CANCELLATION AND WRITE-OFF POLICY FOR INITIAL CHALLENGES

 

1.       The table below shows reasons for the issue of a penalty charge notice (PCN). The PCN is either £70.00 or £50.00 depending on differential level, although a discounted payment (50%) of either £35.00 or £25.00 is accepted, if paid within 14 days from date of serving of a PCN affixed to the vehicle or handed to the person who appears to be the driver. If no payment is received after 28 days from date of serving the PCN will increase by 50% to either £105.00 or £75.00. Further recovery charges may be payable to bailiffs if a warrant of execution for recovery of debt is issued by the Traffic Enforcement Centre in Northampton.

 

 

Code	Description	Differential level
01	Parked in a restricted street during prescribed hours	Higher
02	Parked or loading/unloading in a restricted street where waiting and loading/unloading restrictions are in force	Higher
04	Parked in a meter bay when penalty time is indicated	Lower
05	Parked after the expiry of paid for time	Lower
06	Parked without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher	Lower
07	Parked with payment made to extend the stay beyond initial time	Lower
08	Parked at an out-of-order meter during controlled hours	Lower
09	Parked displaying multiple pay & display tickets where prohibited	Lower
10	Parked without clearly displaying two**** valid pay and display tickets when required	Lower
11	Parked without payment of the parking charge	Lower
12	Parked in a residents' or shared use parking place or zone without clearly displaying either a permit or voucher or pay and display ticket issued for that place	Higher
14	Parked in an electric vehicles' charging place during restricted hours without charging	Higher
16	Parked in a permit space without displaying a valid permit	Higher
18	Using a vehicle in a parking place in connection with the sale or offering or exposing for sale of goods when prohibited	Higher
19	Parked in a residents' or shared use parking place or zone displaying an invalid permit, an invalid voucher or an invalid pay & display ticket	Lower
20	Parked in a loading gap marked by a yellow line	Higher
21	Parked in a suspended bay or space or part of bay or space	Higher
22	Re-parked in the same parking place or zone within one hour* of leaving	Lower
23	Parked in a parking place or area not designated for that class of vehicle	Higher
24	Not parked correctly within the markings of the bay or space	Lower
25	Parked in a loading place during restricted hours without loading	Higher
26	Parked in a special enforcement area more than 50 cm***   from the edge of the carriageway and not within a designated parking place	Higher
27	Parked in a special enforcement area adjacent to a dropped footway	Higher
30	Parked for longer than permitted	Lower
35	Parked in a disc parking place without clearly displaying a valid disc	Lower
36	Parked in a disc parking place for longer than permitted	Lower
40	Parked in a designated disabled person's parking place without displaying a valid disabled person's badge in the prescribed manner	Higher
41	Parked in a parking place designated for diplomatic vehicles	Higher
42	Parked in a parking place designated for police vehicles	Higher
45	Parked on a taxi rank	Higher
46	Stopped where prohibited (on a red route or clearway)	Higher
47	Stopped on a restricted bus stop or stand	Higher
48	Stopped in a restricted area outside a school when prohibited	Higher
49	Parked wholly or partly on a cycle track or lane	Higher
55	A commercial vehicle parked in a restricted street in contravention of the Overnight Waiting Ban	Higher
56	Parked in contravention of a commercial vehicle waiting restriction	Higher
57	Parked in contravention of a coach ban	Higher
61	A heavy commercial vehicle wholly or partly parked on a footway, verge or land between two carriageways	Higher
62	Parked with one or more wheels on or over a footpath or any part of a road other than a carriageway	Higher
63	Parked with engine running where prohibited	Lower
99	Stopped on a pedestrian crossing or crossing area marked by zigzags	Higher

 

70	Parked in a loading area during restricted hours without reasonable excuse	Higher
73	Parked without payment of the parking charge	Lower
74	Using a vehicle in a parking place in connection with the sale or offering or exposing for sale of goods when prohibited	Higher
80	Parked for longer than the maximum period permitted	Lower
81	Parked in a restricted area in a car park	Higher
82	Parked after the expiry of paid for time	Lower
83	Parked in a car park without clearly displaying a valid pay & display ticket or voucher or parking clock	Lower
84	Parked with additional payment made to extend the stay beyond time first purchased	Lower
85	Parked in a permit bay without clearly displaying a valid permit	Higher
86	Parked beyond the bay markings	Lower
87	Parked in a designated disabled person's parking place without displaying a valid disabled person's badge in the prescribed manner	Higher
89	Vehicle parked exceeds maximum weight or height or length permitted in the area	Higher
90	Re-parked within one hour* of leaving a bay or space in a car park	Lower
91	Parked in a car park or area not designated for that class of vehicle	Higher
92	Parked causing an obstruction	Higher
93	Parked in car park when closed	Lower
94	Parked in a pay & display car park without clearly displaying two**** valid pay and display tickets when required	Lower
95	Parked in a parking place for a purpose other than the designated purpose for the parking place	Lower
96	Parked with engine running where prohibited	Lower

2.       To promote positive customer care practices, and to encourage payment for parking and, if appropriate, penalty charges, the Council will use the following policy to cancel/ write off the penalty charge notice with regards to an informal challenge.

 

 

 

 

Director of Environment & Community Services; Head of Transport and Engineering; Traffic Manager; Parking Services Manager and, when directed by a Manager: Assistant Parking Services Manager

 

 

Assistant Parking Services Manager and, when directed by a Manager:

Parking Administration Officer

 

3.     On those occasions when a clear error has been made when completing the penalty charge notice, (but not necessarily including the vehicle model and/or colour) the charge will be cancelled.

 

 

1.       Vehicles must always display a valid ticket, permit or disabled badge when parking in a restricted and/or controlled parking area, Notes, telephone calls and letters are generally not an acceptable alternative for a valid parking ticket, permit or disabled badge.

 

2.       If, following insertion of the correct fee, a ticket is not produced from a ticket machine and money is not returned via the reject chute, a ticket must be purchased from another machine. If this is not possible, and no authorised officer or contractor acting on behalf of the Council is available to sell a parking ticket, the vehicle may be issued with a PCN, unless it is already known that there is a machine fault. 

 

3.       Refunds and penalty charge cancellations will only be considered when any of the following criteria have been met:

a)       Ticket machine records are checked for day in question and faults are recorded.

b)       Test tickets taken for the day in question fail to prove conclusively that the ticket machine was operational at all times.

c)       A discrepancy is found between the number of tickets issued when checked against expected cash box total.

d)       Similar reports of ticket machine problems are received from other customers on same day in the same parking place.

e)       Parking staff witnesses and reports a problem with a ticket machine.

f)         Refunds will only be issued at reception of Chauffeurs Cottage.

g)       Refunds over £5 may be sent through the post using Postal Orders.

 

4.       If at any time during the tracing process it becomes clear the keeper/owner of the vehicle cannot be traced, the penalty charge will be written off.  As a minimum, 2 letters will be sent from the Council to the last known keeper/owner.  If no replies are received to these letters the case may be sent to a collection/enforcement agency for further recovery action.  In either instance, if reliable information is received that the keeper/owner is no longer at the last known address and no forwarding address is available, and where appropriate, tracing agencies maybe used to locate the last known keeper/owner.

 

5.       Penalty charge write-off, i.e. those charges that are due to the Council but which will not be collected, will be forwarded in an agreed format, to the Director of Strategic Services every 6 months stating the number and the amount written off.

 

 

 

*      or other specified time

****  or other number