How Can I Challenge A Bury Council PCN?
This blog serves to answer the question “How Can I Challenge A Bury Council PCN?” You can only submit an online formal representation to your Bury Council PCN. This blog explains the procedure for recovering your impounded vehicle from the Greater Manchester Police’s “Operation Wolverine” vehicle pound.
How Can I Challenge A Bury Council PCN?
As you can only challenge a Bury Council PCN on the official website, you must be prepared with evidence relating to your parking permits, mitigating circumstances such as health conditions and a regularly updated collection of video clips showing your daily road journeys in Bury Council. As you drive on the roads, bus lanes and parking zones in Bury Council, you should also be aware of the traffic contravention codes enforced in each of these locations and how breaching these restrictions could lead to a Penalty Charge Notice.
By driving your vehicle on the roads of Bury Council, your actions are observed by CCTV cameras on road junctions, at bus lanes and inside parking zones. You must have some videos or photographic evidence of your own to share your point of view of a traffic violation scene. Some mitigating circumstances might suddenly cause you to make a banned turn or breach a bus lane, and if you have video clips or photographs of the incident, you can prove that you had attempted to avoid breaching the bus lane or moving traffic restriction. Mitigating circumstances such as a serious health condition also need to be supported by a medical certificate from a certified General Practitioner, and this medical report should preferably be dated from a week or so before your traffic violation.
Video footage or photographs of your road journeys can be filmed (with a digital camera or camcorder) by a friend or family member who regularly travels with you. The focus of the camera should be on your vehicle’s path and also on your steering wheel, brake pedal at road turns and traffic signals. This piece of evidence is essential for disputing the (CCTV) evidence provided by the Bury Council for any kind of PCN and to prove that the traffic contravention never occurred.
In many cases, PCNs are not enforceable and you may be able to win your case and avoid having to pay your fine.
You could begin the process by speaking to an online solicitor for as little as £5.
What is a Penalty Charge Notice?
A Penalty Charge Notice is a monetary penalty issued to drivers or motorists for committing certain traffic contraventions including violating Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic restrictions. A PCN is issued for failing to follow Parking zone, bus lane enforcement, and moving traffic restrictions mentioned in the Road Traffic Act 1984 and the Traffic Management Act 2004.
A penalty charge notice can be handed to you by a Civil Enforcement Officer or dispatched to your (DVLA) residential address by post. Traffic contraventions are observed by CCTV cameras and Civil Enforcement Officers before a violation is detected and the vehicle is charged with a PCN.
A PCN might also be issued for failing to pay road charges on time. You have 28 days to decide how and if you would like to challenge your Penalty Charge Notice. After 28 days if you have neither paid nor challenged your PCN, you will be sent a charge certificate from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
If you don’t challenge a PCN, you should pay the fine within 28 days, otherwise, its amount will increase by 50%. A £60 PCN will be worth £90 if you pay it in the 14 days after receiving your charge certificate.
Can I only challenge a Bury Council PCN on the official website?
Yes, you can only challenge a Bury Council PCN by using the formal representation form on the Bury Council website.
You need to begin brainstorming reasons to challenge a Bury Council PCN from the day of the incident and list them down in a word processing software or on paper. It is essential to have some authentic evidence to attach with your PCN appeal in the form of video footage of the traffic violation, medical certificates explaining your mitigating circumstances or pay and display tickets.
The evidence must be matched with the grounds for your appeal before describing the incident from your point of view. Your rough formal representation can be edited for clarity multiple times before it is ready to attach to your online appeal to Bury Council. You need to visit this webpage to challenge a Bury Council PCN. After opening this link, you need to enter your PCN number, vehicle registration number. This payments and appeals service has the same account so you must be careful not to click on the PCN payment option after you log in.
These details should be submitted by clicking “Continue”. After logging in to the Bury Council PCN database, you can proceed to register your formal representation and upload evidence material backing your case.
Once you have proofread your appeal to eliminate any reasons for your challenge which might convey a disregard for traffic contravention codes enforced in Bury Council (by mixing up the contraventions) or reasons which involve forgetfulness to justify your actions, you can submit the formal representation
You can also submit an informal representation to your Bury Council PCN (CCTV Bus Lane PCN or Parking PCN served by a CEO) by accessing your PCN details here. To access the form you need to enter your PCN number and vehicle registration number and click on “Continue”. You should select the informal representation (or challenge) option from the 2 PCN challenge options on your screen.
You have to fill out the informal representation form by typing your full name, email address, and the contents of your informal representation. Once you are sure that you have constructed a strong appeals case to make the council grant you a formal representation, you can send your form. The informal appeals stage is applicable to PCNs sent by post.
If the Bury Council accepts your PCN appeal, the PCN will be annulled and you will not be liable for paying any monetary penalty. In case the Bury council sends you a “Notice of Rejection” by disapproving of your representation you will have to pay the amount mentioned on your PCN.
What Can I Do If My Vehicle has been towed away?
If your vehicle has been towed away from the Bury Council you need to call 101 to ask the Greater Manchester Police about the matter. If your vehicle was towed away for violating your driving license rules, you should have received a form 3078 (seizure notice) by post. Your inquiry will be addressed by the Greater Manchester Police staff and in case your vehicle has been towed away you will have to visit Operation Wolverine to get it released.
Next, you will be required to verify 2 kinds of ID documents such as a passport and a driving licence at the Operation Wolverine Headquarters. You could also use 2 other combinations of documents such as your original birth certificate and your vehicle registration certificate. You should also have the insurance certificate for your vehicle and your V5C vehicle registration certificate (with you) unless this has already been used as one of the 2 ID documents.
Vehicles are seized by the Greater Manchester Police under Section 165 A or the Road Traffic Act 1988 due to a violation of your driving license rules. You must remember to visit the Operation Wolverine vehicle pound within 7 days of the date mentioned on your form 3078. The amount of money you will need to unclamp your vehicle includes a £150 release fee and storage charges of £20 per day.
So for example if your vehicle was towed away by a parking company 3 days ago, you will need (£20×3) + £150 = £210 to get it released from the vehicle pound. These vehicle release fees and storage charges are set under The Road Traffic Act 1998 (Retention and Disposal of Seized Motor Vehicles).
You should pay your Bury Council Parking PCN online before collecting the vehicle from the pound at the Operation Wolverine Headquarters. But even if you just have £150 or £210 with you (for leaving your vehicle in the pound for up to 3 days), you can still pay the amount at the vehicle pound and claim your vehicle. It is more important to collect your vehicle from Operation Wolverine than to pay your PCN fine because storage fees of £20 are being added every day and your vehicle will no longer be in the vehicle pound after 14 days.
As you will have to pay your Bury Council Parking PCN within 14 days when you are recovering your impounded vehicle, it will cost you only £35. Your vehicle pound charges can vary so it is best to get it removed from there as soon as possible. For each week your vehicle is left at Operation Wolverine you will have to pay £140 extra storage charges.
Once you contact the Greater Manchester Police by dialling 101 and tell them your vehicle registration number you will be guided to Operation Wolverine for recovering your impounded vehicle.
You will have to make the payment to release your vehicle from Operation Wolverine by visiting the location in person with at least £200 in cash or available as credit on your payment card. The Greater Manchester Police accepts Visa Card, Master Card, Maestro Card, and Solo Card for the payment of vehicle release and storage charges.
Operation Wolverine is located at this address :
Eccles Police Station,
Gorton Street,
Eccles,
Greater Manchester,
M30 7LZ
You can visit Operation Wolverine at any time between 9:00 am and 04:30 pm from Monday to Friday and from 8:30 am to 11:30 am on Saturday. Staff from the Greater Manchester Police will be available at the pound to address your queries and for receiving the vehicle release charges.
You should have the 2 ID Documents, a copy of form 3078, your vehicle’s MOT certificate, and your vehicle registration certificate (if this is not your ID document). After all these documents have been verified by the Greater Manchester Police staff, your vehicle seizure notice will be stamped to authorise the release of the vehicle.
You must remember to recover your vehicle within 7 days from the vehicle pound. If you leave it there for more than 14 days the car might be scrapped or sold by the Greater Manchester Police.
How much is the PCN fine for each of the 3 kinds of PCNs served in Bury Council?
A Parking PCN in Bury Council is served for violating higher or lower level parking restrictions. You have to pay £70 for committing a higher level parking contravention and £50 for a lower level parking contravention. If you pay the parking fine within 14 days, you will just be paying £35 or £25 as a 50% discount is applicable to your payment.
For failing to comply with a bus lane contravention code or a moving traffic restriction in Bury Council, you will be charged a £70 Penalty Charge Notice. The 50% early payment discount reduces both these types of PCN fines to £35, if a bus lane PCN is paid within 21 days and a moving traffic PCN is paid within 14 days
How Can I Pay my Bury Council PCN fine?
You can pay a Swindon PCN by visiting the online payments webpage, or by calling on the Bury Council’s automated payments hotline.
If you choose to make your PCN fine payment online, you should visit the Bury Council website.’ You need to enter your PCN Number and Vehicle Registration Number here to pay your Bury Council PCN. You should click on “Search”, once you have entered these details. After this you just have to enter your payment card details to complete the PCN payment. Bury Council accepts Mastercard, Visa Card, Maestro Card, Solo Card and Visa Electron card for PCN fine payments. Diners card and American Express card are not accepted for making PCN payments.
You might want to call on Bury Council’s automated payments hotline to pay your PCN. For this you have to call on 0344 870 5545. On the call you will need to enter your PCN number and payment card details. You can use the * key to enter the letters in your PCN number. This payment hotline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You should wait to receive a confirmation code for your PCN payment before ending the call.
What will happen if I don’t pay my Bury PCN within the 28-day limit?
You should not ignore traffic contraventions or the Penalty Charge Notices resulting from them or cultivate a careless attitude towards driving in Bury Council. As per your driving license rules, you are bound to abide by Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic contravention codes in Bury Council.
If you neither pay your Bury PCN within 28 days nor decide to appeal against it, you will be sent a charge certificate from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The charge certificate increases your PCN fine by 50%, which means you will be paying £105 (or £75) now. You should pay the charge certificate within 14 days as it cannot be appealed and ignoring the charge certificate may result in the filing of a court order (for recovery of debts) against you by the Bury Council.
You will be sent a “Notice of Debt Registration” and a witness certificate from the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, if you don’t pay the charge certificate amount within 14 days. The unpaid amount will be treated as a debt with the Traffic Enforcement Centre at the Northampton County Court.
The court order for debt recovery enforces that the charge certificate amount must be paid in full within 21 days or the county court will have to use additional powers to recover the money from your possession which means employing Enforcement Agents to (contact you or) visit your personal premises.
Can I Dispute A Bury PCN with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal if the Bury Council dismisses my appeal?
Yes, you can dispute the decision of the Bury Council in your “Notice of Rejection of Representations” with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. The Traffic Penalty Tribunal website requires you to enter details given on your Notice of Rejection of Representations, after opening this webpage
You can watch this instructional video here to learn about your challenge process. The video clearly explains how to use the online service offered by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. On the Traffic Penalty Tribunal webpage, you will first have to select the type of PCN you were served by the Bury Council (shown on the bottom part of the page).
After clicking on your specific type of Penalty Charge Notice, you should select “England” (Outside London). In the window which opens up, you should click on the orange box which reads “If you don’t agree with the PCN, you can make representations against it”.
After viewing the instructions on the following page, you need to click on “Start your appeal here” at the bottom of the webpage You will then be required to enter your Vehicle Registration Number, the reference number from the “Notice of Rejection” letter from the Bury Council, and your PCN number for which the appeal was rejected on this page.
You can use the online service to challenge multiple “Notices of Rejection” simultaneously. You will require a valid email address to create an account on the Traffic Penalty Tribunal website. You have to upload a copy of your “Notice of Rejection of Representations” letter to your application by using the Traffic Penalty Tribunal’s online portal.
You can upload evidence such as video clips of your traffic violation scenes (taken from inside your vehicle), medical certificates from a certified General Practitioner, maps of the area showing the exact distance your vehicle travelled inside a no-entry zone, and scanned copies of “pay and display” tickets. You should construct a strong appeals case to communicate your mitigating circumstances or to deliver your assertion that the traffic violation never occurred.
The Traffic Penalty Tribunal should be able to ascertain the legitimacy of your situation by viewing evidence material uploaded to the PCN appeals system.
Your appeal of the “Notice of Rejection of Representations” should be submitted to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal within 28 days of receiving your Notification of Rejection from the Bury Council. You must avail yourself of this chance of a free and independent hearing of your case.
You will be able to contact the Traffic Penalty Tribunal adjudicator during the formulation of your appeal. The result of your appeal will be communicated to you within 14-28 days of submitting your representation. If the adjudicator decides the case in your favour, the PCN will be cancelled by the Bury Council.
Conclusion
This blog post addressed the question “How Can I Challenge A Bury Council PCN?” You have to prepare in advance for being handed a PCN and having to challenge it with the council by preserving evidence relating to your parking permits and by recording videos of your road trips. It is advisable to keep a map of the Bury Council which states the contravention codes (by location) with you in your vehicle, or pasted on your dashboard, so that you have a mental picture of these restrictions enforced along your daily route. All this helps to eliminate any reasons relating to forgetfulness or to a lack of awareness of traffic restrictions in place, when you are challenging your Bury Council PCN.