Free Traffic Legal Advice

Take a screenshot! Proof that you've been told you don't need to do anything at this stage may prove useful later.

I am, but I think our appeals are at different stages. I have the notice to owner, I believe he is at a level two complaint with the council.

Just to emphasise that the formal appeal process (PCN/NTO/Appeal) is a completely different thing to a complaint to a Council. Both can co-exist, be at different stages and proceed at different speeds.

You asked on the other thread what the benefit would be of getting hold of "a copy of the footway parking resolution made under section 15(4) of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1974 that applies to this road", which Stamfordman recommended, so I'll attempt to explain. For a PCN to be valid, the wording of the PCN needs to follow a set of rules AND you need to have broken a rule, AND that rule needs to have been communicated to you in the language of traffic signs. A lot of cases that we see here are won on because the council messed up one of these 3 bits, so we like to check that the council have done them all correctly. The way pavement parking works is that it's generally allowed, except in London where it's banned, except for a few bits of London where it is officially unbanned by a London Council, which they do by making a formal resolution under section 15(4) of the Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1974. The Council then put up signs that match exactly what the resolution says, and you're then allowed to park where the signs say you can. Well, that's the theory, but in practice, we often find that the signs don't match the resolution. If you prove this to a traffic adjudicator, they will tear the ticket up for you. This happens often enough for us to recommend getting hold of the resolution and checking it pretty much every time we see one of those 'you can park on the pavement' signs being relied on by a London Council.

I'm new to this, I have never argued a parking ticket before, so apologies if this is a stupid question, but, what is it and how will it help?

I'm happy to answer this, but before I do, please start your own forum thread, so things don't get confusing. We've lost a few cases in the past because people got mixed up about advice meant for another person on the same thread, so we like to keep things separate.

No, your post is still visible. I think Encedalus just posted something intended for another thread by mistake, then deleted it.

Please reinstate the PCN details at suggested by Stamfordman, and also it would help if you posted a Google Street View link to the location where you parked, so we can see the signs and lines on the road.

I don't think it would hurt to add one paragraph to cp8759's draft:

I also challenge liability on the grounds that I have not violated a valid parking order. I note that The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (off-street parking places) Amendment Order no. 202 does not include any requirement for parking sessions at this location lasting up to 2 hours that I have not met. If you do not cancel this PCN I will put you to strict proof that a parking Order was in place at the time that required the payment of a fee (or any other action on my part) for off-street parking at this time in this location.

Yes! The council can't just put up signs and issue PCNs, then need to follow the process of formally issuing an Order and then putting up signs that accurately convey the restrictions in that Order. I've had a good look round and I'm convinced that they don't have an order that gives them authority to demand you use the app. What you did (park for less than 2 hours for free) doesn't contravene the Order, so they can't fine you for it.

If this was my PCN, I'd wait for the NtO and challenge on the grounds that the contravention did not occur, because they haven't made an Order that requires you to use an app in an off-street car park. My guess is that they will drop this at the part of the process where they need to produce an evidence pack, because a) they won't be able to produce an Order you've contravined and b) they are useless at doing evidence packs in general.

Assuming the language and tone doesn't cross the line into slander, which would be a whole other kettle of fish, I'd be inclined to start by issuing a data subject access request to find out if this is an isolated incident or not. Even if this reveals nothing, I imagine that if their parking department gets told by their compliance people to hand over copies of all internal or external correspondence that mentions you might hint to them that actions can have consequences.

You might also consider exercising your right to rectification under Articles 16 & 19 of the GDPR in respect of any inaccurate statements they have made about you. While correcting the record may be trivial in what is now a closed case, the parking department might, following a visit from compliance staff choose to moderates their behaviour in future.

I'm sure we can help, but we need to see the NTO so we know what we are responding to. All sides of all pages please!