The week before Christmas was still pretty busy at PATAS. There were 47 cases. One was officially refused but with a recommendation to the council to cancel the ticket which the council would be well advised to comply with. Of the other 46 cases, 28 went the way of the motorist and 18 parking tickets were held to be valid so another good week for the motorist.
There were 8 cases which were Cancelled by Order which usually means that the council, in the shape of their agent NSL, have failed to submit the required evidence pack.
A Mr H lived in a road where roadworks were occurring so he had to park in a different street. His mother-in-law passed away and on the day of the funeral he forgot to move his vehicle at the necessary time. This perfectly understandable reason cut no ice with NSL and Barnet Council but the independent adjudicator said that there were "compelling reasons to cancel the Notice to Owner" and thus the parking ticket was cancelled. The big question is why the council did not feel so compelled. The needs of the budget being put before compassion for residents?
A gentleman was delivering no longer needed toys to a charity shop so was unloading. He was showing his sons the goodness of charity and how to behave. He got a parking ticket for his pains and his children wrote letters to the Adjudicator who cancelled the parking ticket. So his sons have learnt about charity and lack of it all in the one lesson.
One of the council's evidence packs, supplied by NSL, showed "a confusing and inconsistent case from the council". I couldn't have described Barnet Council more accurately than that.
In another case the council didn't deal with representations properly. Judging by the letters I have seen which are often illiterate and/or incomplete this happens a lot.
In a case of alleged foot way parking there were no photographs. These are not essential but it is highly damaging to the council's case if they cannot show that your car was on the foot way. (Stay off the path!)
The same problem for the council in the alleged case of parking across a dropped kerb. No photos so if the offence is denied the council have to show something. a sketch or a photo, proving the offence. Any photo they do produce needs to be better than the one that Mr Mustard has on his blog at the moment, redolent of an edition of "The Sky at Night".
I think Barnet Council may be starting to develop a poor image at PATAS as here is another comment by the adjudicator "Barely readable screen shots from CIVICA and nothing produced from Verrus." The customer had paid so his/her parking ticket was cancelled.
Another poor piece of work. "No photos. Evidence virtually illegible" another cancelled parking ticket.
Saving the best till last a man was taking his heavily pregnant wife to an emergency doctor's appointment because of severe stomach pains and so left his car for a few minutes (you wouldn't leave your pregnant wife to struggle on her own now would you and you would want to be almost in the door at the surgery). This explanation cut no ice with NSL / Barnet Council but fortunately the independent adjudicator is not as heartless or lacking in compassion and isn't desperate for every penny for their budget and so can take a more reasonable view of life. the parking ticket was cancelled.
Please keep those appeals coming. The more you appeal the bigger the mess that NSL will get into and eventually, once a large enough proportion of tickets is appealed to make dishing out so many financially unattractive, Barnet Council will react to financial reality.
Yours appealingly
Miss Feezance
No comments:
Post a Comment