Free Traffic Legal Advice

Here is a re-worked draft of my representation to Sandwell Council.

I'd appreciate it if anyone could read it through and comment please.


REPRESENTATION

A CCTV video recorded my car outside my home for all of ten seconds during which I was engaged in a manoeuvre reversing out of the garage at my home and waiting for a gap in the traffic to start my journey.

The CCTV video footage shows that the way was not clear for me to join the traffic. In fact the CCTV camera which recorded the alleged contravention seems to be mounted in a vehicle positioned on the carriageway in such a way that the camera vehicle was also directly responsible in preventing me from joining the traffic flow at the time of the video recording.

During the entire time of the video recording I was behind the wheel of the car with the engine running awaiting a gap in the traffic.

A passenger is shown closing a nearside door after depositing some luggage on the back seat.

I have scrutinised the CCTV footage and to my eyes it appears that from frame 1187 to frame 1199 (which is less than one second of video) I am edging the car forward so as to begin positioning my vehicle to enter the flow of traffic. Prior to frame 1187 it is impossible to determine if my car is stationary or not. Since the video evidence is unclear as to whether I was stationary then it is also unclear whether a contravention of "46 Stopped where prohibited (on a red route or clearway)" took place.

Four doors up the road from my house is the road junction where Parsons Hill and The Queensway meet the Wolverhampton road. In order to turn right from the red route into either Parson's Hill or The Queensway most cars need to stop and wait for a gap in traffic. This 'right turn manoeuvre' involves stopping until it is safe to complete the manoeuvre.

In a similar fashion, if I was stationary at any point while manoeuvring my car between my garage and the carriageway I would argue that it should be considered to be part of a legitimate manoeuvre rather than 'stopping' as defined in PCN contravention code 46, particularly since the CCTV evidence which pertains to the alleged contravention lasts no longer than ten seconds and during that period there was no opportunity to join the traffic flow.

The section of the road where i live is notorious for many accidents. I have observed many serious collisions from my window and in December 2023 on the opposite (northbound) carriageway running past my home I was hit by another driver in a no fault collision and my car was written off. It is for this reason I choose to take extra safety precautions by not reversing off my property directly onto the carriageway, but rather reverse partially onto the verge adjacent to the red route in order to join the traffic in a safer fashion.

In closing could I ask the Sandwell parking appeal adjudicator exactly how I am meant to exit my property in my vehicle without my car being briefly stationary, either adjacent to, or actually on the red route at some point during such a manoeuvre?

END OF REPRESENTATION


Also, does anyone think that I should add anything about the need for both road markings and a sign to be present for the postal PCN to be legitimate, as per incandescent's post or does this just apply to London?


The nearest Red route signs to where the alleged contravention took place are approximately 100 meters away. See image link below:

Location of closest red route signs


and this is a frame from Sandwell's CCTV video showing that one sign was covered by a tree at the time of the alleged contravention:

PCN__ CCTV__FRAME__Position of closest red route sign


I can post more pics of the red route signs if you need further clarification.

The first stage is representations to the council.
The next stage is an appeal to the tribunal if they reject the reps.

Your PCN is dated 30 July so you presumably have not made representations yet.

I see you called Sandwell but this is not part of the process.

I haven't made a representation yet, the text above is just a draft.

I called Sandwell twice. Once before I discovered this forum, naively thinking that they might see that the PCN was unreasonable. The second time was to request the video in order to post it here but you'd already done so.

Thanks stamforman (and everyone else whose posted) for the guidance you've given me.

I think you'll get this cancelled but you can see why they issued it - the orientation of your car parallel to the road looks like it's parked. They wouldn't issue if it looked like you were waiting to pull out on the crossover, as I expect you were a few seconds later.

Draft reps and post here first.

I would also suggest enclosing proof of residence.

I completely agree with your point, but I was still a bit disappointed when the Sandwell officer didn't seem to respond to my claim that the car position is also wholly consistent with the manoeuvre I was actually executing. Particularly considering the flimsy nature of the video evidence.

Thanks for the suggestion to include proof of residence.

Do you think the appeal should be on the grounds of

1. "the alleged contravention did no occur",
2. "mitigating circumstances"

or

3. "other grounds"?

I've pasted my appeal wording below. It's basically a tightened up version of the account at the top of this thread with some added reference to the video evidence. Any suggested edits are welcome.

APPEAL WORDING

My car was recorded by CCTV outside my home for all of six seconds during which I was engaged in a manoeuvre reversing out of the garage at my home and waiting for a gap in the traffic to start my journey.

An image taken from a video frame on the PCN notice which is confirmed by the CCTV video footage shows that the way was not clear for me to join the traffic during the six second clip recorded.

The CCTV camera which recorded the alleged contravention seems to be mounted in a vehicle positioned on the carriageway in such a way that it was also directly responsible in preventing me from joining the traffic flow at the time of the video recording.

During the entire time of the video recording I was behind the wheel of the car with the engine running awaiting a gap in the traffic. My brother is shown closing a nearside door after depositing some luggage on the back seat.

I have scrutinized the CCTV footage and to my eyes it appears that from frame 1187 to frame 1199 (which is less than one second in time) I start slowly edging the car forward so as to begin positioning my vehicle to enter the flow of traffic.

The section of the road where i live is notorious for many accidents. I have observed many serious collisions from my window and in December 2023 on the opposite (northbound) carriageway running past my home I was hit by another driver in a no fault collision and my car was written off. It is for this reason I choose to take extra safety precautions by not reversing off my property directly onto the carriageway, but rather reverse partially onto the verge adjacent to the red route in order to join the traffic in a safer fashion.

In closing could I ask the Sandwell parking appeal adjudicator exactly how I am meant to exit my property in my vehicle without my car being briefly stationary, either adjacent to, or actually on the red route at some point during such a manoeuvre?

Thanks for posting the video Stamfordman. I just downloaded it myself from Sandwell and was in the process of uploading a link to this thread.

Its impossible from that clip to see if the car is truly stationary. To my eyes it looks like I'm edging the vehicle forward as the camera car gets close and passes my vehicle.

I've just read up on the restrictions attached to red routes and since my car is always stationary at some point as I manoeuvre onto the carriageway it looks like I'll be contravening them every time i leave my house!

Date of Contravention - 17/07/2026

My car was recorded by CCTV outside my home after I had reversed out of my garage and was waiting for a gap in the traffic to start my journey.

An image on the PCN shows that the way was not clear for me to join the traffic.

The CCTV camera which recorded the alleged contravention seems to be mounted in a vehicle positioned on the carriageway so as to be preventing me from joining the traffic flow at the time of the video recording.

During the entire time of the video recording I was behind the wheel of the car with the engine running awaiting a gap in the traffic.

I would maintain that I was in the middle of manoeuvring from my garage onto the carriageway to commence a journey and that it is impossible to execute such a manoeuvre without being stationary at some point.

The section of the road where i live is notorious for many accidents. It is for this reason I choose not to reverse off my property directly onto the carriageway but rather reverse partially onto the verge adjacent to the red route in order to join the traffic in a safer fashion. The PCN shows my car in this stationary position on the verge. In December 2023 on the carriageway running past my home I was hit by another driver in a no fault collision and my car was written off.

I phoned the Sandwell contact number on the PCN and explained the situation as above. The agent maintained that because I was partially on the verge that I was at fault but said that I had the right to appeal. This attitude didn't fill me with much confidence.

This is the link to the PCN:

https://imgpile.com/p/YyYvKnZ

As the location is directly outside my home I'd rather not post a link to the incident site on google maps but if this is essential please let me know and I'll add a link to the thread.

I really appreciate you taking a look at this.