Over-zealous Holly Grove PCNs (Peckham Rye Station drop-offs)

[Loz]

I've said it before, but if the law was changed so that councils had to pay drivers the amount of the fine if an issued ticket was found to be incorrectly issued, then the problem would lessen considerably. At the moment, there is absolutely no incentive for a council not to issue incorrect tickets.

[Yelbam]

Don't be put off going to the adjudicator just because you think the fine will double...unless you have a really poor case the adjudicator will instruct the council to allow you to pay the reduced fine. I have first-hand experience of this.

And if you don't believe me or the previous poster who mentioned this you can read about it here...

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/parking-ticket-appeals

[Yelbam]

Oh and I also wouldn't recommend sending in a cheque for ?65 and still asking for an appeal. I've done that before and the council just kept the money, didn't raise the appeal and ignored all my subsequent correspondence....and I later found out I would have won the appeal as the bus lane signs had conflicting time periods on them.

The whole appeal process is a but of a game really. The first representation you make to Southwark will always be rejected with a boilerplate letter, regardless of if you have a case or not. You then need to make a formal representation which will actually be looked at by someone in the council. You should make sure you make your formal representation within 14 days of the receiving the initial response and also mention you would like the PCN to be put on hold while you appeal is being dealt with. If you have a really obvious case where the procedure has not been followed you might get lucky and be accepted at this stage, otherwise you will get a rejection letter and need to go to the 'real' adjudicators, PATAS.

My experience of PATAS is that they are very much on the drivers side and will go out of their way to find a legal technicality to allow them to reject the ticket when they think the tickets have been issued for petty reasons like these sound like they have. I think a previous poster mentioned not technically being parked because his engine was running and the handbrake wasn't on...this is exactly the sort of loophole they look for. If there isn't a loophole they will usually ask the authority allow you to pay the reduced fee...the council isn't required to act on this but I know of several people who have only had to pay the reduced fee and I've never heard of a council refusing this request.

http://www.patas.gov.uk/

Good luck!