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If I had known that all it would take to jolt Barnet FC into scoring action was last week's blog post, I would have written it earlier.
The latest score at PATAS (week ended 13 October) was 23-6 in favour of the motorist. It will take a lot longer to get Barnet Council to perform. Here is a day by day breakdown from PATAS along with any interesting points.
Monday's score was 7-2 to the motorist.
There were 5 cases in which Barnet Council / NSL did not supply any evidence so the parking tickets were cancelled.
One case that was refused was of a motorist who went to a shop to pay as there was no parking meter. There was queue in the shop and it took 14 minutes to pay. They were ticketed at 14.55 and paid at 15.06 and PATAS regarded it as too long. The council do of course worry that someone sees a parking ticket and then goes to pay i.e. they cheat. However I don't suppose that any Adjudicator has actually been to Barnet and tried the unavoidably slow Paypoint or Voucher systems for themselves. If they had, they might decide cases differently.
Another case lost was by a motorist who said they had parked on the pavement because their colostomy bag had burst. You simply cannot park on the pavement except in some limited unloading circumstances even though lorries are the last vehicles which ought to be allowed there.
A ticket was given to a motorist who did not see the obscured sign for bay 5940 so they crossed the road and used 5948. The adjudicator rightly regarded her as an honest motorist who had acted reasonably and cancelled the parking ticket.
In the final case 2 bays were suspended and although the motorist was next to the sign he said he was parked in the third bay along and there being no evidence to the contrary the parking ticket was cancelled.
Tuesday 9th - the first case was cancelled by Order of the Adjudicator. The second case was a hire car which was sold before the ticket was issued and so the new owner will be chased. The third case was very interesting. Someone moved the lady's car without her consent, the keys were in her property, the finger was pointed at the builders she had in at that time and probably wanted to get their van close. She had parked properly and so the ticket was cancelled.
The one case which was refused was for a blue badge holder but as there was a loading restriction it is not acceptable to park there.
Wednesday was a rare day when the score was in favour of the council but it was only 2-1. A motorist claimed to be stopped to tighten their wheels nuts but as they were not visible in the photos they were not believed. The ticket that was cancelled was not properly issued and the council only had the barest of info. The final ticket sounds like it was deserved. The motorist was tired and hungry so stopped to buy food. They claimed the ticket was invalid but didn't state a reason. You really do need to present your case fully, the adjudicator will not look for you as they sit there all day looking at cases and appreciate clear argument.
On Thursday 11th motorists again gave the council a spanking. The first two parking tickets were cancelled by Order of the Adjudicator. The third one was for a vehicle which had been sold and the council / NSL agreed this was the case fairly late in the proceedings.
Another applicant who turned up for a personal hearing had not received his evidence pack from the council / NSL. There was uncertain evidence and stuff had been missed out of the pack that the adjudicator had received. There does not seem to have been any hesitation in cancelling the ticket.
You want the adjudicator on your side so it would pay to be polite. Mr R. did not do this. He denied having parked without his Blue Badge showing for which he was ticketed. The adjudicator wrote that the correspondence had been written in an unacceptable way and if there was to be a recurrence there would be a costs order. The legislation allows for costs based upon the behaviour of either party but is rarely used.
A ticket was issued because one wheel was more than 50cm from the car. The car was badly parked at an angle but the whole car has to be 50cm away which both the traffic warden should have known and the council / NSL. This case should never have reached PATAS.
After another ticket cancelled by Order of the Adjudicator the final case of the day concerned a parking ticket issued for not displaying a blue badge but the rejection letter from the council / NSL talked about foot way parking and the blue badge is evident in the photographs. More blundering.
Four cases were closed by Order of the Adjudicator on the Friday. Perhaps the council and NSL were all up the pub as it was a Friday.
The week finished with one more parking ticket cancelled as the council / NSL did not produce any evidence.
I expect that you are now getting the idea that it is always worthwhile to send your appeal to PATAS to be decided without you even needing to attend.
Yours appealingly
Miss Feezance
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