How Can I Challenge A Grande Prairie PCN?
This blog serves to answer the question “How Can I Challenge A Grande Prairie PCN?” You need to approach PCN challenges from a professional’s perspective if you want to get it right and end up focusing on every minute detail relating to the traffic violation scene. A PCN challenge is in essence a scientific probe into the events of a few minutes which reveals how what was unknown soon becomes known.
How Can I Challenge A Grande Prairie PCN?
You can challenge a Grande Prairie PCN by filling in the online formal representation form on the Traffic Tickets Alberta website or by writing a letter addressed to the Government of Alberta on the backside of your Notice to Owner document.
Your case must be strong enough to convince the Government of Alberta that the traffic violation never happened or that it happened owing to a series of mitigating circumstances. This strong case requires authentic evidence showing how your point of view is true. So you must have a regular habit of recording video clips of your road journeys in the City of Grande Prairie and show clearly in each one of them how your vehicle moves across the roads and intersections in your daily route.
You will have to match your evidence with the grounds of your PCN challenge before you write it down in your formal representation. The entire text of your appeal needs to describe the traffic violation scene as you recall it, which will be different from how the prosecution has charged you.
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 penalty charge notice can be handed to you by a Civil Enforcement Officer or dispatched to your (DVLA) residential address by post. CCTV cameras and Civil Enforcement Officers observe traffic contraventions before a violation is detected and the vehicle is charged with a PCN.
What is the procedure for appealing against a Grande Prairie PCN?
You can submit a formal representation to your Grande Prairie PCN by writing a letter addressed to the Alberta Council or by filling in the online formal representation form on the Alberta Council’s official website.
You need to brainstorm reasons for challenging a Grande Prairie PCN from the day of the incident and list them down in 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 the Grande Prairie City Council. You need to visit the Alberta Council website to submit a formal representation to your Grande Prairie PCN. You have to open this webpage to enter your ticket number as well as a valid email address.You can select “I agree to the terms and conditions” You need to click on “Next” to view your PCN details before filling in the online appeals form. 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.
It is essential to upload authentic evidence material with your PCN challenge to describe your mitigating circumstances to the Alberta Council and for explaining your point of view of the events which took place at the traffic violation scene. If you made a video clip of your traffic contravention, you should save snapshots from it by using a video player or video editing software.
Most video players such as VLC player allow you to slow down your video frame by frame and thus take ( a collection of) snapshots to attach with your Grande Prairie PCN challenge. The text of your appeal must state the relevant contravention code on your PCN and explain how you attempted to avoid the error (supported by photos or video footage).
Once you have proofread your appeal to eliminate any reasons for your challenge which might convey a disregard for traffic contravention codes enforced in the City of Grande Prairie (by mixing up the contraventions) or reasons which involve forgetfulness to justify your actions, you can submit the formal representation.
Another way to send in your Grande Prairie PCN challenge is by mail. You can write a formal representation to the Alberta Council on the reverse of your “Notice to Owner” document. This handwritten appeal should be composed gradually by incorporating all the available evidence material to support the grounds for your challenge and should be able to convince the council of your mitigating circumstances (or other acceptable reasons).
You should view evidence relating to your Grande Prairie PCN online before writing down your appeal so that you end up focusing on refuting the contents of the CCTV video or photographs or your traffic violation. Your PCN appeals form and all accompanying evidence documents (enclosed in an envelope) need to be sent to:
Provincial Ticket Production Centre,
601 5th Street,
SW Calgary,
Alberta T2P 5P7
How Can I Pay My Grande Prairie PCN?
You can pay a Grande Prairie PCN by sending a check or money order to the City of Grande Prairie via post, in person or online here.
You need to enter your Ticket Number after opening this webpage to initiate the PCN fine payment online. You will be shown your Penalty Charge Notice information and in the next window, you can enter your payment card details. You must remember to wait for 24 hours after your PCN is issued before attempting to pay it. Once you click “Submit” you will be directed to your online PCN, where you can choose to pay the fine.
In the next window, you will be required to provide your payment card details and your credit card receipt number. The Grande Prairie City Council accepts VisaCard, MasterCard, Maestro Card, DeltaCard and Electron Card for PCN payments.
You can also pay your Grande Prairie PCN through postal order or check payable to “Government of Alberta”.
This money order or check can then be sent to the following address:
Provincial Ticket Production Centre,
601 5th Street,
SW Calgary,
Alberta T2P 5P7
You must pay your PCN fine within 45 days. You should pay before 15 days if you don’t want to miss out on the 50% early payment discount.
What will happen if I don’t pay my Grande Prairie PCN within the 30-day limit?
You should not ignore traffic contraventions or the Penalty Charge Notices resulting from them or cultivate a careless attitude towards driving in Grande Prairie City Council. As per your driving license rules, you are bound to abide by Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic contravention codes in Grande Prairie City Council.
If you neither pay your Grande Prairie PCN within 30 days nor decide to appeal against it, a late fee will be added, which increases your PCN fine by 50%, which means you will be paying ＄26.58 now. If you still don’t pay the amount, then by the 40th day you will be issued a Notice of Default. It will show the total amount due which includes the initial parking violation penalty, address search fee and late fee.
This Notice will also contain a request for payment by a certain due date. At day 60, a Plate Denial Enforcement Fee will be added to the unpaid parking amount. The amount is now payable to the City of Grande Prairie. Beyond this the Crown (also known as the federal and provincial governments of Canada) can use some other extreme measures at its disposal to recover this amount from your possession.
These measures include telling the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) about your debt, Wage Garnishment (your employer is asked to send the government a portion of your wages until your debt is fully paid), bank garnishment (the government takes the money you owe it from your bank accounts) or getting a lien against property that you own.
The Crown might also choose to take away things of value that you own like jewellery or vehicles. Other than this confiscation of property you might also see some registry services suspended such as driver’s licence registry and vehicle registration facilities.
Conclusion
This blog post addressed the question “How Can I Challenge A Grande Prairie PCN?” You can formulate a strong case against the contravention mentioned on your PCN by attaching authentic evidence with your challenge and by clearly stating that the traffic violation never happened. Evidence relating to your Grande Prairie PCN challenge can be stored on your computer and added to your online formal representation later.