How Can I Challenge A Wisbech PCN
This blog serves to answer the question “How Can I Challenge A Wisbech PCN?” A PCN challenge which aims to prove that the traffic contravention did not occur, must contain photographs or video footage relating to the incident. Evidence relating to road journeys in Wisbech Town Council must be stored on a computer for easy access to support the grounds for your PCN appeals.
How Can I Challenge A Wisbech PCN?
Wisbech Town forms part of the Fenland District Council and the Cambridgeshire County Council handles Penalty Charge Notices from Fenland District Council. So the Cambridgeshire County Council is responsible for serving and dealing with Penalty Charge Notices in the Wisbech Town Council.
You need to assemble evidence relating to your Wisbech PCN challenge before writing down the text of your appeal. This evidence may consist of medical certificates, pay and display tickets, authentic photographs, or video footage of the traffic violation.
It is necessary to preserve this evidence in digital form to keep it readily available for uploading with your PCN appeal. So you should regularly record your road journeys in the Wisbech Town Council as every day’s recording matters. You can upload scanned copies of your evidence documents such as pay and display tickets and medical certificates to your laptop or computer.
A family member or friend travelling with you can operate the digital camera or camcorder (which has a powerful digital zoom feature) to timely capture precious evidence relating to your potential traffic contravention. If you miss out this evidence, there is no other way of explaining your point of view regarding the alleged traffic violation or of arguing that the contravention never occurred (as the CCTV shows it did).
For instance, if you have been handed a moving traffic PCN for failing to make way for incoming vehicles (Code 37 ) or for making a prohibited U-turn (code 50) the video footage can be used to show that the traffic contravention didn’t happen. Your video should have a date stamp matching the date and time of your Penalty Charge Notice.
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. CCTV cameras and Civil Enforcement Officers observe traffic contraventions 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.
Can I Only Challenge A Wisbech PCN online?
Yes, you can only challenge a Wisbech PCN online on the Cambridgeshire County Council website. Wisbech Town forms part of the Fenland District Council and the Cambridgeshire County Council handles Penalty Charge Notices from Fenland District Council. So the Cambridgeshire County Council is responsible for serving and dealing with Penalty Charge Notices in the Wisbech Town Council.
The Cambridgeshire County Council will also decide the result of your Wisbech PCN challenge and will either choose to withdraw your PCN or send you a Notice of Rejection of Representations.
You can submit a formal representation to your Wisbech PCN by filling in the online formal representation form on the Cambridgeshire County Council’s official website. You need to brainstorm reasons for challenging a Wisbech 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 Cambridgeshire County Council. You need to visit the Cambridgeshire County Council website to submit a formal representation to your PCN. You need to click on “Challenge Your Parking ticket” after opening this webpage to enter your PCN number and your Vehicle Registration Number. Once you have entered these details you need to click on “Search” to view your PCN details before filling in the online appeals form.
It is essential to upload authentic evidence material with your PCN challenge to describe your mitigating circumstances to the Cambridgeshire County 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 Wisbech 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 Cambridgeshire County Council (by mixing up the contraventions) or reasons which involve forgetfulness to justify your actions, you can submit the formal representation.
Which moving traffic contravention codes are enforced in Wisbech Town Council?
The following moving traffic contravention codes are enforced in Wisbech Town Council:
- Code 31 Entering and stopping your vehicle inside a box junction or preventing vehicles behind you from moving out of a box junction. A vehicle may pause at a box junction for a certain period of time in order to make a right turn at the traffic signal.
- Code 32 (Left turn) Failing to steer your vehicle or guide your vehicle in the direction of an arrow shown inside a blue-colored sign.
- Code 32 ( Left turn ahead) Failing to slow your vehicle or steer it correctly into the approaching sharp left turn on the road. This direction is displayed on a traffic sign by a (left curved) white arrow enclosed in a blue-colored sign.
- Code 32 (One-way traffic) Failing to drive on the correct side of the road or approaching the (one way) lane from the opposite side. This traffic sign is indicated by an upward pointing white arrow enclosed in a blue-colored sign.
- Code 33 (Using a restricted street or road) Failing to adhere to the restrictions on vehicles entering a bus and cycle (only) lane. This traffic sign is indicated by a depiction of a bus and a cycle above it.
- Code 33 (Using a restricted street or road) Failing to adhere to the restrictions on vehicles entering a tramcar-only road or street. This traffic sign shows a depiction of a tramcar, enclosed in a blue colored sign.
- Code 37 is applied to charge vehicles for failing to leave a space for vehicles moving in the opposite direction. The sign indicates a priority to be given to vehicles from the other direction on the road which means slowing down and keeping your car aligned to the left side of the road. The road sign shows a larger black-colored arrow pointing downwards to the right of a smaller red-colored arrow pointing upwards.
- Code 37 (Giving way to oncoming vehicles) indicates drivers to give way to vehicles moving in the opposite direction. The road sign for the contravention has the following sentence printed in black “Give way to oncoming vehicles”
- Code 38 indicates drivers to keep their vehicles on the left or right side of the road. This moving traffic contravention is indicated by a downward pointing arrow tilted toward the left side or a downward pointing arrow tilted toward the right side.
- Code 50 (Making a banned turn) This contravention code indicates no right turn for vehicular traffic. The road sign for the traffic contravention is indicated by a red prohibition symbol on a right curved black arrow
- Code 50 (Making a banned turn) This contravention code indicates no left turn fpr vehicular traffic. The road sign for the traffic contravention is indicated by a red prohibition symbol on a left-curved black arrow.
- Code 50 (Making a banned turn) This contravention code indicates the prohibition of a U-turn at the location. The road sign for this traffic contravention displays a red prohibition symbol on an (n-shaped) arrow which shows a vehicle making a u turn.
- Code 51 ( Not following a no-entry sign) This contravention code indicates the breach of a no-entry sign.
- Code 52 (Using a restricted street or road) Failing to adhere to the restrictions on vehicles entering a lane only used by non-mechanically propelled vehicles used by pedestrians. This traffic sign is indicated by a red coloured circle.
- Code 52 (Using a restricted street or road) Failing to adhere to the restrictions on motor vehicles entering a certain street. This traffic sign is indicated by the depiction of a motorbike above a car.
- Code 52 (Using a restricted street or road) Failing to adhere to the restrictions on all motor vehicles except solo motorcycles. This traffic sign is indicated by the depiction of a car.
- Code 52 (Using a restricted street or road) Failing to adhere to the restrictions on all motor vehicles except cars. This traffic sign is indicated by the depiction of a motorcycle.
- Code 52 (Using a restricted street or road) Failing to adhere to the restrictions on goods vehicles exceeding the maximum weight limit.. This traffic sign is indicated by the depiction of a goods vehicle with the weight limit, in tonnes stated inside the vehicle symbol
- Code 53 (Using a restricted street or road) Failing to adhere to the restrictions on vehicles entering a pedestrian-only lane. This traffic sign is indicated by a sign displaying the words “Pedestrian Zone” above a circle containing a motorcycle and a car the days for the Pedestrian Zone restrictions to be applicable are stated under the sign. There are specific operational hours for loading vehicles under these restrictions stated under the sign.
How Can I Pay my Wisbech PCN fine?
You should be aware of the fact that you can only pay your Wisbech PCN fine online. The PCN fine can be paid online on the Cambridgeshire County Council’s official website.. This payment method saves time and is also more precise as your details are entered directly into an electronic database.
You can click on “Pay your Parking Ticket” on this webpage to access the Cambridgeshire County Council’s PCN database. After opening this webpage you need to enter your Penalty Charge Notice Number and Vehicle Registration Number. Once you have entered these details you can click on “Search”.
For paying your Wisbech PCN you will be asked for your payment card details. The Cambridgeshire County Council accepts Mastercard, Visa Card, Maestro Card, and Visa Electron cards for PCN fine payments. Diners cards and American Express cards are not accepted for making PCN payments. Once you have entered the credit or debit card information you can proceed to pay your fine. It must be noted that paying your Wisbech PCN eliminates any possibility for challenging the Penalty Charge Notice.
How much is the PCN fine for each of the 3 kinds of PCNs served in Wisbech Town Council?
A Parking PCN in Wisbech Town 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 Wisbech Town 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
What will happen if I don’t pay my Wisbech 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 Wisbech Town Council. As per your driving license rules, you are bound to abide by Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic contravention codes in Wisbech Town Council.
If you neither pay your Wisbech 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 Cambridgeshire County 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 Wisbech PCN with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal if the Cambridgeshire County Council dismisses my appeal?
Yes, you can dispute the decision of the Cambridgeshire County Council in your “Notice of Rejection of Representations” with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal. For this, you can use the Traffic Penalty Tribunal’s website by clicking this link
You can watch this instructional video here to learn about your challenge process. It 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 Cambridgeshire County Council (shown on the bottom part of the page) .
You will then be required to enter your Vehicle Registration Number, the reference number from the “Notice of Rejection” letter from the Cambridgeshire County Council, and your PCN number for which the appeal was rejected.
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.
Scanned copies of evidence to strengthen your case such as a pay and display ticket or photographs of the scene can be added along with your explanation. The explanation of your case should be well-worded and convince the tribunal of an error on the part of the Cambridgeshire County Council in adjudicating your case.
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 Cambridgeshire County Council.
You will be able to contact the Traffic Penalty Tribunal adjudicator during the registration of your appeal. The result of your appeal will be communicated to you within 14-28 days of submission. If the adjudicator decides the case in your favour, the PCN will be cancelled by the Cambridgeshire County Council.
Conclusion
This blog post addressed the question “How Can I Challenge A Wisbech PCN?” You must make a deliberate effort to collect and preserve evidence relating to your road journeys and parking zone visits in Wisbech Town Council. The best forms of evidence to prove your case (for any kind of PCN) include video footage, high-definition photographs or authentic medical certificates to justify your health related mitigating circumstances