I received a PCN on a courtesy car parked in a residential bay. Islington has a new system (an online portal) they require you to use to get a permit.
As the car was a courtesy vehicle, I used the portal to try and get a permit. The portal wasn't working (it kept on showing me an error - I unfortunately don't have evidence of this, which is why I didn't include it in my appeal), so I applied to add the courtesy vehicle onto my existing permit.
As per
https://www.islington.gov.uk/parking/parking-permits/change-of-vehicle, it only provides guidelines for requests made by email, not on the portal. On the portal itself, it doesn't give any guidance that alternative arrangements need to made to be made. I therefore believed I would be fine as I didn't receive any correspondence that the permit hadn't been applied to the courtesy car.
My PCN appeal was the following:
I applied for a permit to cover the vehicle, registration BG23XBY on 18/09/2023 on the ePermits portal (https://islington.tarantoportal.com/Permits/Account/Login). In the response to my original challenge, received 05/10/2023, Rebecca Hunston, Correspondence and Appeals Officer cited: 'Please be advised that the evidence you had provided was only an application, therefore, the permit was not transferred to the vehicle at the time the PCN was issued. If the driver intends to park their vehicle whilst waiting for a new permit to be transferred onto the vehicle, we’d expect them to seek out alternative parking until the new vehicle has been given a valid permit. After checking the permit system, I can confirm that this permit was transferred to the vehicle on the 19 September 2023 at 15:01, therefore, at the time the PCN was issued, no valid permit was attached to the vehicle, therefore I am satisfied that this PCN was issued correctly.'
However, as per https://www.islington.gov.uk/parking/parking-permits/change-of-vehicle, the only reference to seek out alternative parking until the new vehicle has been given a new permit is for applicants submitting a request via email. These conditions can be found under
While your email request is being processed. - If emailing your request, it will be completed within five working days. - You will be responsible for parking your new vehicle until you receive confirmation of this change from us. For example, you may consider using visitor vouchers or short-term parking via our Ringo App or Epay shops to allow you to park within prescribed hours
As stated above, this request was registered on the ePortal, NOT via email. No mention is made on the website (https://www.islington.gov.uk/parking/parking-permits/change-of-vehicle) that the above conditions apply to applications via the ePermits portal. Indeed, the ePermits portal states
TERMS AND CONDITIONS 5. Change of details, including refunds and additional vehicles and charges. Including use of temporary vehicles. It is your responsibility to change any details on your account. This includes address, vehicle or contact details.
i. Change of address If you change address, you must update your details online. You will be required to provide proof as set out above. If the required documents are not available at the time, you must still make the change online, and submit the required documents within 21 days. Failure to do so may result in the permit being suspended or cancelled.
ii. Permanent change of vehicle: If you wish to change a vehicle associated with your permit, you can make the change online. You are required to upload evidence as set out above. If you do not have the documentation available, you will l be permitted to use your new vehicle immediately. However, you will still be required to provide the documentation within 21 days. Failure to do so may result in your vehicle not being covered by your permit. Please note there may be a change in cost of the permit depending on the vehicle. In all cases the vehicle with the highest permit change will be used if you require multiple vehicles on a permit.
iii. Adding a vehicle to your existing permit. You may add additional vehicles anytime your permit is valid, up to a maximum of 3 vehicles. You must go online and update your permit with additional vehicles. Please note, there may be a change in cost if the vehicle you are adding has a higher charge than the vehicles already on your permit.
iv. Temporary cover or courtesy vehicle If you have the use of a temporary or courtesy vehicle you will need to go online and update your vehicle details. A temporary cover is only applicable for 21 days. There are a maximum of 3 temporary cover changes permitted in any 12-month period. There is no need to supply supporting documentation in relation to a temporary change of vehicle.
No mention is made on seeking out alternative parking whilst the application is being processed. As such, this PCN is invalid based on the guidance provided by Islington council.
Islington rejected the appeal (see screenshots), stating that '...you were not advised on the portal that the vehicle would be added immediately or given any timescales for this. In the meantime you would be expected to pay for parking as you had not received confirmation that the vehicle had been added to the account."
I will therefore need to go to tribunal to challenge this - I'm very surprised my appeal was rejected, so would appreciate some support on getting this overturned.
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