Photo: Pay and display information board, Southport Theatre promenade
- • Sefton Council fail to have working parking meters town centre car park
- • Sefton Council cover up sign then ticket every car parked within the car park during the evening
- • Charity goers left feeling angry
Sefton Council failed to have working parking meters in the operation after thieves made off with Pay & Display machines in October.
Mike Heybourne who attended the event said: “I have just been to a charity event ‘jacks journey’ at the Ramada had an amazing night and a lot of money was raised, sadly all of the people parked at the side of the Southport Theatre came out to parking tickets.
“Sefton council had put a sign over the part were it said in operation 24 hours.
“Shame on you Sefton council, I’ve taken a picture(below) as evidence it’s illegal practice to mislead people and profit from it”.
Was you wrongly issued a parking ticket last night?
If you wish to challenge the issue of the Penalty Charge Notice, your appeal must be put in writing and can be sent either via post or email.
If your appeal is received within 14 days beginning with the date of issue and is unsuccessful the council will generally reinstate the discount payment terms. If your appeal is received after that time the opportunity to pay the reduced charge will be lost.
The appeals process
Following the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) the driver of the vehicle can make an informal challenge to the Council if they believe they have grounds for appeal. The Council will consider the appeal and will either:
- accept the appeal and cancel the PCN. In this case, no payment will be required
- reject the appeal and advise the motorist of the reason why the appeal has been rejected.
If the informal challenge has been rejected by the Council, full details of how the registered keeper can make a formal representation will be stated in the letter. This is the last point at which the 50% prompt payment discount will be accepted.
If payment is not received (either following the issue of the penalty charge notice or after the rejection of an informal challenge) a Notice to Owner will be issued to the person registered at the DVLA as being the keeper of the vehicle.
Following the issue of the Notice to Owner the registered keeper has 28 days to either pay the charge or make formal representations to the council.
The Traffic Management Act 2004 sets out the only grounds on which you can make representations. These are the only legal grounds for claiming that the PCN was incorrectly issued:
- The alleged contravention did not occur
- The penalty exceeded the relevant amount applicable to the circumstances of the case
- The Order which is alleged to have been contravened in relation to the vehicle concerned is invalid
- You were not the owner/keeper of the vehicle at the time of the contravention
- The vehicle had been permitted to remain at rest in the place in question by a person who was in control of the vehicle without the consent of the owner
- You are a hire firm and have supplied the name of the person hiring the vehicle under a formal hire agreement
- There had been a procedural impropriety on the part of the enforcement authority
In a case where a penalty charge notice was served by post on the basis that a civil enforcement officer was prevented from serving at the time of issue (either prevented from fixing it to the vehicle or handing it to the owner or person in charge of the vehicle) that no such incident occurred
That the notice to owner should not have been served because:
(i) The penalty charge had already been paid in full;
(ii) The penalty charge had been paid, reduced by the amount of any
discount set in accordance with Schedule 9 to the 2004 Act, within the period specified in paragraph 1(h) of the Schedule to the General Regulations.
(iii) The Council will consider your representation and if you have sufficient grounds, the Council will cancel the PCN and no payment will be required.
If the Council rejects the representation and the registered keeper is still not satisfied, they can appeal against the decision to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal Service where appeals are heard by an independent adjudicator.
A notice of rejection of representation will be issued by post and only after that has been issued can they appeal to Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
The adjudicator deals with the appeals by post or, if the owner requests, at a personal hearing. The adjudicator’s ruling is final and binding on the appellant and the Council. Details of the Adjudication Appeals procedure will be included in the letter of rejection.
Information regarding the appeals process is available on the website for the Traffic Penalty Tribunal for England and Wales.
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