 without a permit. She has never been to Darlington and was at home in Cheshire that day (as her husband can prove, but nobody else unfortunately). The residential carpark, although in Darlington, is governed by Lambeth Council.There was no contact telephone number or email address on this letter so she replied to them immediately by recorded delivery explaining that it couldn't have been her. Lambeth Council replied to her via post last week to tell her that her 'appeal' had failed. This letter also highlighted though that the car, as described by them, is a different colour and make to hers. It also explained that NO photograph was taken of this car on the day in question.
My auntie has since spoken to the police and been given a crime number just in case there's a slim chance that her plates have been cloned. The more likely explanation though seems to be an error on the part of the 'traffic warden' who issued the penalty. She has today received an email telling her that if she wants to appeal further she has to go down to London and attend a tribunal. What can she do?? She obviously doesn't want the expense and stress of going down to London in order to argue her case over something that she didn't do. Have other people been in this position and can offer advice?
I know human error happens but surely there is no way that this can be enforced when the car details they have for my auntie's registration plate are not correct, PLUS the fact that they don't have a photo of this car in situ on the day?
Thanks in advance!