PATAS 21-25 May 12

How are NSL doing? It is nearly a month since the enforcement contract started. Surely they must be adhering to its terms and getting their papers together for the final stage contested parking tickets?

Here is a little table of the appeals which were allowed, thus the motorists did not have to pay the tickets that were issued, and the ones which were refused and so they did (only one, a blue badge that was supposedly not displayed; the evidence of the traffic warden was preferred on this occasion).

	Appeal	Appeal
May	Allowed	Refused
21	4
22	1
23	6
24	14
25	30	1
Totals	55	1

On the face of it a pretty dismal performance as pretty much all of the tickets will have been cancelled for lack of evidence (I don't have the time to look at all 55 and only checked a sample).

What is clear given the current shambolic state of enforcement within NSL as that if you get a parking ticket and NSL (on behalf of Barnet Council) reject your informal representations (what we might call an appeal but simply an email or a letter) and then reject your formal representations (or formal appeal - which can be on the same grounds) it is well worth taking your case to PATAS. When NSL / Barnet Council say "No" they mean "Can we get this innocent motorist to pay because it is less trouble than appealing".

Please keep on appealing at every stage (unless you know you were completely in the wrong and don't have a coherent argument that stands any chance of winning).

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance

Boxing Day in Barnet - bah humbug

bus lane; where is the bus? Typical Boxing Day

I have been looking through the PATAS ( Parking and Traffic Appeals Centre ) reports for Barnet Council to see what I can learn about the way that they handle appeals and the way that Barnet issue tickets.

There are 9 cameras which watch the bus lanes and each section of bus lane appears to be treated as a separate bus lane although most people would say there were two, one going north and one south up and down the A5.

There was a hearing on 21 June 12 for a lady who received 2 tickets for going in 2 consecutive bus lanes at 09.07 and 09.08 on 26 December 2011 (Boxing Day). Being in a bus lane is an instant offence so no period of observation greater than a second is required although one hopes that if you swerved into it to avoid another motorist or a fox that commonsense would prevail (there are no guarantees of that).

Boxing Day in 2011 was on a Monday. The bus lane operates Monday to Saturday.

The motorist Mrs F. argued that the buses were running a Sunday service and that other boroughs don't charge on Boxing Day. Both perfectly reasonable arguments and from the tone of the adjudicator's decision one that he had some sympathy with. However, the adjudicator has to apply the law and does not have discretion in this situation.

He therefore had to uphold both tickets at £130 each.

It is a bit mean of Barnet Council to issue 2 tickets in this situation. Imagine a policeman follows you for naughtily speeding for a kilometre. He then issues you with a ticket for speeding at 100m, 200m, 300m etc and you receive 10 tickets. No person would regard it as fair and the same applies to this pair of bus lane offences.

The motorist has to make an instant judgment on a bank holiday as to what to do as they approach a bus lane. The roads probably weren't even busy and Mrs F possibly gained no time at all, and had no ill intent, and she lost £260 by an instant and small error of judgment. Happy Christmas from Barnet Council. It is this sort of thing that makes motorists stay out of bus lanes even when they should be in them and causes extra congestion.

Why not write to local your councillors Mrs F. and start a campaign for  Boxing Day to be treated as a Sunday for bus lanes, and every other bank or public holiday.

Whoever the vindictive CCTV operator was, stop being a jobsworth and use some commonsense.

An improvement that could be made to bus lanes is that small l.e.d. lights could be set in the ground at the start and alongside them. When you are allowed to enter the bus lane they are green and when you are not they are red. Simples.

Update 12 July 2012

The number of tickets issued in bus lanes on Boxing Day, Monday 26th December was 35.

The number issued on Monday 19th December was 33.

It looks like the cctv operator had the hump that he/she was having to work on a bank holiday

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance

More NSL laxity - w/e 18 May 12

Did NSL get their act together by the week ending 18th May? No.

Here are the results for appeals listed by the Parking and Traffic Appeals Centre for hearing that week (PATAS)

	Ticket	Appeal
May	Cancelled	Refused
14	24
15	2
16	4	2
17	2
18	2

Of the two refused appeals, so the parking ticket is valid and should be paid, the first related to parking on the footpath in Wayside, Child's Hill which has been the subject of concern to one of the councillors in that ward, Lord Monroe Palmer as this link shows.

It is a mistake by motorists to think that they are more important than pedestrians. The council, or other road traffic authorities, divide up the space available as best they can and generally cars should remain on the roadway and pedestrians should remain on the footway (although by the nature of the design linking all roads together it is the case that pedestrians have to cross the road. What would it be like if all footpaths were linked together and cars had to cross those at every junction?; it would certainly slow the traffic down especially if cars were held to be at fault on the crossings unless they had proof to the contrary).

Motorists, don't park on the pavement in order to make it easier for cars to get by on the road as all you do is make it harder for prams and wheelchairs.

Motorists, if the road is not wide enough don't park on both sides, park somewhere else.

The other refused appeal related to a motorist who said they had sold their car. They had inadequate records of the sale. When you sell your car make sure you keep the portion signed by the buyer and also make sure it is you who posts everything off to DVLA and don't rely on the buyer saying they will do it. If your car is being purchased for the purposes of crime the buyer will not want their name in the "logbook". Paperwork can be a little tedious but it does save you money.

How many weeks is it going to be before appeals are being properly heard at PATAS?

It is definitely worth your time and trouble to send in an appeal to PATAS if the council reject your case as they find in favour of the motorist about 50% of the time (almost all of the time for now).

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance

NSL at PATAS ( NSL = No show likely )

Timberland ladies no show socks

I had been told that NSL were failing at the start of May to submit paperwork to PATAS because of  what seemed like the ridiculous reason given to me that NSL didn't know how to use the Civica system and had put all the back office staff on gardening leave.

Surely the council wouldn't let a contractor start who was not ready to provide the contracted for service (there had already been a postponement of a month in the start date) or that NSL will pass through the supposedly thorough tendering process with this great gap in their knowledge or that NSL wouldn't have got enough staff trained up to process the 3,000 parking tickets that are issued every week?

If this is the quality of service that we get at every One Barnet contract outsourcing we are in for a very bad time.

Well it seems that someone has blundered. Whether it is NSL or Barnet Council, there is sure to be a cover up.

I have recently worked out how to find out what cases have taken place at PATAS ( Parking and Traffic Appeals Service ) in the first two weeks of May. I have ignored the very day of the handover, 1 May, and then looked at the number of cases heard each day and whether the appeal was Allowed i.e. the parking ticket (PCN) was cancelled or if the Appeal was refused in which it should be paid.

Here are the numbers:

Date in	Ticket	Appeal
May	Cancelled	Refused
2	14	1
3	5	1
4	15	1
weekend
7	none	none
8	17	1
9	10	0
10	42	0
11	33	0

That is not very good is it? 136 cases which were found in favour of the motorist, some 97% in favour of the motorist. Nearly every case that i looked at as to why the appeal was allowed was a variation on the words that Barnet Council failed to put in any evidence.

If this doesn't spur you on to appeal to PATAS if Barnet Council reject your appeal then I don't know what would make you.

The lost cases were also interesting.

A builder parked on the pavement in order to unload soil. Next time he won't park on the pavement which is good as vehicles damage the pavement and get in the way of prams.

One person drove 10 feet very slowly and the traffic warden managed to get the ticket onto the car. The driver then got out to remonstrate. He should just have driven off before the ticket hit the windscreen to see if the council (NSL) can manage to serve properly by post as then there would not have been any photographs with a ticket on the screen.

Another case was lost because someone took 6 minutes to pay. Evidently the adjudicator has never tried to regsiter and use the hopeless pay-by-phone system.

The next two had their tickets cancelled because of no-show by Barnet but probably shouldn't have received a ticket in the first place.

A funeral directors got a ticket. What sort of society do we live in?

A 24 hour emergency glazier got a ticket. They doubtless had a smashed door or window to deal with.

If your ticket got cancelled, did you get told in time before the hearing or did you turn up there and find out on the day thus wasting your time and train fare. Did you ask for and receive any compensation?

So you can that at the moment if the council reject your appeals you should go to PATAS. Get some help if you need it. Gary Shaw (grendel@waitrose.com) might help you, especially if you were caught in Hampstead Garden Suburb as he knows the roads well there. Barry Segal is probably the most famous expert in London, you can find him at appealnow. There are references to Barry on the nutsville.com blog.

Whatever you do, don't just pay for an easy life. You are throwing your money away.

Appeal!

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance

PATAS w/c 18 June 2012

patas in another language

The Parking and Traffic Appeals Service (PATAS) was established by The Road Traffic Act 1991 to provide the administrative support to the Parking and Traffic Adjudicators. The service continues to provide this support under the Traffic Management Act 2004 and, since 2003, to the Road User Charging Adjudicators.

The adjudicators consider appeals against Penalty Charge Notices issued by the London local authorities (after your representation to the local authority has been rejected)

The list of Barnet cases for the week ahead is:

JM Cars

Mr Leonard Gerber

Mr Terence Fernandes * 3

Mr Anthony Reiff

Mrs Jean Fronek * 2

Mr David Gordon

Mr Libor Olsanic

Saeed Saeed

Mr Sameh Sekim Gerges

Mrs Geeta Jagani

I would like to see how NSL are getting on with their handling of appeals so if you are one of the parties in the above list do please send me an email, missfeezance@gmail.com and tell me about your case and how you got on at PATAS.

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance

Parking Ticket Cancellation Policy

My friend Mr Mustard has excelled himself this time. He loves the Freedom of Information legislation and frequently exercise his democratic rights. He got to wondering what the decision making process is that takes place in the part of the council (now NSL) who receive your letter of representation or appeal and how they decide whether or not to cancel your ticket.

Well here it is (go down to about page 5)
PCN Cancellation Procedure v1.15 1 April 2010

So what should you do. Firstly you should try and park legally at all times and then you don't have to spend your time writing out appeals.

If you do get a ticket I would you suggest you read down the possible reasons for cancellation and find the one that best fits your circumstances. There may be 2 or 3 that apply which is even better.

Get out the documents you need to prove your case and send them off to NSL either as scanned attachments on-line or photocopies in the post to the PO Box shown on the parking ticket. Make sure you send your letter "signed-for" so NSL cannot deny that it was received.

If NSL refuse your representations you can then write to them with a copy of the policy and ask them why they are not following policy. You could also send a copy of the complaint to the parking manager Ian Baruch.

Even if your appeal does not fit into one of the categories in which parking tickets should be cancelled you can still ask for your ticket to be cancelled on any grounds that you like. Just keep sending in those appeals to keep NSL busy.

You have nothing to lose by sending in a letter as soon as you have had your ticket. You still get the chance to pay the penalty at the 50% rate.

It would probably be a good idea to download the document to your computer, print it out and give it to friends who have had a parking ticket or email it to everyone in your address book.

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance