#8 Re: Westminster, code 21, Parked in a suspended bay, Prince Consort Road
on 09 Jun, 2025 15:55 in Civil penalty charge notices (Councils, TFL and so on)
Quote from: H C Andersen on 09 Jun, 2025 15:32Column 27 isn't even IN the parking place!OP, IMO your comment 'I suppose' sums it up: it's not a motorist's burden to suppose, deduce or calculate, just to read. The council's instructions fall short of the standard required IMO. Some thoughts.Dear Sir,PCN ******The above was issued for parking wholly or partly in a suspended bay. The particulars of the suspension on the sign adjacent to where I parked were:....set them out....When I read the sign I took the lamp column in situ to be no.27 and that the suspended area was to the left. I therefore parked on the right as shown in the authority's photos. Subsequently, I discovered that lamp column 27 isn't even within the parking place, it's 10m to the east. Frankly, why the council chose to define the suspended area by reference to a location outside the parking place I cannot fathom because it's not a motorist's burden to traipse along a road looking for the council's datum point. Instead, it's the council's to place sufficient, clear and understandable signs so that a motorist is in no doubt as to where they are parking and the consequences of their actions. The sign was confusing and therefore unenforceable. If the council intended that the suspended area was that part of the parking place which lies between the entrance to the Royal School of Mines and what I now understand to be column 25, then making this clear on the sign, even adding a diagram, should have been effected. The PCN should be cancelled. Thanks for clarifying - Using the City of Westminster's challenging criteria - (https://www.westminster.gov.uk/parking/challenge-penalty-charge-notice-pcn) I have drafted the following using yours as inspiration: I am writing to formally challenge the above PCN issued for allegedly parking in a suspended bay on Prince Consort Road.The yellow suspension sign placed adjacent to my vehicle stated:“Parking Suspended – 60 metres (12 spaces)Location: Outside Imperial College Royal School of Mines12 spaces starting from spaces closest to lamp column 27.”When I read the sign, I interpreted it as referring to the lamp column I was parked beside, which bore both the standard parking sign and the suspension notice. Based on that, I parked to the right of that column, believing I was outside the suspended zone.I have since discovered that lamp column 27 is not even within the parking area, but rather approximately 10 metres away, unlabelled and not readily visible. It was therefore not possible, at the point of parking, to know which bay the suspension was intended to begin from. The signage did not provide sufficient clarity to determine the exact location or extent of the suspended area.Instead, it is the responsibility of the council to place clear, unambiguous signage which allows any motorist — at a glance — to understand precisely which bays are suspended and which are not. In this case, the sign failed to meet that standard.If the council intended for the suspended bays to begin at a different lamp column — such as column 25 or any other — it would have been simple and appropriate to either:• Refer to a clearly labelled column within the actual parking place, or• Provide a diagram or explicit markings to show the suspended area.The lack of both on-site clarification and supporting bay markings meant that the restriction was not clearly enforceable.⸻In accordance with Westminster’s published consideration principles:• I made a genuine attempt to park legally, and any misjudgement was an honest and understandable mistake based on unclear signage.• On the balance of probabilities, the evidence shows that the sign did not provide a fair or comprehensible warning to motorists.• It would be disproportionate to uphold this PCN when the council’s own sign created the confusion.• The signage arguably falls short of the legal clarity required under the Traffic Management Act 2004 and related guidance.Given all of the above, I respectfully request that this PCN be cancelled.Yours faithfully,Appropriate at all? Would you know at all that if I appeal, does the 'discount' period carry forward should the appeal be denied? (Nevermind - checked and it is the case - so nothing to lose!) Best Wishes