How Can I Challenge A Windsor Town PCN?
This blog serves to answer the question “How Can I Challenge A Windsor Town PCN?” You should have some idea about the contravention codes enforced in your town and along the bus lanes of your council. This affects how you approach a PCN challenge which includes handling the allegations put forward and how you choose to contest them, in that you choose to put forward evidence from your side which disproves the case put forward by the council.
How Can I Challenge A Windsor Town PCN?
You can challenge a Windsor Town PCN if you have the required evidence relating to your case available with you, which can be in the form of a video clip that shows your vehicle travelling correctly at a traffic violation scene. You could also use photographs which show how you successfully avoided a banned turn or prevented your vehicle from making a wrong turn into a restricted lane.
This evidence needs to be kept ready at hand and it should be filmed professionally for best results. You can use a digital camera or camcorder to capture good camera angles and clear (high resolution) photos. The professionalism of your photography will provide a stronger basis to your PCN challenge to the Windsor and Maidenhead Council and will attempt to convince them of your seriousness in getting to the end of this case.
Along with the evidence you use with your case, it is also essential for you to be able to construct a strong appeals case by using the weaknesses in the narrative put forward by the council. For instance if the council has served your vehicle a PCN for making a banned turn (contravention code 50) you have to use this and the evidence put forward by the council to dispute this case by using your contrary evidence that clearly shows your vehicle travelling correctly.
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 £70 PCN will be worth £105 if you pay it in the 14 days after receiving your charge certificate.
What is the procedure for appealing against a Windsor PCN?
You can submit a formal representation to your Windsor PCN by writing a letter addressed to the Windsor and Maidenhead Council or by filling in the online formal representation form on the London Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s official website.
You need to brainstorm reasons for challenging a Windsor 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 London Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. You need to visit Windsor and Maidenhead Council’s official website to submit a formal representation to your PCN.
You have to open this webpage to enter your PCN Number and your Vehicle Registration Number as well as all your personal details including your mailing address, email address, the exact date of your contravention and the reasons why you are challenging the PCN. You need to click on “Submit Form” to submit the online appeals form.
It is essential to upload authentic evidence material with your PCN challenge to describe your mitigating circumstances to the Windsor and Maidenhead 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 Windsor 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 Windsor and Maidenhead Council (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 Windsor PCN challenge is by mail. You can write a formal representation to the Windsor and Maidenhead 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 Windsor 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:
Parking Section – Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead,
Town Hall,
St. Ives Road,
Maidenhead,
SL6 1RF
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead will respond to your PCN appeal and your PCN will be cancelled or you will be sent a Notice of Rejection or Representations, which needs to be received promptly in order to contest the notice with the London Tribunals.
How much is the PCN fine for each of the 3 kinds of PCNs served in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead?
A Parking PCN in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is served for violating higher or lower level parking restrictions. You have to pay £110 for committing a higher level parking contravention and £80 for a lower level parking contravention. If you pay the parking fine within 14 days, you will just be paying £65 or £40 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 the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, you will be charged a £130 Penalty Charge Notice. The 50% early payment discount reduces both these types of PCN fines to £75, 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 Windsor PCN fine?
You should be aware of the fact that you can only pay your Windsor and Maidenhead PCN fine online. The PCN fine can be paid online on the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s official website (using Visa Card, Master Card, Direct Debit, or Maestro Card) This payment method saves time and is also more precise as your details are entered directly into an electronic database.
If you were looking for a postal order payment option or a choice for paying your PCN fine via the council’s telephone hotline, you might be disappointed to learn that these options are unavailable in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
You need to enter your PCN number or ticket number and the exact amount of your PCN fine after opening this webpage . You can click on “Add” and then proceed to fill out your contact details given below. These include your name, surname, telephone number, email address, and 4 other fields related to your postal address. After this, you can click on “next”
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.
You must pay your PCN fine within 28 days. You should pay before 14 days if you don’t want to miss out on the 50% early payment discount (which reduces Parking PCNs to £35 or £25 and Moving Traffic PCNs to £35). If you pay your Windsor and Maidenhead PCN within 21 days, you will have to pay just £35.
What will happen if I don’t pay my Windsor 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 the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council. As per your driving license rules, you are bound to abide by Parking, Bus Lane and Moving Traffic contravention codes in Windsor and Maidenhead Council.
If you neither pay your Windsor and Maidenhead PCN within 28 days nor decide to appeal against it, you will be sent a charge certificate from Transport for London. 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 Windsor and Maidenhead Council.
You will be sent a “Notice of Debt Registration” and a witness certificate from the Transport for London, 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 Windsor Town PCN with the London Tribunals if the Windsor and Maidenhead Council dismisses my appeal?
Yes, you can dispute a Windsor Town PCN with the Traffic Adjudicators at London Tribunals within 28 days of getting your “Notice of Rejection of Representations” from the council. You have to fill in the form provided to you with the Notice of Rejection and mail it to this postal address:
London Tribunals,
PO Box 10598,
Nottingham,
NG6 6DR
You can also choose to dispute the “Notice of Rejection” from your council with the London Tribunals online by clicking on the “Access the Appellants Portal” button on this webpage. All you will be required to do is simply enter your Vehicle Registration Number, PCN number, and the reference number or code from your “Notice of Rejection of Representations” letter.
You can attach copies of evidence documents online to back up your appeal against the decision of the Windsor and Maidenhead Council. Such evidence may also include a signed and dated written statement describing what happened on the scene according to the viewpoint of a bystander.
London Tribunals will notify both you and Windsor and Maidenhead Council of the hearing date. If the London Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead contests your appeal, it will provide you with a copy of its application along with the evidence sent by it to the Traffic Adjudicators at London Tribunals. In case the independent parking and traffic adjudicator decides the case in your favour, the Windsor and Maidenhead Council will promptly withdraw the PCN.
If the PCN is cancelled at this stage, you will have to pay nothing. If the London Tribunals decide the case in the council’s favour, you will be given another 28 days to pay the PCN fine.
Conclusion
This blog post addressed the question “How Can I Challenge A Windsor Town PCN?” You can challenge a Windsor Town PCN by simply stating that the traffic contravention didn’t occur or that it occurred as a result of your authentic mitigating circumstances. These authentic mitigating circumstances need to be proven by using a series of evidence and they also have to be genuinely connected with the actions that took place at the traffic violation scene.