Sheffield City Council And A Six Month Old Pcn

[bendix 10]

I’ve just received a PCN for allegedly driving in a bus lane on 19 January this year. The date of the PCN is 25 July. 

 

As i understand it PCNs need to be issued within 28 days of the offence being recorded.   The only exception to this if the council applies to DVLA for my details and there is a delay in receiving that information.  Then the PCN can be issued 6 months after the offence. 

 

It looks to me that my PCN is outside even that six month period and as such I’m going to appeal to get it rejected.  I suspect the biggest know it is too late but are banking on us not knowing the time restrictions.  

 

Does anyone one have any better information on this?

 

 

 

[spider1 11]

Best phone them get it sorted here what they have to say

[Planner1 438]

27 minutes ago, bendix said:

I’ve just received a PCN for allegedly driving in a bus lane on 19 January this year. The date of the PCN is 25 July. 

 

As i understand it PCNs need to be issued within 28 days of the offence being recorded.   The only exception to this if the council applies to DVLA for my details and there is a delay in receiving that information.  Then the PCN can be issued 6 months after the offence. 

 

It looks to me that my PCN is outside even that six month period and as such I’m going to appeal to get it rejected.  I suspect the biggest know it is too late but are banking on us not knowing the time restrictions.  

 

Does anyone one have any better information on this?

 

 

 

You are wrong to think that the Council would pursue a PCN that they knew to be incorrectly issued, that is not the case. So, they either think they do have grounds to pursue it or there has been an error (system or human, they do happen).

 

As has already been advised, you can call them and ask the question. The number to call is on the pcn.

 

If you don’t like the answer, go to the Pepipoo website and post details of the pcn in the appropriate forum. They have many people on there who are knowledgeable and can advise you. See:http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

 

Challenging the penalty is free and even if you lose the initial challenge, you can then access a completely independent appeal process, which is again free ( but you don’t get the early payment discount . 

 

Above all, do not ignore the pcn, appeal it or pay it. The Council can and do pursue unpaid pcn’s through courts and bailiffs if necessary.

Edited July 27, 2019 by Planner1

[Top Cats Hat 10]

29 minutes ago, bendix said:

I’ve just received a PCN for allegedly driving in a bus lane on 19 January this year. The date of the PCN is 25 July. 

 

As i understand it PCNs need to be issued within 28 days of the offence being recorded.   The only exception to this if the council applies to DVLA for my details and there is a delay in receiving that information.  Then the PCN can be issued 6 months after the offence. 

 

It looks to me that my PCN is outside even that six month period and as such I’m going to appeal to get it rejected.  I suspect the biggest know it is too late but are banking on us not knowing the time restrictions.  

 

Does anyone one have any better information on this?

 

 

 

You don’t need any better information.

 

By law the PCN has to be issued within 28 days. After six months you have grounds to appeal, which should be successful UNLESS the issuing authority can demonstrate a good reason for the delay in issuing the notice. If your vehicle was registered at your address at the time of the alleged contravention and you have neither moved nor sold nor re registered that vehicle since then, it is very unlikely that the council could persuade a tribunal that the delay was reasonable. 

 

One thing worth checking though is whether this is a first notice or a reminder. Is it possible that the original PCN was sent and not delivered or even delivered and accidentally binned with your junk mail. The council should be able to tell you this.  

[bendix 10]

So I appealed and it got knocked back. Evidently they have 6 months plus the time taken to reasonably get back a reply from DVLA tonissue it. They got in with a few days to spare.  Bugger. 

 

I thought of fighting it based on reasonable time passed but in the end it’s £30 and I decided on balance it wasn’t worth it. 

[Blue Day 10]

3 hours ago, bendix said:

So I appealed and it got knocked back. Evidently they have 6 months plus the time taken to reasonably get back a reply from DVLA tonissue it. They got in with a few days to spare.  Bugger. 

 

I thought of fighting it based on reasonable time passed but in the end it’s £30 and I decided on balance it wasn’t worth it. 

On a similar vein .....

 

Back in May I received a speeding ticket (fixed camera) from when we on holiday in France back at Christmas. 5 months after the event. 

 

Still had to pay 

[Top Cats Hat 10]

4 hours ago, bendix said:

So I appealed and it got knocked back.

Appealed it to who?

 

The last ticket I appealed took 18 months to get a decision.

[Resident 1,190]

5 hours ago, bendix said:

So I appealed and it got knocked back. Evidently they have 6 months plus the time taken to reasonably get back a reply from DVLA tonissue it. They got in with a few days to spare.  Bugger. 

 

I thought of fighting it based on reasonable time passed but in the end it’s £30 and I decided on balance it wasn’t worth it. 

Take it further. They only have 28 days to issue a pcn. 

They have illegally issued a pcn and further acted in bad faith by rejecting your valid appeal. 

[Planner1 438]

2 hours ago, Top Cats Hat said:

Appealed it to who?

 

The last ticket I appealed took 18 months to get a decision.

The initial stage of the appeal process is to the Council. If someone is not happy with the result, they can go to the independent adjudicator.

1 hour ago, Resident said:

Take it further. 

How's the OP going to do that when they have paid the penalty?

[Top Cats Hat 10]

2 minutes ago, Planner1 said:

The initial stage of the appeal process is to the Council. If someone is not happy with the result, they can go to the independent adjudicator.

Then I suggests that the OP refuses to pay* and takes it to the independant adjudicator where they will have to demonstrate that the delay was reasonable. They will also have to show copies of their request to the DVLA as well as copies of the reply.

 

(*check this, but every ticket that I have appealled is ‘frozen’ at the time of the appeal and therefore if an appeal is eventually lost, only the initial charge is due and no increases for paying out of time.)

[Planner1 438]

1 hour ago, Resident said:

They have illegally issued a pcn and further acted in bad faith by rejecting your valid appeal. 

You can't know this definitively without knowing the full details of what has occurred. It's obviously not a standard straightforward case because of the timescale, but the OP hasn't shared the details.

 

The Council do have the full details and having reviewed them, have decided that they can't accept the OP's challenge and have advised them why. 

[Planner1 438]

10 minutes ago, Top Cats Hat said:

Then I suggests that the OP refuses to pay* and takes it to the independant adjudicator where they will have to demonstrate that the delay was reasonable. They will also have to show copies of their request to the DVLA as well as copies of the reply.

 

(*check this, but every ticket that I have appealled is ‘frozen’ at the time of the appeal and therefore if an appeal is eventually lost, only the initial charge is due and no increases for paying out of time.)

The OP has already implied they've paid or decided to pay.

 

The first stage of the appeal process has now passed and the time for paying at the reduced rate closes shortly after the notice of rejection (ie the formal decision) is issued.

 

If the OP wanted to take the case to the next stage of the appeal process, to the independent adjudicator, they would have to pay the penalty at the full rate if they lost the appeal. That's how the process works.