PATAS - w/c 4 May 15 - armageddon

Here are the stats for the week which was a day short due to a Bank Holiday.

Only two that I need to tell you about.

In the first one a PCN was cancelled because the PayByPhone system was down and there isn't a viable alternative in most places, meters now being as rare as hen's teeth. I heard this week that the owners of PayByPhone are putting it up for sale as it is not mainstream to their business and even taking 10% of the payment, as they roughly do in Barnet, it loses money. All I can say to that is they haven't put their technology together very economically if they can't process payments for a single digit percentage. 

The danger of relying on just one form of technology is that the day that armageddon hits the phone network, there will be almost no income for the council.

The second PCN was cancelled as a blue badge holder had one without an expiry date on it and there was, apparently, no reminder system to forewarn you that you need to renew.

Keep those Appeals coming.

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance

PATAS - w/c 27 April - proof

my sort of proof

Here are the stats for the week:

Quite a quiet week for Appeals though, perhaps caused by Easter which was 4 weeks prior so less paperwork got completed.

Only two cases worth mentioning and the motorist lost them both.

In the first case, proof of the cost of puncture repair was not provided.

In the second case a butcher doing deliveries from his car did not provide any proof of what he was delivering and where.

Adjudicators get lied to all the time so if you have independently produced paperwork to show them that helps your case.

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance

PATAS - w/c 20 April - seeing orange, or not.

unhelpful

Here are the stats for the week:

	Barnet	London	%	Status
New Appeals	21	628	3	Below average
	Won	Out of	%
Cases heard	18	30	60	Above average

So numbers of new Appeals were down by a quarter but the success rate for motorists was the correct side of 50%.

There were 4 cases to tell you about:

-   A 1 minute observation period was found to be inadequate. This is often the case where the driver has to fetch a permit or driver from a nearby property & the person who is providing the same is slow, disabled, elderly etc. There is no absolute right to an observation period, it all depends upon the circumstances of the case. There is now, of course, an Eric Pickles inspired 10 minute grace period after paid for time.

-   A cloned vehicle should not lead to a PCN being pursued all the way to PATAS as often seems to be the case in Barnet. All the council are doing by delaying is hacking off the motorist and losing £40 in PATAS fees.

-   There are bays marked with orange lines in the Woodhouse Car Park (& others). Beware of them as they are a natural trap. One expects bays in car parks to be for people to pay to park in; the orange ones are for permit holders. In the rain one could easily miss the subtle distinction.

-   A driver who was trying to pay by phone reported that the traffic warden was unhelpful. Who would believe it? oh, the PATAS adjudicator. the PCN was cancelled as were the other 3 mentioned above.

Keep those Appeals coming.

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance.

PATAS - w/c 13 April : dropper kerb / clanger

Here are the stats for this particular week.

	Barnet	London	%	Status
New Appeals	30	1063	3	Below average
	Won	Out of	%
Cases heard	16	24	67	A little low

There were 10 or so fewer appeals to PATAS in this week for some unknown reason.

Even worse, the council somehow managed to win more of them than did the motorist. Looking at the reasons for failure it looks like a simple case of a number of poor and/or poorly argued cases arrived together. I don't think this will be a regular occurrence or is a sign that the council has really got its act together.

Just one notable case. A PCN given out for being across a dropped kerb where the householder had not asked for enforcement action to be taken led to a cancelled PCN. This is to allow home owners (with their own personal dropped kerb, not for a shared drive and not inside a CPZ during zone hours) to make maximum use of the road space. If you get a dropped kerb PCN outside a residence it is always worth asking for proof that the householder made a call to parking enforcement. near cycle lanes and at junctions and other places where pedestrians, you must keep clear of dropped kerbs (and of roads raised to the level of the pavement).

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance