Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Messages - JoCo

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 6
1
The Flame Pit / 2 hours free parking
« on: January 15, 2026, 03:29:26 pm »
My sister has got the plumbers in. New boiler.

Her road has controlled residential parking. Greenwich council fwiw.

Visitors can park for free for two hours, no return in 3 hours.

Alternatively  use visitor virtual voucher, valid for 4 hours.

Plumber arrived at 11:00. Set up voucher timed to start at 13:00, to take advantage of 2 hours free parking.

So OK until 1700.  However plumbers likely to work beyond this.

Academic question, as probably not going to risk it.

Assuming plumber didn't move van, would a parking session which starts at 1700 be regarded as a new "2 hour free" session? (As more than 3 hours from last free session). So this gives cover until 19:00 ( effectively all day as restrictions cease at 18:30).

Or would the council regard this as continuous parking, and in contravention?

If it were me I would argue the former, and save the cost of a voucher for another day.

However,  probably not worth the risk of aggravating the plumber if a PCN issued. (Even if it was a certain win if challenged).

I'm just asking out of curiosity, and for future reference.







2
Shabby behaviour by council to include a picture which was not the OP's car.

Particularly as it was a similar colour car, and the fact it was illustrative rather than evidence of contravention was not mentioned.
A casual reader might well assume this was a council picture of contravention, and throw cards in. 


Anyway. Act on facts.

Is the location local to OP?

Surely the simplest way to establish the truth is to retrace your steps and park in the same position. 

Then take two photos,  one perpendicular to kerb to illustrate you were parked outside No. 7;
and one from the perspective of the council's photos, to show that parking position the same as one cited in PCN.

Perhaps come back for an opinion then?

If OP entirely in front of no 7, job's a goodun.

If the OP was overlapping a little, de minimus could still prevail.

If OP more than a little, I'd be inclined to gamble, with original argument that council have not demonstrated a contravention. Especially due to council's behaviour, which I'm sure an adjudicator would take a dim view of.

3
The Flame Pit / Re: Random Toll Charge from TFL
« on: November 28, 2025, 11:34:50 am »
This payment cannot be an auto-pay.

Neither her car nor her card is registered with TFL.

Her TfL account , which is dormant,  has been checked and no travel/ payment registered. The car on the account was scrapped 2 years.

If plate cloned, then someone would have to have set up a fake account with her plate and her card... And paid. Otherwise she would have got a PCN.

Just got a reply from TFL. They really are not interested. Raise it with bank....

I know a bit about payments as I worked in IT for supermarket online shopping.

In that role I definitely could trace a transaction , and full payment details such as whether payment was authorised via 3DSecure/verifybyvisa.

I suspect I'm dealing with support desk staff and it hasn't been passed onto IT support or their fraud team.




4
The Flame Pit / Random Toll Charge from TFL
« on: November 27, 2025, 02:42:33 pm »
I thought I'd raise this here as it might interest the group.

My sister recently saw a charge on her Bank App, from TFL for £4.  She's not very tech savvy, so came to me for advice.

Had a butchers and the only TFL charge that I could find that was £4 is the Blackwall Tunnel charge. Regular payment.

Spoke to bank, they confirmed it was a genuine charge from TFL from Bridges and Tunnels. gave us a transaction reference. 

To be clear. My sister had not used the tunnel since it became chargeable, and not paid for the tunnel for anyone else. She has a dormant TFL account, but this card is not associated with that account. 
 
Contacted TFL.  Call centre could not help, requested email communication. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, they asked for payment card details (some redacted) to identify transaction. 

They finally said: Yes there was a payment on 4th November. Gave the impression that for them, the case is closed! Clearly not reading previous communications, said to provide receipt(!) details if they were to investigate further! Otherwise contact bank.


It seems to me that there appears to be only two possible explanations:

Her bank card details have been maliciously obtained and used.
TfL’s systems have incorrectly applied a genuine transaction to her card details.


Very curious.

It seems bizarre that a malicious agent would risk using a false card on a system from which they potentially could be traced, via reg number.

The second possibility is particularly concerning. This card was only issued in June 2025, and as an Oyster 60+ cardholder she does not use her  payment card to 'tap in', so I do not understand how TfL would hold her bank card details at all.

We wrote back requesting:

What was this payment for?
How was this payment made?
Was her name used in the card payment details?
What vehicle registration was associated with this payment?
Which TfL account was linked to that vehicle registration?
Is her card linked in any way to any accounts or previous payments?
What steps are TfL taking to investigate this matter further?

Requested a refund.

We cancelled the payment card, so can't happen again.


Awaiting reply. It's only £4 but I just wondered what information TFL are obliged to give?


Let's assume that they map the payment to a transaction. And hence to an account. 

If they can, 

Are they obliged to pass on this detail to us? Or is this protected under Data Protection?

If they can't, can they legally charge for a service they cannot show she requested or benefitted from?
Where's the contract?











 
 

5
OP, how did you approach this junction?


The OP has answered this question above.

I was attempting to defeat the no right turn.

Previously the road markings & signage clearly stated that only buses could do the right turn at the junction of Prince of Wales Road/Stratheden Road, onto Shooters Hill Road.

So it was a common practice to crossover the junction & traffic permitting, turn right slightly further down on Stratheden Road, into the slip lane that exits onto Shooters Hill Road.

Google Street View location below I think shows the junction before the cctv cameras were installed.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/pNeaAMisZgXnbfed8


I guess you could be hinting that if the OP had come from a different direction, the NRT signs might not be so clear?

The only other direction the OP could have come from is along Shooters Hill Road, due  East, taken a left turn here, then "whoops a daisy, wrong turn" immediately turned right onto the slip, to regain the same road as before.

Shooters Hill - facing East at junction


But I think the NRT signs are clear.

Nb. It is not permissible to take the right hand turn, from Shooters Hill Road due west, as NRT except buses at this junction.

6
Apologies,

I have just realised I had misinterpreted the video evidence.

I had assumed that the two videos were in chronological order and that the first video showed the car at the traffic lights before the right turn.

I now realise that the first video shows the car after the turn, and that both videos show a car stopped in same position.  It can be shown to be the same car, as the time stamp is 15:57:00 on both videos then.

7
I cannot see any traffic signs in the video other than the road marking Ahead Only with an arrow.

The No Right Turn applies to the road the OP took, see here the two NRT signs : -
https://maps.app.goo.gl/iBcNcpSRExT9KauU7

You can see the NRT on right hand side of road in video.

9
The Flame Pit / Re: Accident in un-taxed car in UK
« on: November 12, 2025, 11:19:23 am »
Well the first thing to check is your policy.

Your insurance may still be valid without tax. But different providers have different rules.

Assuming your car is drivable, you'll need to get your car taxed pronto anyway, or declare it off road.
There is no official grace period any more. Do it online now.

Late payment fine is £80. But there's a good chance you wont get penalty at all. Worst case any penalty will be minimised. 

I've taxed cars late before - but within a month of due date - and had no follow up.  The DVLA, I'm sure, are more worried about habitual offenders etc.

10
If you take them to London Tribunals, they will show how the two videos are linked in their evidence pack, (or they should do, if you query this). Be aware that adjudicators work to the civil standard of "on the balance of probabilities", not the criminal standard of "beyond all reasonable doubt".

I'm not doubting that they can link the videos.

My point was that all the second video shows is that a black car is in contravention.

How do they establish that the car turning right is the OP's car? 
It's hardly distinctive, and several cars in a row are black.




 



11
Does the video show that OP's car is committing a contravention at all?

Part one of video shows OP's car stopped at traffic lights - from whence the registration number is lifted. Black car, make and model indistinguishable.

Part two is from a different camera and shows one of many black cars, in contravention turning right, at a different location.  The registration is unclear.



How does the council prove that they are the same car?

12
The Flame Pit / Re: is a privately owned van subject to Bradford ULEZ?
« on: November 10, 2025, 12:02:46 pm »
As this is not a live case this may have to be moved to Flame Pit.


Looking at Bradford website  Clean air zone it looks like you can exempt any vehicle, not just a car.  [ Assuming Clean air zone is synonym for ULEZ ] 

Bradford residents can apply for an exemption from CAZ charges for one private vehicle per applicant of any vehicle Class, in addition to any exemption for motor caravans and motorised horseboxes.

To get an exemption, you must have owned your vehicle before 26 September 2022 and have the V5c (logbook) in your name and address. If you bought it after that date, you can’t get an exemption because this is the cut off point for the exemption scheme. This is the date the Clean Air Zone became live.

Exemptions cannot be backdated.

If a new person owns your vehicle, the exemption will stop working



So OP needs to apply for exemption via above website link.  One vehicle only per applicant.

As this cannot be back dated, any penalty payments previously made can not be claimed back.

As the exemption date ends on 26 September 2022, hopefully OP didn't transfer ownership from company to yourself after this date.

13
To be honest, I think appeal on basis that warning sign is not clear is weak in law on two bases. 1) IMO the advanced sign IS clear 2) Not sure that an advanced sign is strictly necessary for enforcement anyway.

However... if OP is feeling lucky. It may well be worthwhile continuing the appeal process for the following reasons 1) Greenwich has a habit of not defending appeals at tribunal so OP might win on default.  2) For the charge to stick, Greenwich would have to establish that you passed a restriction sign. The video alone does not show the restriction you breached, as camera is facing the opposite direction. (The actual restriction is included in photos in OP's above post).

So for tactical reasons, OP might be best placed to keep cards close to chest and appeal on the basis of no advanced warning. So that the council, concentrate in establishing that advance warning existed. And hope they neglect to include details of restriction itself in evidence pack, if they defend at all.           

So double or quits, gambling on Council incompetency.


14
I am familiar with these restrictions.

Unfortunately the op is incorrect. There is advance notice of the restriction. It is just before King George St. Allowing an escape route along King George St. (Or opportunity to reverse direction).

The camera angle is facing south bound, whereas the contravention is north bound. Hence the restriction notices visible in video are not relevant to the contravention.

Really there should also be warning earlier at the turning from the A2, to save a wasted half mile journey for the unfamiliar. But this aside is no help to op.

If a driver missed the notice at King George St. then it is nigh on impossible to avoid contravening restriction at the restriction due to narrowness of road / cars parked  as the op found.


15
The Flame Pit / Formatting on FTLA
« on: October 09, 2025, 12:36:40 pm »

I find that when composing a post, preview is not working for me.

By this I mean formatting is lost. So I can't see italics etc, links, or paragraph breaks.

It's all written in one block of text, with tags.  I can only see final format when I post, which shows correctly.

I don't have this in other forums.

Have I got some setting wrong?  Should I be using a particular browser?

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 6