Free Traffic Legal Advice

No worries, easily done! 

Yes I sent it on the 18th April, nothing back other than the confirmation of reciept as yet. 

Do the council have a deadline for responding to the initial appeal email?  It's almost a month now and I've not heard anything - but I realise this could be normal?

Thanks, should I send that now or give it a bit longer?  And is it worth adding in something about the fact that the car was taken to the pound rather than moved to another space on the street that it had a valid permit for? 

In which direction did you walk after you got out of the car?

Around the front to unload stuff from the passanger side, and then down the road towards the A112 end, rejoining the pavement after the planters that mark the no entry one-way stretch - so I did pass the lamppost with the sign on, albeit with parked cars between it and me. 

Being towed and having to pay a rather large sum at the pound to get the car back is one of those situations where it is a total no-brainer to appeal the matter all the way, because you've paid all there is to pay, so you are tryng to get it all back. The tow does seem disproportionate, but I think you'll struggle with the PCN, but hey, lets see what happens at London Tribunals.  You're in good hands here BTW.

That was how I viewed it, it's a nothing to lose but time sort of situation, but I've never persued an appeals process like this before. Getting the tow back but not the PCN would still count as a massive win in my book! My gripe with what I perceive to be  poor signage was in part based on my home council area who generlly mark parking suspensions with cones as well as multiple signs, but I realise now that is them being thorough rather than a requirement. If the signage is deemed adequate then I won't begrudge the PCN fee as I was, after all, parked where I shouldn't have been. 

Someone kindly recommended I cross-post this from PePiPoo, so apologies if it's a duplication for anyone - the thread there is http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=153769

We visited family in Walthamstow last weekend (22nd-24th March) and, arriving in the dark late on Friday night, completely missed the sign about parking being suspended in a few bays on the street to allow access for a removal van the following day. When we went out the next morning our car was gone, and two others parked in the same row had PCNs and tow warning signs on them - I assume it was our bad luck that they took our car first and then came back for the others, or we might have got there in time to just have the PCN. I completely accept that I was parked in a suspended bay, but I feel the signage alerting to the suspension was inadequate given that it was a massive change from the norm for that street. Do I have grounds to contest the PCN/towing based on that? It came to a total of £265 (£65 for the PCN, £200 for the tow), so not small change!

GSV link to the spot in question:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/4w5NJBa3TNTz2pfp7

I was parked pretty much where the black car in this link is, there was another car behind me (to the right of the picture, where the white car is on street view) that was still within the bay. The suspension sign was attached to the lamppost that's behind the white car, so outside numbers 18/20.  Walking up and down the street in daylight I didn't see any other notices about the parking suspension, though I have no photographic evidence of this. 

Here are (hopefully!) photos of the sign, and the paperwork from Waltham council.










Thanks for reading, and for any advice!