 |
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
News
Wheel clampers face private land ban (17th August 2010)
Wheel clampers are to be banned from operating on private land in England and Wales, the government has said.
The legislation, to be introduced in November, will introduce penalties for anyone clamping a vehicle or towing it away on private land.
Read the full story on the BBC.co.uk/news (Opens new window)
PenaltyChargeNotice are proud to be supporting this years event.
The Duchball Rally 2010. Good luck to all those cars running - great cause!
PenaltyChargeNotice.co.uk are proud to be supporting the Duchball Rally 2010. Read more...
Related links:
www.duchball.com - the official site of the Duchball Rally.
www.justgiving.com/duchballrally - Donate to Duchball Rally
http://www.actionduchenne.org - Action Duchenne is the only national Charity that exclusively funds research for a cure and promotes campaigns for better medical care for Duchenne and Becker Muscular Dystrophy.
The £2m traffic camera which has snared 16,123 drivers in three months
Britain's most profitable traffic camera has raked in almost £2 million in just three months after catching out motorists confused by a diversion.
The single camera is earning a staggering £150,000-a-week from unwitting drivers who stray into a street filled with temporary bus and taxi lanes.
The camera earns as much in a week as England and Chelsea football star John Terry – the country’s best-paid footballer – and is driving motorists mad.
If it stays in place for 12 months, the camera – in Victoria, Central London – is on track to issue fines totalling a staggering £8 million.
Lucrative: How the traffic camera at Victoria earns its £150,000 a week
Council found guilty of unfair practices in parking appeals and parking tickets cancelled! (7th July 2010)
Camden council have been found guilty by a parking adjudicator of deliberatly removing evidence from the information given to motorists at appeal. As a result of the council not making a full and proper disclosure the motorist's ticket was cancelled by the adjudicator. This has happend on more than one occassion and it is thought may apply to many thousands of cases where the motorist lost at appeal.The motorists positon was prejudiced because information which the motorists could have used as a basis of appeal had been removed be Camden. Ironically Camden has one of the best records of winning at adjudication!In a landmark parking tickets decision a Parking Adjudicator has held that Camden Council have acted unlawfully and failed to make full disclosure of evidence to motorists when cases are submitted to the Parking Adjudicator. Read more...
Up to 1.5m drivers may have been fined illegally for certain moving traffic contraventions in London. (25th June 2010)
In an appeal to the adjudicator handled by campaigner Barrie Segal it was found that a motorist's penalty charge notice was invalid as it refered to "failing to comply with a sign" when in fact the sign itself was not authorised for use. Under the TSRGD 2002 regulations certain signs are shown but they are not specifically authorised for enforcement under the London local authorities and transport for London act 2003 and the excluded signs can therefore not be enforced.
The affected signs are prohibited turn, prohibition on certain types of vehicles and pedestrian zone restrictions. See our individual contraventions for further details.
Watch us on BBC London - 1.30pm & 6.30pm today.bbc (11th May 2010)
"Drivers in London are paying out thousands of pounds in fines, because of unclear road markings and signs, a motorists group claims." news.bbc.co.uk
View the story and video on news.bbc.co.uk
Wilton Road: Transport for London issues up to 2,500 penalty charge notices a week at confusing site next to Victoria station. (May 2010)
Transport for London have banned motor vehicles(except taxis and buses) from a very main road next to Victoria station. Whilst they do have signs many motorists do not see them as the restriction starts on a sharp ben when motorists are concentrating on the road and other vehicles. We pointed out to TFL that the restriction would be very confusing for motorists but rather that have a traffic warden on site at the location to direct traffic they have decided to have staff issuing tickets via a CCTV camera to motorists. At face value they are issuing up to £250,000 of penalty charge notices every week.
All over London motorists are falling victim to confusing and even silly restrictions which are enforced using CCTV.
If you have received a penalty charge notice at this location it may be invalid. Adjudicators have confirmed that the enforcing authority should show the sign that you are alleged to have contravened. The penalty charge notices that we have seen issued at this location do not show the sign that is alleged to have been contravened so the contravention may not be proven.
Motorist wins boxing day appeal against Kensington and Chelsea Council
Alexey and Elena Andreev received a ticket on boxing day after parking at a pay and display machine wjich clearly stated "public and bank holidays no charge" Because boxing day fell on a Saturday the councils and many others across the country said that boxing day wasn't a public holiday. Kensington and Chelsea council closed their leisure centres and libraries on Saturday the 26th December because they said it was a holiday but decided to charge for parking and enforce single yellow lines because they said it wasn't.
Shortly before christmas we drew this to the attention of the press and were also interviewed on BBC news. Despite this many motorists did receive tickets and many inserted money into machines. The adjudicators said that "I find that the words on the machine are sufficiently ambiguous to confuse a motorist when parking on a boxing day that falls on a Saturday as to whether charges are required." "If the authority wishes to enforce charges on boxing day when it falls on a Saturday the machine should clearly state so"
We say that Kensington and Chelsea should refund motorists for both the tickets that they issued and also for the charges that they took from motorists. However asthere is a lot of money at stake we assume that they, and other councils, will keep the money raher than refund confused motorists even in view of this decision.
Westminster council agree to place clearer signage on their hidden cameras. (March 2010)
After intense pressure from us Westminster council have now agreed to install clearer signage in areas where it is carrying out CCTV enforcement of parking and traffic contraventions. We applaud their decision to make it easier for motorists to see where CCTV enforcement is being carried out. We still don't agree with CCTV enforcement as it affects businesses, upsets motorists and is against the statutory guidance which the government has issued.
Westminster council in London has just switched its network of over 100 parking cameras cameras back on. (March 2010)
They have been off for a year as they didn't meet the department of transports quality standards. We ask ourselves why have these cameras been upgraded and switched on. Has congestion got worse in the last 12 months - NO. The government have told councils that they should not really be using CCTV unless it is impractical to use traffic wardens.
Read more... View the story and video on news.bbc.co.uk
Enforcement of Diplomatic bays could have been illegal. (Feburary 2010)
There are 344 Diplomatic bays in London of which 198 are in Westminster and 134 in Kensington and Chelsea. Because Diplomatic bays are not "standard bays" special permission is required from the department of transport.
Westminster council have in principle decided to introduce parking charges until midnight in the central area and to stop parking on single yellow lines until midnight. they will also be increasing parking charges to up to £5 ph. (January 2010)
At a cabinet meeting at Westminster held on the 18th Jan they decided, in principle, to extend the charging and enforcement hours of the central controlled zones to Midnight Mon - Sat. They also decided to increase parking charges in most areas including a 100% increase in St Johns Wood and up to £5 ph in central London. This means that in central London which could include the F zone south of Marylebone Road as well as all other zones except B and C (which are north of Marylebone Road) motorists will have to pay up to £5 ph until midnight and will no longer be able to park on single yellow lines after 6.30pm as they to will operate until midnight. What does this mean. (except a massive increase in revenue for Westminster.
Many people will no longer visit shops, restaurants theatres, cinemas etc in the evening so many of these may well close.
Warning - Boxing Day parking controls (updated 23 December 2009)
Some councils such as Westminster Council and Kensington and Chelsea Council in London are charging for parking on Boxing day even though their signs say no charge on public holidays. We assume that they don't regard boxing day as a public holiday this year because it falls on a Saturday. Funny that because their libraries and Leisure centres are closed on Boxing day as "it is a Public Holiday".
All that is going to happen is that thousands of motorists are going to have their Christmas's tarnished by a £120 ticket.
Is your local council charging for on-street parking and imposing fines on Boxing Day?
Westminster council internal report refers to ticket targets of 736,000 this year, loss of revenue, £11.4m surplus for the year,productivity levels and business plans! (November 2009)
The report sought permission to spend around £800,000 upgrading their CCTV enforcement network which didn't meet government quality standards. The report said that without the upgrade Westminster will loose £1.9m in income. The law is clear in that parking enforcement is not to be used for revenue raising. It is for traffic management purposes and yet these words can be found no where in the report. What a country we live in.
CCTV issued parking fines cancelled as council did not place sufficient warning signs telling motorists that CCTV enforcement was in operation. The traffic appeals service also said that CCTV use should be used sparingly as stated in the government guidance issued in March 2008. (August 2009)
We think that this case in Wirral has implications for councils such as Westminster and Camden in London who issue hundreds of thousands of parking tickets each year from an army of CCTV cameras.
For details of the article featured in the Sun click here (external link).
UPDATED: Westminster council pilots new scheme to allow anyone to park in residents bays. (Updated September 2009)
They say it is a residents visitor scheme but the smallprint discloses that anyone can pay and park in the new shared use bays.We say they are taking valuable space away from residents so they can earn more money from residents bays. We were interviewed on BBC London news today 23rd June 09.
Also the signs are positively misleading for motorists and we have brought this to the attention of the council and the department of transport. Pay by phone customers can only pay to park from 10am - 4 pm . They can't park between 8.30 am - 10.00am and 4pm - 6.30 pm. But the street signs simply say chargeable hours 10am - 4 pm. Read more...
UPDATED: Camden's Tickets ruled invalid (Updated September 2009)
Greedy Camden council's tickets from the beginning of this year included a surcharge when making payment by credit card. One of the statutory grounds for appeal is that the penalty charge exceeded the amount applicable in the circumstances.
When everyone is feeling the pinch in the worst recession for generations and the government is trying to help, Westminster Council has increased parking charges in some areas by between 10% and 33%. (August 2009)
They are already making millions more from the introduction of pay by phone parking and obviously have no regard for anyone except their coffers. And the Conservatives say they will give more power to local government. We say they are greedy and should be renamed WESTMONSTER Council instead.
Diabolical enforcement of moving traffic contraventions by Islington Council. (May 2009)
So you are driving along a road and suddenly there are 2 one way signs facing you.The road markings indicate that the road is 2 way, and there are no road markings informing drivers that they must turn right into the side road or do a U turn. In our opinion this is entrapment in the name of revenue raising.
The M11 speed camera that has resulted in a near doubling of accidents. (Updated November & September 2009. First published January 2009)
What may well be one of the most profitable speed cameras in the country is actually causing accidents and injuries and yet Essex Police are refusing to remove it.
The Camera was installed in May 2001 on a busy stretch of the M11 between junctions 4 and 5 of the southbound carriageway. The speed limit reduces from 70mph to 50mph without prior warning, the carriageway narrows from 3 to 2 lanes and just beyond is a speed camera. In February 2008 we witnessed the aftermath of a 3 car pile up immediately in front of the camera. It was obvious that it was the camera that caused the accident because cars were having to reduce speed and merge and then of course some motorists slamm on their brakes when they pass the camera. So we asked the department of transport for the accident and casualty statistics. The camera was installed in May 2001. In the first 5 months of 2001 (pre speed camera) there was one slight accident with 1 slight casualty. Read more...
Appeal against Westminster Council’s use of CCTV for enforcement of parking/waiting restrictions upheld as Westminster council did not even contest it. (November 2008)
Harrow cancels penalty charge notices as they are ruled unenforcable by an adjudicator. Read more...
Westminster Council’s parking tickets on single yellow lines are unenforceable?! Read more...
Top of page | Support us and join today! | Follow us: twitter.com/penaltycharge | Report a problem | v2.0
