Free Traffic Legal Advice
Live cases legal advice => Civil penalty charge notices (Councils, TFL and so on) => Topic started by: DontStandForNonsense on June 23, 2025, 01:48:01 pm
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So I can close this all down and forget about it :)
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That's from the tribunal, stating the authority's reason, which often includes ridiculous template we see in accepted representations.
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I haven't yet received any letters. Just an email referring me to the tribunals website which when logged in shows this result exactly as I copy pasted it.
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Please post up the letter advising of cancellation.
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They have cancelled it :)
"PCN RG40219655
MR XXXXX, the authority has not contested your appeal, and you are not liable to pay the penalty charge."
"There is nothing to pay and the authority will cancel the penalty charge
This is because the authority did not contest your appeal."
"The authority's reasons for not contesting the case are"
"Reading Borough Council has reviewed this Appeal and the decision has been made in this instance to not contest this Appeal. Please note, the PCN was issued correctly, and the decision made in this instance does not set a precedent for future PCNs that may be issued.
This case is now closed."
By the way, what do they mean by saying "Please note, the PCN was issued correctly"? No PCN was issued!
Also, who is saying this? Is it the council or the Tribunal?
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They have cancelled it :)
"PCN RG40219655
MR XXXXX, the authority has not contested your appeal, and you are not liable to pay the penalty charge."
"There is nothing to pay and the authority will cancel the penalty charge
This is because the authority did not contest your appeal."
"The authority's reasons for not contesting the case are"
"Reading Borough Council has reviewed this Appeal and the decision has been made in this instance to not contest this Appeal. Please note, the PCN was issued correctly, and the decision made in this instance does not set a precedent for future PCNs that may be issued.
This case is now closed."
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No you haven't!
You've submitted your skeleton argument and reserve the right to make further representations - informed by our suggestions - once you have seen the council's evidence!
Ok, understood.
This is what I wrote:
I am writing to formally appeal the Notice to Owner I received in relation to the alleged contravention.
When I returned to my vehicle, a Civil Enforcement Officer was nearby, entering details into her handheld device. However, there was no Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) attached to my vehicle, nor was one handed to me or visibly in her possession. If she was in the process of issuing a PCN, it had not been completed or served at the time I was present.
I later received a Notice to Owner by post, which came as a surprise given the lack of any physical PCN. I appealed this on the grounds that no PCN had been properly issued or served, and I requested supporting evidence. Unfortunately, no such evidence was provided. The suggestion that the PCN may have been removed or blown away is purely speculative and unsupported by any proof.
Given that the council has not provided any substantive evidence to show that a PCN was issued and served in accordance with the relevant regulations, I respectfully request that this penalty be cancelled.
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No you haven't!
You've submitted your skeleton argument and reserve the right to make further representations - informed by our suggestions - once you have seen the council's evidence!
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Ok I have submitted the appeal to the tribunal and explained my argument
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Should I explain my appeal or save it until the phone tribunal>
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Even tribunals use different words, so for reference and accuracy here's what's in the Regulations:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2022/9780348232752/part/2/chapter/2
(5) If the adjudicator concludes that a ground specified in regulation 5(4) applies, the adjudicator—
(a)must allow the appeal, and
(b)may give such directions to the enforcement authority as the adjudicator considers appropriate for the purpose of giving effect to that decision.
5(4)
(f)there has been a procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority;
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Also they have a further 2 parts (copied below).
WOuld you advise me to leave them blank or add my version of events? i.e. Returned to the vehicle, saw the warden standing close by but since no PCN had been attached to my vehicle I drove away. Sometime later, I received a NTO in the post which I appealed on the basis that no PCN had been issued prior to the NTO. The Parking authority rejected by appeal but offered no evidence for serving the PCN.
1. Explain your appeal
Be as specific as you can, please include dates, times and locations where possible (3000 word limit). If you wish to add a longer explanation you may do so by uploading it as evidence (see below).
2. Add your evidence
Adding evidence to your appeal can be helpful to support your case, although you are not required to do so.
Evidence that may be helpful could include:
pay-and-display tickets
photographs
correspondence
letters / statements from witnesses
proof of vehicle ownership (such as DVLA records or sales receipts)
invoices or delivery notes (to show loading while using your vehicle)
permits or vouchers
a copy of a Blue Badge
Neither form of evidence is necessarily better than the other.
Given the nature of the Tribunal process, please be aware that any evidence uploaded by either party (i.e. you or the Authority) can be seen by the other.
So, if you decide to upload evidence of a personal nature, please ensure you remove or hide any information you do not wish to be seen by the Authority.
If uploading a bank account statement, for example, this could mean removing or hiding your sort code / account number; or for medical records, this could mean removing your National Insurance Number.
If you do not have evidence to hand right now, you are able to upload it to your case file at a later date.
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They should indeed have come clean and admitted they served the wrong document - a postal PCN looks like it would have been correct. But they sent an NTO instead.
We see a wrongly served NTO quite often and it can come down to your word against theirs, which is why speaking to the adjudicator is vital should they contest.
I suspect in this case they've not bothered to check the CEO's notes and when they do won't contest the appeal.
Yes that makes sense. Thanks for this.
By the way, the tribunal website doesn't have the Procedural Impropriety option. Closest most relevant option seems to be: The authority made a procedural error.
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They should indeed have come clean and admitted they served the wrong document - a postal PCN looks like it would have been correct. But they sent an NTO instead.
We see a wrongly served NTO quite often and it can come down to your word against theirs, which is why speaking to the adjudicator is vital should they contest.
I suspect in this case they've not bothered to check the CEO's notes and when they do won't contest the appeal.
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Don't know why the section is headed 'applying discretion'.
If you are sure no PCN was served on the van take them to the tribunal and opt for a telephone hearing.
Adjudicators take a dim view of authorities telling porkies.
(https://i.imgur.com/UrZAaWx.png)
I hope so because that really is BS.
Why could the not have come clean and said whatever the warden said, and where nothing was written, to say, we do not have a picture and can't say why one wasn't taken.
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Great,
So when registering the appeal with the tribunal website, I won't be asked for anything beyond the details of the NTO?
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More procedural improprieties in the NOR than you can shake a stick at. IMO, they're doomed just by these.
Register appeal:
Procedural impropriety;
Then come back here.
We can expand on the PIs when it's registered.
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Don't know why the section is headed 'applying discretion'.
If you are sure no PCN was served on the van take them to the tribunal and opt for a telephone hearing.
Adjudicators take a dim view of authorities telling porkies.
(https://i.imgur.com/UrZAaWx.png)
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Just received a notice of rejection :(
Would really appreciate some expert guidance. They seem to just ignore our last request for evidence and hold to their position. I must say, I'm quite irritated that they should say "I can assure you, a Penalty Charge Notice was affixed to the vehicle. However it is possible it was removed by someone or or had blown off"
This is total rubbish. I returned to the vehicle as their warden was fumbling about with her ticket machine. She had not printed it before I drove off.
This council use sticky slips that would not blow off. And if it had, then why didn't she just pick it up and take the picture. Why didn't she state that in her notes. If someone took it off, did they take it off in front of her or after she had left. If it was after she left, well then she would have had a picture of it on the vehicle before she left. If it was in front of her, again, I'm sure she would have noted it.
Link to Photos (https://photos.app.goo.gl/GVdnide5MopVEmH67)
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So i simply select reason: "Procedural impropriety" with no need to say anything else?
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By the way, should they not be taking pictures after issuing a PCN? I wonder why she did that.
I saw that it hadn't even been printed by the time I hopped back in my Van.
Is there a scenario where they'd need to post a PCN? I mean, if a driver is present and unwilling to take the PCN by hand, the CEO should have been able to attach and photo it on the vehicle. They could even photograph the PCN in the drivers hand?
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If they had sent you a postal PCN on the basis that you drove away before it could be served to you or the car, then you'd be struggling, but by serving a Notice to Owner, they've shot themselves in the foot. For your information, the Traffic Management Act 2004 introduced clauses to deal with drivers who drive away before a PCN can be served,
I don't recall them saying anything about how they allege a PCN was served?
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15 seconds apart.
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Only three pics and no PCN on van.
(https://i.ibb.co/7N2KHjjN/read1.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/yBbfPmMj/read3.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/S4P0LxhM/read2.jpg)
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If they had sent you a postal PCN on the basis that you drove away before it could be served to you or the car, then you'd be struggling, but by serving a Notice to Owner, they've shot themselves in the foot. For your information, the Traffic Management Act 2004 introduced clauses to deal with drivers who drive away before a PCN can be served,
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You've deleted the PCN no. so we can't access their photos.
Pl reinstate the PCN no.
The simple analysis goes:
You returned to the car and did not find a PCN affixed to the vehicle;
You therefore dispute that one was served;
This is supported by your account AND (we hope) council photos, none of which shows a PCN having been served;
Grounds of reps: Procedural impropriety.
The burden then shifts to the council to prove that a PCN was served and to explain why, if this was the case, service has not been recorded.
I'm sorry, I thought I needed to scrub that off!
Anyway, this is it >> RG40219655
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You've deleted the PCN no. so we can't access their photos.
Pl reinstate the PCN no.
The simple analysis goes:
You returned to the car and did not find a PCN affixed to the vehicle;
You therefore dispute that one was served;
This is supported by your account AND (we hope) council photos, none of which shows a PCN having been served;
Grounds of reps: Procedural impropriety.
The burden then shifts to the council to prove that a PCN was served and to explain why, if this was the case, service has not been recorded.
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Just over a week ago, I received a Notice to Owner (NTO) for contravention code 46: “Stopped where prohibited (on a red route or clearway),” but I never received a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) beforehand.
When I returned to my vehicle, two Civil Enforcement Officers (CEOs) were standing nearby, but there was no PCN attached to the vehicle.
As I approached, one of the CEOs attempted to stop me, saying a ticket had already been issued and that I needed to wait. Meanwhile, the other officer seemed to be quickly inputting details into her handheld device. From what I could see, no ticket had been printed at that point.
I didn’t engage and simply got in the car and drove off, as I’ve always understood that a PCN must either be fixed to the vehicle or handed to the driver for it to be considered properly served.
Their evidence shows my vehicle stationary from the front and back (3 minutes apart) without any PCN attached.
Notice to Owner linked below:
Notice to Owner (https://photos.app.goo.gl/LTrCGUXS5L7trF8Z7)
really hope someone can help?