How Can I Challenge A Yeadon PCN?
This blog serves to answer the question “How Can I Challenge A Yeadon PCN? Evidence that has to be used with your Yeadon PCN challenge needs to be proactively collected by maintaining a separate folder on your computer which contains scanned copies of your paid parking permits, video footage of your vehicle’s journeys in Leeds City Council, and other documents demonstrating your authentic mitigating circumstances. Mitigating circumstances are the unforeseeable reasons which prevented you from driving your vehicle normally.
How Can I Challenge A Yeadon PCN?
The Otley and Yeadon ward forms part of the Leeds City Council which is the administrative division responsible for enforcing Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic contraventions in the Otley and Yeadon ward. The CCTV cameras and Civil Enforcement Officers of the Leeds City Council observe the parking zones, streets, and roads of Otley and Yeadon ward for catching any breach of contravention codes enforced in the council.
You must gather evidence relating to your traffic contravention before writing down your PCN challenge as the text of your formal representation needs to be based on these documents or objects which prove your mitigating circumstances or show that the restriction was never breached by you. Usually photographs and video footage are the best forms of evidence to show that a traffic violation never happened as they can clearly show your point of view put forward in the PCN challenge.
A formal representation to your Penalty Charge Notice can be composed on the Leeds City Council website or by writing down the contents of your appeal on the reverse of your Notice to Owner documents and mailing it to the Leeds City Council address. As you cannot send video clips by mail, you have to take snapshots from a video of the traffic violation scene by using a video player and printing these out to send with your PCN challenge. They serve the same purpose as the video clip and should preferably be filmed in high definition.
You need to be well aware of Parking, Bus Lane and Moving Traffic contravention codes enforced in Leeds City Council are make an active attempt to avoid breaching these restrictions while driving around in your vehicle. This will ensure that when you do receive a PCN, it will be easily contestable by using mitigating circumstances or by showing 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. 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.
What is the procedure for appealing against a Yeadon PCN?
You can submit a formal representation to your Yeadon PCN by writing a letter addressed to the Leeds City Council or by filling in the online formal representation form on the Leeds City council’s official website.
You need to brainstorm reasons for challenging a Yeadon 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 Leeds City Council. You need to visit the Leeds City Council website to submit a formal representation to your Yeadon PCN. You have to open this webpage to enter your PCN number and your Vehicle Registration Number. You need to click on “Search” 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 Leeds City 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 Yeadon 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 Leeds City 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 Yeadon PCN challenge is by mail. You can write a formal representation to the Leeds City 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 Yeadon 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 Services,
PO Box 139,,
Leeds,
LS9 1AA
The Leeds City Council 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 Traffic Penalty Tribunal.
How Can I Pay My “Yeadon PCN”?
You can pay your Yeadon PCN on the Leeds City Council’s online payments page, by sending a check or postal order to Leeds City Council, through online banking services or by calling on the Leeds City Council’s automated payments hotline.
If you prefer to make your PCN fine payment online, you can visit the Leeds City Council website. After opening this webpage you can enter your PCN number and vehicle registration number, and click on “Search” to view CCTV evidence relating to your case before paying your PCN
For paying your PCN you will be asked for your payment card details. The Leeds City Council accepts Mastercard, Visa Card, Maestro Card and Visa Electron card for PCN fine payments. Diners card and American Express card are not accepted for making PCN payments. Once you have entered the credit or debit card information you can proceed to paying your fine. It must be noted that paying your Yeadon PCN eliminates any possibility for challenging the Penalty Charge Notice.
Your Yeadon PCN can also be paid by calling on the Leeds City Council’s telephone payments service. You have to dial 0300 456 0484, and enter your PCN number by using a * sign for the letters in the code. After this you will have to enter your payment card details. This automated payments service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You should wait to receive a confirmation code before ending your call.
You can also pay your Yeadon PCN by sending a check or postal order payable to “Leeds City Council”. You also need to attach the payment slip in your “Notice To Owner” document to this payment. The check or postal order should have your PCN number and Vehicle Registration Number written on the back. This payment needs to be sent to:
Parking Services,
PO Box 139,
Leeds,
LS9 1AA
How much is the PCN fine for each of the 3 kinds of PCNs served in the Otley and Yeadon ward?
A Parking PCN in the Otley and Yeadon ward 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 the Otley and Yeadon ward, 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 Yeadon 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 Otley and Yeadon ward. As per your driving license rules, you are bound to abide by Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic contravention codes in the Leeds City Council.
If you neither pay your Yeadon 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 Leeds City 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 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 Yeadon PCN with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal if the Leeds City Council dismisses my appeal?
Yes, you can dispute the decision of the Leeds City 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 Leeds City 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 Leeds City 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 Leeds City 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 Leeds City Council.
Conclusion
This blog post addressed the question “How Can I Challenge A Yeadon PCN?” It is essential for you to understand that a challenge to your Yeadon PCN is incomplete without authentic evidence material to justify your point of view, any such representation will be rejected by the council. But you should not be disheartened if a well-formulated appeal is rejected by the Leeds City Council as you can dispute the “Notice of Rejection” at the Traffic Penalty Tribunal by creating another appeal.