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Wait for others.

Pl post 'the enclosed form' referred to in the NOR. I doubt that this gives the correct info and in any event even if it did you would have 2 sets of contradictory instructions. I also doubt that the form would be included in the authority's evidence at a hearing and therefore the NOR would stand on its own.

Hi @HC. Thanks for your comprehensive response - yes, I agree with your assessment that it's pretty difficult to make a legitimate argument in my favour here.


The form you have mentioned is in the same document - it's page 6 of the PDF onwards. I haven't received a separate document or anything by post yet, just that one document via email.


I'm also aware that given what they've stated in the letter (rightly or wrongly!) they have given me up until the 25th February to make payment at the 'discounted' fee.

I realise it's a long shot - but unless anyone has any other thoughts, I'll submit the above later tonight...

Thank you all for the responses - and @HC I appreciate the candidness, as it is always more difficult to be totally objective and unbiased towards your own situation.

I feel that ultimately the reality is a combination of everything that has been mentioned. I would not have stopped if the lorry hadn't been parked there as I would have been able to continue down the road. But as it was, and it was standstill traffic to my right, I made the decision not try try and manouvre my bike through (@mickR I totally understand your point, although my motorbike is a lot heavier and less manouvreable in tight traffic than a delivery moped!) and instead to sit behind the lorry for a moment and re-assess to see if there was an alternative route. The most annoying part is I actually did pull back out into the traffic and continue in that direction, so it was a totally useless exercise anyway!

I'll see if any others have any futher suggestions before I draft a challenge which I will post here before submitting. If it fails and the fine stands, then I can understand that it was a poor judgement call from me. I suppose the irony of the situation is that I stopped there to avoid being in the way of other road users (cyclists, mopeds etc that you see in the video) while sorting navigation, but have been penalised for what is essentially causing an obstruction by stopping on a red route. But hey we all make bad calls sometimes so perhaps this is one of those instances.

TfL are in the Dark Ages. I think all London councils now put photos and videos on-line. Quite why TfL send out DVDs when most people's IT kit doesn't even have a reader for them !

Someone I spoke to wondered if TfL bought 1000s of DVDs for this years ago, and are still working through an old stockpile of them so that it's not a wasted cost - although I'm sure it's costing them more to do this way now!

Sigh... I've still not received anything, it is marked as 'On Hold' and yet online the charge value has now increased from £80 to £160. I will phone them again tomorrow.

I imagine I'll have a pretty good leg to stand on to get them at least to reduce it to £80 given that they told me it would not increase while I was waiting, and I have continously chased them?

Fair enough, but their sole evidence is a video which we need to see. 

You can phone TfL and ask for the video which they will send as a DVD, (yes, they are a bit behind the times at TfL, everybody else has the video on-line !).
When they have told you that they will send the DVD, they freeze PCN progress for 2 weeks, (make sure they tell you this !!) then restart it. They assume you will have got the DVD by then, but sometimes it doesn't arrive, so you need to put a date in your diary to contact them again if the DVD hasn't turned up.

Thank you for this - I have spoken to TfL and they are sending me the DVD with the footage on it. They have said it can take up to 28 days to arrive, but the PCN will be frozen for that amount of time. They said to keep an eye on it online (currently under code SUS20 and marked as on hold) and have given me a reference code I can quote if necessary to prove I had asked for the DVD and the PCN is on hold.

Will report back once I have the footage!

That is weird:

I'd write back on 14 November 2024 as follows:
<snip>

Thanks - yes I suppose that is the right thing to do, and once it's that far down the line they can no longer do anything about it anyway from what I understand. Have added a reminder to my calendar for November!