Huntingdonshire District Council - What's an Excess Charge Notice?

[skylined_gtr]

Hi All

 

Been reading the forums for a couple of days trying to find out what an Excess Charge Notice is? Is it the same as a PCN and therefore goverened by the same rules?

 

I was issued the ticket, on my windscreen by Huntingdonshire District Council (at least that's the emblem at the top of the ticket)... I had failed to pay and display as the machines offer no change and so to save 40p I stupidly I went to the shop across the road to get change, 3 minutes later I have a ticket.

 

In any case, do I have any grounds? I read somewhere on the forum that the PCN:

 

1. Must show at the top of the ticket, the words "Date Of Issue", simply date or date of offence is not acceptable

 

2. Must not refer to an "offence", the correct term is "contravention"

 

Either of these points render the PCN unenforceable according to Section 66(3) of the RTA1991.

 

Both 1 and 2 are not the case with my ticket, this is what mine says:

 

Huntingdonshire District Council

EXCESS CHARGE NOTICE

(OFF STREET PARKING PLACES) ORDER 2008

Serial No: is hereby served on 31/10/2009 to the driver of vehicle registration:

Make: Toyota

by Street Ranger 5

 

Who had reason to believe that the following had occured and that a excess charge is now payable:

 

Vehicle left with no valid pay and display ticket displayed

 

Code: 01

 

Date of offence: 31/10/2009

Time of offence: 11:09

Location:

 

A charge of £50 is due

 

This £50 charge must be paid not later than the last day of the period of 28 days beginning with the date on which this notice was served (this means payment must be received on or before 28/11/2009)

 

£35 if paid promptly

 

This reduced amount of £35 must be paid not later than the last day of the period of 14 days beginning with the date on which this notice was served (This means payment must be received on or before 14/11/2009)

 

IT IS AN OFFENCE UNDER SECTION 35(A) OF THE ROAD TRAFFIC REGULATIONS ACT 1984 FOR THE DRIVER OF A VEHICLE WHO HAS LEFT THE VEHICLE IN A PARKING PLACE TO FAIL TO PAY THE EXCESS CHARGE

 

 

 

Any Ideas? Thanks very much.

[lamma]

ECNS are under the RTRA 1984 - just as you quoted. Not under decriminalised Parking. Hard to fight and if you fight it it goes to court. most people pay these unless there is something glaringly wrong with signs, lines traffic order etc. that they feel confident using in court.

[Al27]

Some councils do not run decriminalised parking and use the RTF Act 1984.

 

Non payment results in a trip to magistrates court and that would be your only avenue of appeal after the council. They are similar to police Fixed Penalty Notices.

 

You're best off just writing a polite letter to the council explaining the circumstances.

[skylined_gtr]

Ok so none of the above is applicable as far as the wording on the ticket goes?

 

Thanks for the advice.

[TheBogsDollocks]

Ok so none of the above is applicable as far as the wording on the ticket goes?

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

You will need to obtain the Off Street Parking Places Order from the council to discover what information the ECN must contain.

 

Many of these orders are badly drafted and often contain flaws that can help in any appeal.

 

If you have time to read the order before losing the discount offer I suggest you do so but if not I suggest taking the discount offer.

[skylined_gtr]

Ok I guess I'll just pay up and learn from the mistake in that case

 

I'm emmigrating to Canada permanently and am so pleased to be getting away from double-edged sword situations like this (I have the money but not in an acceptable format to the machines provided). Seeing what they have over there and what we have to put up with here has made me realise a lot.

 

Thanks very much for your help though everyone

[pin1onu]

This post gives a good explanation of an ECN.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/parking-traffic-offences/119724-council-parking-fine.html#post1223822 See Post 12 on this thread.

 

BTW it is the driver who is persued not the RK.

[skylined_gtr]

Thanks very much for everyones help... I wrote back appealing to their human side and was let off the ticket

 

Goes to show that sometimes the best defence is a polite letter explaining the circumstances!

 

Thanks again for the help.