Free Traffic Legal Advice

There are other grounds to appeal - the point raised about checking for TROs/TMOs was merely to see if there is another ground of appeal that can be used at a later date. If there are none then it's not a disaster, we can still look at other grounds as already discussed, like the shoddy signage.

There's an email address provided here: https://www.harrow.gov.uk/road-maintenance-travel/traffic-management-orders - give that a try. If no joy, you could send in a Freedom of Information request for any existing orders on that road.

I'd contact them.

Hi there
Chased them again today and got hold of someone by telephone. They said they would resend immediately and lo and behold it turned up in my spam (grouped with their previous reply)
All of that means the popla appeal code has now expired (today is day 35)
Is there anything else I can do?
Fine now gone up to £160!!!
E

It is too late to appeal to POPLA. The POPLA code is valid for 33 days from the date of the appeal rejection. (they allow 5 days for service of the notice).

It is not a "fine" and should never be referred to as one. It is simply an invoice, a speculative one at that, and they have now added a fake £60 debt recovery fee.

Ignore all debt collector letters. They are powerless to do anything and you can safely use their correspondence as kindling or to line the bottom of a litter tray. Never, ever communicate with a useless debt collector.

Because you have failed to regularly check your spam folder, you are now in a limbo phase. You are waiting to see whether they decide escalate to litigation. If/when you receive a Letter of Claim (LoC) which will be different from all the debt collector rubbish because it will give you 30 days to pay rather than the usual 14 days, then come back and we will advise on a response.

Eventually, they may issue a claim in the county court. That is where you will most likely defeat this. Just continue to safely ignore all the DRA rubbish they will send you.

You can always write to your MP and ask for their assistance.

As for a court case, whilst it is likely that they may eventually start litigation, it is rare that these cases, where we are giving advice, ever get as far as an actual hearing in court. In the vast majority of cases, the claim is either discontinued or struck out.

In the rare instances where a claim is actually heard, most are again, struck out or won. We would never advise anything that would risk a CCJ on your record. In the highly unlikely event that you were to go all the way to a hearing and were not successful, as it is in the small claims track, all costs are fixed and it is more likely than not, that the amount awarded is less than the original claim amount.

For example, the fake added £60-£70 that they add for debt recovery or "damages" is not usually allowed. In most cases, it would come to around (£100 PCN, £50 fixed legal fees and £35 application fee) a total of £185. There is also a trial fee of £27 and in rare cases a bit of interest. Usually less than £220 in total.

As long as that amount is paid in full within 28 days of judgment, there is no record of it in your credit file. It is completely expunged. So we do not put you at risk of having a CCJ on your record.

As I mentioned though, it is extremely rare and in my personal capacity, having been doing this for almost three years, I have not yet had any losses. I don't intend for you to babe the first.