PATAS w/c 3 Nov 14 - the tide has turned

The number of new Appeals registered at PATAS was 951 which is at the lower end of the range. Of those cases only 24 were from Barnet which is a mere 2.52% of them whereas (unless PCN numbers have dropped) Barnet usually issue about 4% of all PCN London-wide and so it seems that more challenges and/or representations are being accepted. This is partly because every case sent to PATAS costs the council c.£40 in tribunal fees and it was really starting to hurt. It does mean that if you have an argument you should go to the trouble of writing to the address on the back of the PCN or Notice to Owner or email barnet@nslservices.co.uk which is not advertised but is accepted as a means by which representations can be made.

Due to inbuilt lag of a month, as notice needs to be given of hearing dates, there were 56 Appeals heard. Of those, motorists won 26 which is only 46% and below the magic 50% mark at which motorists, as a group, break even. You need to smarten up your act to get this back up above the 50% mark.

Notable cases include:

The sign on the bay in Regents Park Rd outside the new Sainsbury store has been changed to remove the "no waiting" restriction which was confusing the heck out of everyone especially with a single yellow line through half of the bay. In the same week a different adjudicator didn't find the old sign to be confusing, unlike other adjudicators. You still need to be careful though as there are times when you still cannot park there and free parking is a slender 15 minutes.

The bay markings in Lodge Lane were found to not be clear enough.

The foot way bay markings in Greenway Gardens were found to not be clear enough, thus causing confusion as to where you could put 2 wheels on the pavement.

In one case a motorist paid by credit card within 14 days and the council (NSL) insisted they hadn't and dragged them to PATAS where the adjudicator found that payment had been made. What a waste of time for the poor motorist. I would be making a claim for costs on the grounds that the council had been wholly unreasonable (other grounds are being vexatious or frivolous but they don't apply to this case).

Things have changed people. The council are finally getting their act together at this stage of the game. You will have to work harder to win.

Yours appealingly

Miss Feezance.