Dear Mr Mustard,

Can you advise me please? I came to London to visit my girlfriend one weekend. Her home is in a Monday to Friday controlled parking zone.

A terrible migraine developed and I was unable see properly so couldn't move the car. By the time the migraine passed on Tuesday night and I could safely drive again I had three parking tickets from Barnet Council, one at 10.15am on Monday, another at 10am on Tuesday and the final one at 1pm on Tuesday. I was not best pleased.

Can the council legally issue this many penalty charge notices?

I'm only 20 and haven't got a spare £330. What should I do?

Thank you in advance.

Michael

 

Dear Michael,

I am sorry to hear of your troubles when visiting Barnet. I can help you with your penalty charge notice.

Two things stop (in theory) the council from issuing more than one parking ticket in a 24-hour period.

The first is that the Traffic Management Order, which defines the rules about who can park where and when in each road, will say that only one notice should be issued in each 24-hour period to a car that has not moved. Technically the third notice would have been OK except that you had the second one and the traffic warden didn't know as your girlfriend took it off the windscreen. So the third ticket has to be cancelled.

The second penalty charge notice has to be cancelled because it was only 23 hours and 45 minutes after the first one.

The first notice you appeal on the grounds that you were unable to move the car due to circumstances beyond your control. You might need a medical report later to show to the independent adjudicator at PATAS.

The adjudicator's view, and you would arrange to get all three PCN listed together in one appeal hearing if the council don't cancel them, is that there has been one continuous offence and is likely to automatically quash notices two and three.

To cancel the first one they would need to be convinced that you had a genuine medical emergency that could not be foreseen, so that is a matter down to their judgment.

No-one gets a migraine and loses two days of work (you have a letter of proof) just to get two days of free parking that would have cost £1 each with a visitor voucher. Your girlfriend needs to buy some of these so that if you visit her in the week you can park nearby or she can put a voucher in the car even if she can't drive.

As you know I have made a complaint to the council about the actions of the enforcement contractor NSL, as their contract says they must not issue more than one PCN to a car for the same contravention within 24 hours. I have also suggested they change the software on their handheld devices to alert the traffic warden to previous PCN.

When the council respond I will update you.

Yours frugally,

Mr Mustard