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#Post#: 88488--------------------------------------------------
£0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge given
after
DIR By: user789
Date: September 4, 2025, 8:59 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Hi all,
I’d really appreciate some advice regarding a PCN and subsequent
Charge Certificate I’ve received from Lewisham Council.
Location: Giffin Street, SE8 (Lewisham)
Date of Alleged Contravention: 27 March 2025
Time: 20:16
Contravention Code: 29J – Failing to comply with a one-way
restriction
Initial PCN Date: 11 July 2025
PCN Fine Listed: £0.00
Charge Certificate Issued: 1 September 2025
Amount Now Owed: £240
On the day in question, I was returning home when I encountered
a full closure of Deptford Church Street due to works being
carried out, including the installation of new traffic lights
and Tideway tunnelling project. As a result, there was no access
to my normal route, and I had no choice but to go up a one-way
street (Giffin Street) in the opposite direction in order to get
home.
There were no clear diversion signs or marshals. The road
closure had effectively made it impossible to comply with the
one-way restriction.
The original PCN I received on 11 July 2025 stated the fine was
£0.00 — which I assumed was either a cancellation or
administrative error. There was no indication of any payment
needed, so I didn’t take action.
Now, I’ve received a Charge Certificate demanding £240 (50% more
than a standard fine), and stating I’ve lost the right to
appeal.
Evidence I Have:
A Facebook post from Lewisham Council confirming the ongoing
works on Deptford Church Street at that time:
HTML https://www.facebook.com/LewishamCouncil/posts/1047952577369951/[/img]
Official Tideway June 2025 Info Sheet showing road closures:
HTML https://tideway.london/media/7379/depcs-information-sheet-june-2025.pdf
The original PCN letter showing the charge as £0.00 (photos
available if needed).
My Questions:
I can still challenge this PCN despite the Charge Certificate
saying it’s too late. How should I do this or do I even have a
case for doing so?
Does the £0.00 figure on the PCN give me a strong argument that
I was misled or the PCN was invalid?
Given the road closure was probably council-approved and made
the one-way restriction unavoidable, can this be classed as a
valid exemption or mitigating circumstance?
Is it better to wait for the Order for Recovery and file a
Statutory Declaration?
I genuinely did not intend to break any road rules — I was
simply trying to get home with no alternative route due to the
council’s own works. I’d really appreciate any legal insight or
guidance on how to proceed.
Thanks in advance!
#Post#: 88496--------------------------------------------------
Re: £0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge
given after
DIR By: RichardW
Date: September 5, 2025, 1:34 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Please show the PCN and charge cert.
This is in the wrong place, I have asked mods to move it.
#Post#: 88508--------------------------------------------------
Re: £0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge
given after
DIR By: H C Andersen
Date: September 5, 2025, 3:30 am
---------------------------------------------------------
+1, you must post the PCN and CC.
Pl forget about the details of the contravention, they're
secondary when compared to procedure.
And pl check your post:
Title: ' .....£250 charge....';
Body of post: 'Charge Certificate Issued: 1 September 2025
Amount Now Owed: £240'
?
#Post#: 88616--------------------------------------------------
Re: £0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge
given after
DIR By: user789
Date: September 5, 2025, 4:48 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Below are the images added as a link. I cannot work out how to
upload them here.
[url=
HTML https://www.canva.com/design/DAGyJQbJ9AM/HrXHb0uTFIqlWp35KkvInw/view?utm_content=DAGyJQbJ9AM&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h4c2b48486b]
I have edited the original post as suggested.
Hi all,
I’d really appreciate some advice regarding a £0 PCN and
subsequent Charge Certificate I’ve received from Lewisham
Council.
Charge Certificate Issued: 1 September 2025
Amount Now Owed: £250
The original PCN I received on 11 July 2025 stated the fine was
£0.00 — which I assumed was either a cancellation or
administrative error. There was no indication of any payment
needed, so I didn’t take action.
Now, I’ve received a Charge Certificate demanding £250 (50% more
than a standard fine), and stating I’ve lost the right to
appeal.
The original PCN letter showing the charge as £0.00 (photos
available if needed).
My Questions:
I can still challenge this PCN despite the Charge Certificate
saying it’s too late. How should I do this or do I even have a
case for doing so?
Does the £0.00 figure on the PCN give me a strong argument that
I was misled or the PCN was invalid?
Is it better to wait for the Order for Recovery and file a
Statutory Declaration?
I’d really appreciate any legal insight or guidance on how to
proceed.
Thanks in advance!
#Post#: 88618--------------------------------------------------
Re: £0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge
given after
DIR By: stamfordman
Date: September 5, 2025, 5:57 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I can only see a charge certificate and you've blanked the PCN
number and VRM. What are they.
#Post#: 88623--------------------------------------------------
Re: £0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge
given after
DIR By: user789
Date: September 5, 2025, 6:26 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Hi,
Sorry about that. The details are:
PCN: ZY11767725
VRM: LO64 LLP
there are two images if you scroll to the right, you will see
the PCN.
Thanks.
#Post#: 88625--------------------------------------------------
Re: £0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge
given after
DIR By: Enceladus
Date: September 5, 2025, 9:43 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Please post up all of the remaining pages of the postal PCN and
also for the Charge Cert. At the moment we only have pg1 of
each. Please only redact your name and address where present.
Please leave everything else visible.
The alleged contravention was on 27th March 2025. The postal PCN
is dated 11th July 2025.
That's an extended delay and maybe out of time.
So is this your own vehicle?
Is the V5c in your name?
Is the address on the V5c correct and current?
Is the car leased, rented or a company car or similar?
The PCN does say the penalty is £0.00, at least that's what it
says on page 1 of the PCN. A PCN has to correctly state the
penalty so I would say this PCN is a defective notice.
I'm aware that some London authorities, eg TFL, have sent out
£0.00 PCNs as warning notices when new arrangements have been
made, such as ULEZ expansion. But they usually say it's a
warning and they don't follow up with a Charge Cert.
I assume your references to £250 being due are typos. A Charge
Cert in your case would be for £240. An Order for Recovery would
be for £250. So do you have an OfR? I guess not but please let's
be certain.
There is no "ground" on a statutory declaration that applies to
a defective notice. It's really for missing notices.
So I suggest that you submit a late representation/challenge to
the Council pointing out that their PCN is served out of time
(assuming it is confirmed) and is defective because the amount
of the charge is not accurately stated. Ask them to cancel the
PCN and Charge Cert.
You are late with your representation, I calculate that the
deadline was the 11th August. Strictly speaking they are no
longer obliged to consider your representations, so you're
relying on common sense prevailing. Common sense is rare within
Local Authorities as that implies work.
Please answer the questions before you try and submit anything.
#Post#: 88650--------------------------------------------------
Re: £0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge
given after
DIR By: stamfordman
Date: September 6, 2025, 5:34 am
---------------------------------------------------------
I've checked online and there's no history section for the PCN
but there is the option to challenge with an online form and you
can attach things.
But is this a leased car and is it your name and address on the
PCN. If it's your PCN then you can just tell them they've
wrongly issued the charge certificate as you had nothing to pay.
HTML https://i.ibb.co/bjzv7Rvg/A772-FBA7-FFA5-4-ABC-BA39-982-C0-AC9-E102-ezgif-com-video-to-gif-converter.gif
#Post#: 88654--------------------------------------------------
Re: £0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge
given after
DIR By: H C Andersen
Date: September 6, 2025, 6:37 am
---------------------------------------------------------
The CC is for £240 not £250.
Why do you continue to refer to £250?
IMO, you could submit an Statutory Declaration on the grounds:
You did not receive the Penalty Charge Notice in question.
IMO, this applies because the CC states:
'The above Penalty Charge has not been paid ..and..as a result
has now increased to £240.'
You did NOT receive a PCN which demanded a penalty of £160(which
is the implicit penalty which gives rise to a surcharged value
of £240).
It's not your burden to check PCN numbers and to explain the
authority's c**k-up.
But before this I would go with stamfordman's suggestion to
write to the authority - after all, so far they've NOT been made
aware of any of this and their system has churned out this
nonsense.
But I would draft along the following lines:
Sir,
Please find enclosed a copy of a Penalty Charge Notice for £0.00
issued by yourselves approx. 4 months after an alleged
contravention, namely 23 March and 11 July 2025 respectively.
I also invite you to see the enclosed Charge Certificate in
which you've calculated that a penalty of £0.00 when surcharged
by 50% achieves a value of £240.
Until now I've not responded to your invalid documents in the
(mistaken) belief that your internal procedures applied
correctly would pick up your mistakes, however, I've been
advised that I should write to you as I cannot be confident that
you would rectify your mistakes unaided.
For the purposes of regulatory correctness, I require
confirmation from you that the PCN for £0.00 has been cancelled.
#Post#: 88698--------------------------------------------------
Re: £0 PCN for driving up closed one way road and £250 charge
given after
DIR By: user789
Date: September 6, 2025, 1:32 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Hi H C,
Thank you for taking time to reply.
Yes the date is correct it was in March. I was surprised to get
this in July. It arrived on the 18th July and the other letter
came on Wednesday, 4th September.
This was my own vehicle at the time. I no longer own it and I
owned it, no finance etc.
The other page of each letter only contains Lewisham Council's
generic data protection information, which is why I did not
include them.
Yes £240 is the correct amount, not £250. Apologies. I only have
a charge certificate.
Thank you.
--- Quote from: Enceladus link ---
>
> Please post up all of the remaining pages of the postal PCN
and also for the Charge Cert. At the moment we only have pg1 of
each. Please only redact your name and address where present.
Please leave everything else visible.
>
> The alleged contravention was on 27th March 2025. The postal
PCN is dated 11th July 2025.
>
> That's an extended delay and maybe out of time.
> So is this your own vehicle?
> Is the V5c in your name?
> Is the address on the V5c correct and current?
> Is the car leased, rented or a company car or similar?
>
> The PCN does say the penalty is £0.00, at least that's what it
says on page 1 of the PCN. A PCN has to correctly state the
penalty so I would say this PCN is a defective notice.
>
> I'm aware that some London authorities, eg TFL, have sent out
£0.00 PCNs as warning notices when new arrangements have been
made, such as ULEZ expansion. But they usually say it's a
warning and they don't follow up with a Charge Cert.
>
> I assume your references to £250 being due are typos. A Charge
Cert in your case would be for £240. An Order for Recovery would
be for £250. So do you have an OfR? I guess not but please let's
be certain.
>
> There is no "ground" on a statutory declaration that applies
to a defective notice. It's really for missing notices.
>
> So I suggest that you submit a late representation/challenge
to the Council pointing out that their PCN is served out of time
(assuming it is confirmed) and is defective because the amount
of the charge is not accurately stated. Ask them to cancel the
PCN and Charge Cert.
>
> You are late with your representation, I calculate that the
deadline was the 11th August. Strictly speaking they are no
longer obliged to consider your representations, so you're
relying on common sense prevailing. Common sense is rare within
Local Authorities as that implies work.
>
> Please answer the questions before you try and submit
anything.
>
--- End Quote ---
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