PATAS - motorists rejoice

Another week in which things largely went the way of the motorist thanks to the lacklustre performance of NSL & Barnet Council

	Appeal	Appeal
July	Allowed	Refused
16	2	1
17	0	0
18	2	1
19	3	2
20	4	1
21	3	4
Totals	14	9

The two cases on 16 July were allowed as the applicant was no longer the registered keeper. You would have thought that these cases should have been sorted out by the council long before the PATAS stage. The poor photographic evidence submitted by the council / NSL also got a mention.

On 17 July a case of parking on single yellow led to a cancelled ticket. There was poor signage at the site and both signs presented their case poorly (the motorist can surely be excused for that as they don't do it very day, hopefully) and unloading was occurring which is allowed.

The second allowed case was because the council didn't produce all necessary documents including the original representations of the applicant.

Although the third case was refused the Adjudicator asked Barnet Council to cancel the ticket because in a shared use bay the ticket machine was out of order and the motorist's phone was out of battery.

Three tickets cancelled on 19 July because in one case the council / NSL did not produce any documents, in the second there was no evidence that the ticket was served and in the thrid the council didn't produce evidence of the zone entry signs.

Three of the cases on the 20th were allowed by Order of the chief adjudicator which will be because of the lack of paperwork from the council / NSL. The final cancelled ticket was because the council / NSL notes say both that the ticket was handed to the driver and that it wasn't handed to the driver!

The refused case was unfortunate. The motorist had rented the car and there was not a ticket on it when he returned. He asked to pay at the 50% rate and the council would not exercise its discretion and this is a matter that the adjudicator does not have the power to deal with. Rather mean of the council though as in the case of rented vehicles there are extra communication difficulties.

Saturday 21 July was quite busy (very good of PATAS to offer Saturday hearings I think).

The first ticket was cancelled by order of the adjudicator.

The second ticket was at the infamous dropped kerb in Trinder Rd (near Barnet Hospital) which is now the subject of a campaign for the double yellow lines to be extended to make the situation clearer. Case no. 212019669A which you can look at on the PATAS website here in the "search" section was based upon the kerb being covered by foliage. The photographs from Barnet Council / NSL were poor and the Adjudicator recommended that the double yellow lines should be extended. He did not have the power to cancel the ticket but this was a genuine mistake and he suggested the council cancel the ticket.

There was another case where the motorist got back to the car and the ticket was not there. I am starting to think that the traffic wardens put them on the car, photograph them and then remove the ticket. Any film of one doing that would be dynamite ( like those bin men throwing cement and planks into a council bin lorry at our expense ).

Unusually I am now going to put the name of one of the motorists on the blog because it might help him. His appeal was refused. Here is part of the reason why.

He admits his vehicle was at the location but he states that he heard a noise as he was driving on the main road so he stopped to check the vehicle as he was unsure whether it was safe for him to continue driving. He explains that he was concerned for his own safety as well as that of others. He states that he was by the vehicle checking the exhaust when the civil enforcement officer appeared from nowhere and affixed a Penalty Charge Notice to his vehicle. He states he protested and the civil enforcement officer continued to take photographs. He states he spoke to his mechanic who stated that it was probably the exhaust and he drove it to his mechanic the next day. He produced an invoice from Tony Autos of 105B Upper Clapton Road London E5 9BU dated 28/07/2011 for a Mercedes R27UBY. His vehicle registration mark is in fact R271UBY.

The funny thing is that the registration number against which the appeal has been recorded on PATAS is R27UBY so if that is correct the parking ticket has the incorrect registration number on it and so is not enforceable. If you know Joe Nwachukwu please ask him to look at the parking ticket again and go back to PATAS.

Another person's Saturday was made (as they won their appeal) but also wasted as the council / NSL did not produce the required documents. If they knew that was the case they should have told the motorist. I would be looking for compensation if it were me.

In another fine piece of administration the date of the offence was recorded as 26/11/2011 and the date of service as 10/08/2011 which is a procedural impropriety and leads to cancellation of the ticket. I wondered if the council were following a new policy of sending you fines in advance of transgressing to save time and get the money in sooner?

The final case was another missing ticket. Is the glue bad on the little yellow envelopes or is something sinister going on.

Keep those appeals going in.

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance