Are PCN's being used as money-making exercises in London - the AA thinks so....

[Earl Aelfheah]

1 hour ago, Rockets said:

people become so ideologically and/or politically entrenched in a position that they cannot step back, be pragmatic and say...yeah, that's a bit off

What’s a bit off? You got a fine for driving in a bus lane, when you shouldn’t have been driving in a bus lane. Suck it up.

What is off is posting about it across multiple threads for close to a year.

Edited yesterday at 14:43 by Earl Aelfheah

[Rockets]

Thanks @Earl Aelfheah - perfect timing..

#whatwasIjustsaying

[first mate]

40 minutes ago, Penguin68 said:

 

41 minutes ago, Penguin68 said:

Some of these responses read almost like those of officials responsible for actual decisions and defending them. Surely not! 

Spot on. I also am beginning to think that these threads are populated by a number of people that work with or in council transport/ traffic design.

[Earl Aelfheah]

You get caught driving in a bus lane you shouldn't have been in, spend a year moaning about it across multiple threads, and if anyone suggests it’s turned into whiny nonsense and is boring af they must secretly work for the council. Got it 🤣🤣

Edited yesterday at 15:21 by Earl Aelfheah

[first mate]

Or be involved in research used by the council;)

[Rockets]

18 hours ago, Earl Aelfheah said:

You get caught driving in a bus lane you shouldn't have been in, spend a year moaning about it across multiple threads, and if anyone suggests it’s turned into whiny nonsense and is boring af they must secretly work for the council. Got it 🤣🤣

@Earl Aelfheah you're embellishing my experience for your own effect (again) - I wasn't caught driving in a bus lane I was fined for driving across a bus lane in the action of turning left onto Overhill Road......please try to get your facts right - I am sure you'll agree that accuracy is so important!

@first mate after the incident where a Southwark councillor (and then Southwark housing chief) was caught setting up a fake social media account to call local residents "pathetic" when they opposed a housing project he was responsible for I am pretty sure councillors or council officials are not silly enough to engage in such activities - although the repeated name-calling is very familiar! Clearly some posting on here have strong links to the active travel lobby and the council but I doubt any will ever declare it.

[malumbu]

On 02/11/2025 at 12:52, Rockets said:

Therein lies the problem nowadays - people become so ideologically and/or politically entrenched in a position that they cannot step back, be pragmatic and say...yeah, that's a bit off. Instead they try to defend it to the death, probsbly deep down knowing that what is happening isn't right.

I've been posting on this forum for over ten years and this is perhaps the most ludicrous thing I have ever seen.  I post facts,  I post opinion,  You suggest that I and others cannot see the broader picture.  Please have a good look at yourself.  

The facts:

1.  You were driving in a bus lane.  It doesn't matter if that was a metre or a 1000 metres.

2.  Southwark as the enforcement authority have the right to issue a PCN

3.  There is inconsistency of rules and enforcement.  My example is driving around Crystal Palace where you go from 20 to 30 and back to 20 mph. Parking on one side of the road in Westminster, to the other side Camden, where there are different parking restrictions is another example.  Such is life.

My opinion

4.  Local authorities have right to impose penalties.  It up to them how lenient they are and whether their approach is proportionate.

5.  Restrictions are there for good reason.  Sadly some make an innocent mistake, but overall the restrictions are there for a good reason, in particular to protect our environment and promote good health.  There is always a balance between bringing the public onside, and alienating the masses - particularly as social media can distort the true picture.  

Your opinion.

6.  You don't agree with my point 4 - you have written much about your views.

7.  You don't agree with my point 5.  As above.

So no matter how unfair it may be, I don't see Lambeth, Southwark or Lewisham letting you off a penalty/speed awareness course when you go from Bromley into one of these Boroughs exceeding 20mph - although speed awareness course is a good example where there is some leniency applied in part as this is one of the few times you will have training after you passed your driving test.

Similarly Camden did not apply leniency when they introduced more draconian parking restrictions compared to their neighbours.

I've long given up fighting the authorities on these sorts of things.  I learned to hard way to be more careful in checking restrictions and keeping my eye on the road. They are battles you rarely win.

But please don't insult our intelligence by lobbing blanket statements about my, and others, ability for critical thinking.

It's fair enough that you have the different opinions. but please be prepared to debate.

That applies to you too @Dulwichway

 

 

Edited 6 hours ago by malumbu
Amended to phrase my last sentence better and to invite Dulwichway to comment rather than just leaving emojis

[Rockets]

As I was saying......

[Moovart]

The AA was very helpful to me when I was issued 3 PCNs in one week while on holiday despite being legally parked.  Seems the parking wardens didn't understand the rules. 

My appeal was rejected on all three PCNs but when I wrote again with supporting correspondence from the AA, giving Southwark the opportunity to avoid going to tribunal, all the PCNs were withdrawn. 

During this time many other PCNs were issued in the same place and I'll bet many people just paid up unfairly until the parking wardens were further educated and stopped ticketing that area.  The problem is now solved.

I'm guessing most people haven't the time or the confidence to go to tribunal so if an appeal is rejected by a local authority when it shouldn't be, I would guess that the authority will frequently make money from that unfairly paid up PCN and that's dishonest.  Enforcement should always be correct and justified. 

 

 

 

[Rockets]

26 minutes ago, Moovart said:

I'm guessing most people haven't the time or the confidence to go to tribunal so if an appeal is rejected by a local authority when it shouldn't be, I would guess that the authority will frequently make money from that unfairly paid up PCN and that's dishonest.  Enforcement should always be correct and justified. 

 

@Moovart the AA spokesperson said exactly that in the original article at the top of this thread: “Sadly, too many drivers, who are certain they did nothing wrong or the road and sign layout was in effect a trap, paid the half-rate within 14 days instead of contesting the PCN. Such is the fear of having to pay fines that are more than a day’s wages and often don’t fit the nature of the offence, such as being one wheel over the line.”