Parking Guidance

Cancellation Procedures for Penalty Charge Notice

Parking Managers across Bedfordshire have prepared the Guidance for the consideration of challenges against Penalty Charge Notices.(PDF 424KB) The guidelines in the document are intended to inform the public and provide guidance to council employees working in the enforcement of parking regulations.

This is consistent with current best practice and aims to provide clarity, consistency and transparency within the enforcement process and compliance with the aspirations of the National Parking Adjudication Service and the Local Government Ombudsman.

What is important about these guidelines is that they represent a foundation upon which fairness and discretion can be applied. The importance of flexibility in these matters has been recognised by the courts and, as a consequence, decisions made by councils must not be fettered by being unduly formulaic.

The guidelines address the following:

Observation times for enforcement staff
The statutory grounds upon which representations may be made
Mitigating circumstances
The acceptance or rejection of representations

It is important to recognise that each case will be considered on its own merits, matters of proportionality, objectivity, fairness and reasonableness should be paramount.

These guidelines will be subject to ongoing review

Guidelines for the consideration of challenges against Penalty Charge Notices (PDF 424KB)

Procedure for dealing with Representations to a Penalty Charge Notice

BACKGROUND

Parking restrictions are introduced by the Council to make roads safer, to reduce congestion and to ensure that the limited parking space is allocated fairly. Non-compliance with these regulations impacts on other road users including pedestrians and is not acceptable.

The Department for Transport (DFT) provides clear advice on the procedure for dealing with representations from motorists about Penalty Charges. It requires Local Authorities to authorise certain personnel to deal with representations. These authorised personnel should be familiar with all aspects of Civil Parking Enforcement, so that they can judge whether or not a representation falls within the statutory grounds under the Traffic Management Act 2004 (TMA) or within the Councils own guidelines for exceptional cases.

Given the semi-judicial nature of the representation process the DFT requires that Local Authority members should play no part in deciding individual representations. Similarly, non authorised personnel should also take no part in deciding individual representations.

Where representations are made about receiving a Penalty Charge Notice, or where councillors and senior members of staff make representations on behalf of individuals, the following guidelines will be followed.

 Procedure and Guidelines for dealing with Representations to a penalty Charge Notice Procedure for dealing with Representations