Penalty Charge Notices [box junction and rye lane] - Peckham

[gemmamala]

On a recent trip (first trip) to Peckham in the car to the peckham pulse soft play with a screaming baby in the back (doesnt help) I manage to pick up not one but two PCNs. Bearing in mind I have never had one before, this was really bloody annoying. They were as follows:

1. Peckham High St/Peckham Bus Station (West Box) (Contravention code 31)- entering and stopping in a box junction when prohibited (My two back wheels were captured in the junction for about five seconds)

2. Rye Lane (Contravention code 33j) (Using a Route restricted to certain vehicles)

Has anyone been successful in appealing these PCN's?

If so would love to hear how you managed it.

It just seems ludicrous that my trip to a ?1.60 soft play session, turned into a ?121.60 one! Being on mat leave I dont have the cash to pay for this v easily

thanks

[waynetta]

AVOID parking tickets by leaving your windscreen wipers turned on to 'fast wipe' whenever you leave your car parked illegally.

[Huguenot]

What was the 33? Driving in the bus lane?

Both could be contested on the grounds that the 'legal' highway was blocked by something untoward (traffic doesn't count). You'd need evidence.

However, if you were driving in the bus lane I haven't got much sympathy, and if you were trying to gain advantage by hopping the box junction it's also hard to feel too sorry either.

[JohnL]

I've seen so many people in that bus lane outside my flat - lost and not sure what to do

The bus behind beeps them .... and they drive straight throught it, they may have a bus or two in front too (blocking the view). Some actually reverse back, but its difficult once something gets behind them.

No excuse once you know it's there - but newcomers to the area seem to see it late southbound - I'd put a sign 'left only at bottom' or similar a bit further up the road.

[dubluke]

My mum got a ticket at that yellow box by the bus station, but managed to get off it on appeal as when she entered the box her exit was clear, but a bus dangerously pulled out in front of her when she was halfway across the yellow box, therefore blocking the exit.

I got a charge notice at the end of rye lane as well by driving through the no entry at the end onto Rye Lane instead of turning left onto the one way system like you're supposed to, ended up paying it as I'd just simply made a mistake, annoying though, seems a bit silly that rather than just drive straight across and onto peckham rye with the buses you have to turn left and go all the way round the one way system again!

[DJKillaQueen]

Not silly at all....if cars were to drive down that bit it would be costantly jammed.

[dubluke]

DJKillaQueen Wrote:

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> Not silly at all....if cars were to drive down

> that bit it would be costantly jammed.

fair point, I thought there were traffic lights there to regulate the flow of cars though?

[SteveT]

?60 and I always feel that the punishment does not fit the crime.

The soul purpose of these moves by the council and/or government is to harvest the motorist as an easy target.

It is all too easy to gather these charges as one drives around albeit with good intent.

[Pearson]

+1

And don't get me started on parking... how difficult can they

really make it! I don't mean lack of spaces either. I get that.

What i really mean is the confusing array of different 'zones'

and charging structures on any given single street.

Business/ disabled/ peak/ off-peak/ resident/ loading bay etc...

Takes me about half an hour just to read all the signs post before

i'm confident enough to pull the hand break!!

[RosieH]

Can't do the time, don't do the crime.

Motorists are not the boss of the world. Park and drive where you're supposed to and stop whining.

As for "harvesting" motorists, ah if only: just think of the greenhouse gases we'd save. Truly that would be a harvest for the world.

[Mick Mac]

Bad day Rosie?

[RosieH]

Not in the least Mick, an excellent day. Just returned from a screening of a film about demonstrating on climate change.

Just p1sses me off when soft jesses whine on about how terribly unfair it all is.

Derrr, there's a simple solution f-cknuts. Don't park or drive where you're not supposed to, innit.

[Pearson]

RosieH Wrote:

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> Derrr, there's a simple solution f-cknuts. Don't

> park or drive where you're not supposed to, innit.

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Don't get me wrong, i'm not complaining about being fined for being in the wrong.

I'm just saying they're making it harder for me to be in the right.

For sure, my look out :)

[RosieH]

Yeah, that seems reasonable.

It's the ones who are convinced there's a government conspiracy to rob us all of our hard-earned.

[Pearson]

Well, to be fair they don't make it easy.

I'm the first to fess up if i've messed up.

But they truly make it very difficult to stay

in the right with all the confusing messages and zones.

Not complaining, just wondering why they can't just

simplify everything. That's not too contentious surely?

[DJKillaQueen]

A case in point is when they closed the right turn round to victoria station to cars. Westminster made 1 million pounds a month in fines because drivers were confused by the signage. The authorities don't always do good job of making things clear for motorists.

[HAL9000]

The system only works because the majority play along by paying the penalties promptly.

This is just a gedankenexperiment: If the majority ignored the PCN, Charge Certificate and Order for Recovery but instead filed an Out-of-Time Statutory Declaration (on the grounds that no PCN had been received) on receipt of a bailiff?s letter advising the issue of a Warrant of Execution (and continued to do so), I reckon the system would collapse within a couple of months and would never be reinstated in its present form again.

However, the replacement could be worse: the offences might be re-criminalised.

[gemmamala]

Thanks all for your comments. I am appealing the box junction PCN on the basis of lack of evidence, failure to correctly allege the contravention and on the basis that no contravention in fact occured. What we have to realise I think is that Councils/TfL do get it wrong occasionally and therefore it is always worth investigating if you have the time to do so.

What pisses me off and what is unfair is that they can take advantage of motorists who havent got the time or inclination to fight/investigate these things further.

I also maintain that Peckham is an absolute minefield with all the restrictions and distractions and I shall be getting the bus there in future...

I will see how far I get.

[ruffers]

How are you appealing on the grounds it didn't occur when you admit it in the first post?

[waynetta]

LADY DRIVERS Draw a little diagram on a Post-it showing the position of the handbrake and gearstick, and stick it to your dashboard. This will save you having to look for them when the lights go green.

[gemmamala]

I challenged the yellow box PCN on a number of alternative grounds(and some technicalities) and was successful - yey! It has been cancelled and saved me ?60. It is not clear why they decided to cancel it but just shows that it is worth a challenge if youve got the time and any reason to think that the PCN may be unjustified for whatever reason

If anyone wants to borrow my letter...its not my best effort but it clearly was enough to scare Transport for London into submission!

[DJKillaQueen]

Good going.....I like to hear stories of triumph over the traffic Tsars!

[blackadder]

You might what to check out the latest parking tribunal judgements

on this thread regarding box junctions contraventions.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=39246

The letter of the law regarding this offence: ........no person shall cause a vehicle to enter

the box junction so that the vehicle has to stop within the box junction due

to the presence of stationary vehicles.

In a nutshell, if traffic is moving when you enter a box junction

and you stop in box junction for what ever reasons, then no contravention has happened.

the local authority will try scare you by quoting the highway code that you cannot stop

in a box junction under any circumstances (yea lets just run over the kid running for the ball

or lets just crash into the back of that 1971 volkswagon beatle thats has just died in the middle of rush hour traffic)

but the highway code is not law.

[ianr]

>In a nutshell, if traffic is moving when you enter a box junction

>and you stop in box junction for what ever reasons, then no contravention has happened.

That's very far from my reading of the reproduced case summaries shown in the March 2009 thread you've cited.