PATAS - w/c 14 July 14 - a maximum break

the maximum break in snooker is 147

There were 1,150 new Appeals lodged at PATAS in this particular week of which 55, that is 5%, emanated from Barnet which is 9 or 10 more than their ought to be given that the council issue 4% of all the PCN in London.

There were three cases of note.

- A traffic warden who claimed that a motorist drove away and then came back to collect his PCN was not credible. the PCN was cancelled.

- A carer who got a PCN whilst in the house collecting the free carer's permit (a person needing care may have more than one carer so the permit is left indoors) was allowed the requisite time and thus the PCN was cancelled. this is the trouble with not having a 5 minute observation period for many contraventions, traffic wardens work on the hit and run basis.

- An adjudicator decided to look at the record of a particular motorist and it turned out that they had got 147 Appeals registered on the PATAS computer (since September 2000) of which 57 had been refused. I think most of those appeals were in the last year or two. Partly for that reason his claim for costs failed. Now it seems that this motorist is very bad at parking but pretty good at making appeals and must be spending a lot of time doing so. You can't say that he is wrong to challenge as he has won 61% of his cases and thus he is better off than paying them all at the 50% rate. He spends his time but gets time to pay.

I suspect that he must be out in the car a lot and takes a chance when he nips in to shops or to see friends. Only he knows what the problem is. It might be that the motorist is anti authority, we don't know but someone ought to find out.

He is clearly costing the borough a small fortune in Appeals costs (about £6,000) and in the time to deal with his appeals.

The council parking manager should study his cases over the last 2 years, find out what the common themes are and then invite the motorist in for a chat or pop round their house for one, over a nice cup of tea. there are mutual benefits to be gained.

Do try and park properly all of you and avoid even one PCN.

There were Barnet 61 PCN that were decided upon in this week of which 41 led to PCN being cancelled, that is 67% or a 2 in 3 chance of winning. You can see it is worth the bother to appeal to the end.

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance