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#Post#: 71587--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: ivanleo
Date: May 14, 2025, 6:10 pm
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--- Quote from: bluebincar link ---
>
> Thank you very much. This is what I thought would be the
outcome but it is always best to check with the forum. I will
try and plead my case! I guess I can have a bit of fun with it.
>
--- End Quote ---
Put a draft on here before you submit it, also have a look at
the strategy of last resort
HTML https://www.ftla.uk/civil-penalty-charge-notices-(councils-tfl-and-so-on)/ealing-cumberland-road-w7-code-53j-failing-to-comply-with-a-restriction-on-vehic/msg56444/#msg56444<br
/>(I have since come up with a few variations of it).
#Post#: 71938--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: bluebincar
Date: May 17, 2025, 5:14 am
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Hi all. Please see my best attempt below. Happy to get feedback.
I have video evidence of the permit slots all being used up on
the 16/5/25 at a similar time of night. It includes a link to a
youtube video where only those given the link can view it. I
won't share it here so that the counter is accurate. Hoping the
lack of focus on the link causes them to fail to view it.
HTML https://i.imgur.com/uGEmLXS.jpeg
Dear whom it may concern,
I am writing to challenge my PCN received on 13/5/25 (PCN
ED43895264). I have to admit the word 'challenge' is somewhat
misleading in this case. The evidence is clear, I am quite
obviously parked in front of the bin hub when I shouldn't be. I
know this and will not waste our time disputing this point. What
I'd like to do though is appeal to your kinder side and try and
elicit some sympathy. In the hope that as a one off, you can
cancel the charge. I am an N3 permit holder and I think I have
paid for an annual permit 5 years in a row - which is around
£500 in addition to my council tax that I have paid to the
council, to park near my home. I work in the NHS and need my car
to deliver patient care. If you look at my record you will see I
have never had a PCN before. I am a person who 99.9% of the time
sticks to the rules as I have a respect for the work the council
and other authorities do. Indeed, I think parking enforcement is
important, to avoid everything becoming a mess. I appreciate the
work you and your colleagues do. Again, I am not 'challenging'
the PCN, but hoping for some leniency in very specific
circumstances.
On the 12/5/2025 (the night before the PCN) I arrived home late
from an on-call shift at the hospital - around 10:30pm-11pm.
There were no permit spots available for me to park in on comely
bank grove. This is fairly normal since the increase in bin
hubs. I then drove around adjacent streets and still I could not
find a free spot. I then drove around more streets (see search
area) but could still not find a spot where I could park. This
isn't normal. Usually I can find one after a reasonable search
and a small walk. Please see a video upload (video link) I
captured on the 16/5 that gives you an idea of how tight the
parking situation can be as mitigating evidence. I grew
frustrated. I had worked from 9am-5pm then worked on-call until
11pm. I was tired and anxious about getting home to grab some
food and sleep before my next shift at 9am the following day. I
considered my options. Ruled out double yellow lines as I didn't
want to block fellow drivers vision around corners. I considered
the disabled bay but again, I didn't want to inconvenience a
cohort of people that often face inconvenience on a daily basis.
I then considered in front of the bin hub. I knew that bins
don't get emptied before I leave at 08:30 on a Tuesday having
lived here for 5 years. The street on comely bank grove is
incredibly wide which makes it the safest place I could pick. I
was sure I could be gone for work before parking enforcement
even started their shifts. I was wrong. at 08:17-08:19 I
received my PCN. 11 minutes before I left for the hospital. I
was up in my flat getting my lunch bag organised to avoid paying
for expensive take out food. Ultimately, I paid a much higher
price. £100 reduced to £50 if I pay within 14 days. I was
devastated and demoralised having thought I'd make a reasonable
choice the night before. It was difficult to come to terms with
the fact I'd spend most of my working day earning that £50 back.
Can I please ask that on this occasion my PCN be cancelled? I
will never park in front of a bin hub again. I will widen my
search area and wait as long as it takes/walk as far as I need
to find a free spot. In the grand scheme of things, this PCN
isn't keeping Edinburgh tidy and it isn't punishing a repeat
offender or someone with disregard for the rules. In this case
the PCN is hitting someone who made an honest mistake after a
particularly tough spell at work. It will not happen again and I
hope you can exercise your discretion in this case.
Kind regards,
#Post#: 71989--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: ivanleo
Date: May 17, 2025, 12:28 pm
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That's quite good really.
The one additional tactic is to have a different, shorter video
that is small enough to be uploaded to the council website. The
council website won't normally accept video files, but you can
circumvent this by changing the file extension from .mp4 to .pdf
or .jpg and then explaining that you've done this and informing
the council that they need to change the file back to .mp4 in
order to play the video.
Most councils will ignore this and cricually, most councils will
not provide the video (with either the original extension they
received it as, or the renamed .mp4 extension) to the tribunal.
As the council is under a legal duty to provide a copy of the
representations to the tribunal, failure to do so is another
ground on which an appeal can be allowed. Some councils will
complain that the file was corrupt and couldn't be opened, but
that is easily dealt with because they should provide a copy of
everything they received with the representations, whether it's
corrupt or not.
Obviously any such video to be uploaded to the council website
must be different to the one you've given them the link for, as
you want to give them two chances to mess up rather than one.
If you do this, it's worth ensuring the video uploaded to
youtube is large enough that it couldn't be uploaded to the
council website due to the file size limit, you can then add a
paragraph to the representation explaining that you couldn't
upload it due to it being over the maximum size.
#Post#: 72639--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: bluebincar
Date: May 21, 2025, 2:45 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Thank you very much. I have had a busy week at work so have only
got around to submitting this tonight. I have taken your advice
to the letter and will keep you posted. My main worry now is
that I lose and my fine is £100 as it will be over the 14 day
reduced period. Makes me contemplate paying (even after all
this). The wording on the back of the ticket sort of suggests
the 14 day period gets put on hold pending the challenge but not
very clearly (to me).
Scrap that, used AI to clarify - it does get paused and if the
appeal fails I'll still have a few days to pay. By which point I
will know if they watched the video or not.
#Post#: 72649--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: ivanleo
Date: May 21, 2025, 3:49 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
--- Quote from: bluebincar link ---
>
> Scrap that, used AI to clarify
>
--- End Quote ---
Every bit of advice I've ever seen from an AI has been wrong.
#Post#: 72651--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: bluebincar
Date: May 21, 2025, 4:06 pm
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Hmm I am not sure now...the ticket says that "progression of the
charge will be placed on hold pending a reply" when a challenge
is made.
This doesn't really make it clear if the 50% reduction will be
put on hold. This is all so murky and underhand, why not just
make it clear!
#Post#: 72658--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: ivanleo
Date: May 21, 2025, 5:39 pm
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To be honest we normally operate under the assumption that the
council will refuse everything you say, and you'll only get a
fair hearing at the tribunal anyway, at which point the full sum
is in play.
Frankly the discount is just a distraction, the only way to
guarantee that you can settle at the discounted rate is not to
challenge the PCN at all and just pay it as soon as you get it.
Challenging a PCN and then paying when the challenge is rejected
by the council is the worst option, as you've spent time
fighting the penalty and you have absolutely nothing to show for
it.
#Post#: 74733--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: bluebincar
Date: June 4, 2025, 7:09 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Good afternoon,
As anticipated my appeal was rejected. I have checked my video
and there are still zero views so they never opened my link. The
video was a clip of me showing the street (and lack of parking)
on a different night. I am tempted to continue my appeals. If
they had viewed it, I would have paid.
Can I check what I should do next for my formal representation?
Any dos and don't I need to consider? For example. Do I share
the link again in the formal representation?
I also wonder where it specifically says that the council must
consider evidence before rejecting an appeal? I can't find this
anywhere that would cover Edinburgh council.
Many thanks
#Post#: 74741--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: ivanleo
Date: June 4, 2025, 8:13 am
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Post up the rejection, and have a look at this table
HTML https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pVrE76_RYY6bNmEpYGbsZkxtpfIeud_BT3SKfg7TzQM/edit?gid=74232716#gid=74232716&range=A1:B1.<br
/>The legislation you're looking for is paragraph 2(7) of
Schedule
6 to the Road Traffic Act 1991
HTML https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1991/40/schedule/6/paragraph/2<br
/>as applied & modified by The Road Traffic (Permitted Parking
Area and Special Parking Area) (City of Edinburgh) Designation
Order 1998
HTML https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1998/1539/contents/.
Also it's not an appeal, it's just a representation, please stop
calling it an appeal. You only make an appeal at the tribunal
stage.
#Post#: 74800--------------------------------------------------
Re: Edinburgh Council. 102 section 54 no part of car is within
50cm of edge . Comely Bank Grove EH41AZ, Edinburgh
DIR By: bluebincar
Date: June 4, 2025, 12:23 pm
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HTML https://i.imgur.com/dMtmrju.jpeg
HTML https://i.imgur.com/SdKNMMm.jpeg
HTML https://i.imgur.com/afuKLfH.jpeg
HTML https://i.imgur.com/ndvIS0J.jpeg
Thanks for your response. Please see images above.
I will stop calling it an appeal - you are of course absolutely
right. Apologies.
Thanks for sharing the spreadsheet and legislation. That is very
clear.
Next step is representations then which I'll need to construct.
Perhaps something in the spreadsheet you shared. Having a proper
look now.
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