How Can I Challenge An Ashford Stour PCN?
This blog serves to answer the question “How Can I Challenge An Ashford Stour PCN?” You can challenge an Ashford Stour PCN by simply converting your memory of the traffic violation scene into a case to argue that your PCN should be cancelled. This argument has to be backed by specific items of evidence such as a video clip or any other material object which shows your version of events to be true.
How Can I Challenge An Ashford Stour PCN?
You can challenge an Ashford Stour PCN by filling in the online formal representation form on the Ashford Stour Borough Council website or by writing a letter addressed to Ashford Stour Borough Council.
The approach of your PCN challenge will depend on the kind of PCN challenge you are making. For a parking PCN you will need to have evidence about your parking permit, the time you spent in the parking lot and a good knowledge of where you can legally park your vehicle. For a Bus Lane PCN you will require a video clip that actually shows your vehicle avoiding the restricted street or bus lane. This video clip will form the basis of your argument that the Bus Lane traffic violation never happened.
Similarly moving traffic PCNs also require motion pictures or videos to prove your case to the council, as the clip will show that your vehicle didn’t make the banned turn or enter the wrong lane (which the evidence from your council shows you did). This video clip is in itself your entire case in a nutshell.
By watching the video clip of your vehicle moving in a legally specified manner and not breaching any contravention codes, the council should be able to clearly understand that you did not commit the traffic violation.
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 14 days after receiving your charge certificate.
What is the procedure for appealing against an Ashford Stour PCN?
You can submit a formal representation to your Ashford Stour PCN by writing a letter addressed to the Ashford Stour Borough Council or by filling in the online formal representation form on the Ashford Stour Borough Council’s official website.
You need to brainstorm reasons for challenging an Ashford Stour 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 Ashford Stour Borough Council. You need to visit the Ashford Stour Borough Council website to submit a formal representation to your Ashford Stour 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 Ashford Stour Borough 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 Ashford Stour 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 Ashford Stour Borough 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 Ashford Stour PCN challenge is by mail. You can write a formal representation to the Ashford Stour Borough 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 Ashford Stour 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:
Kings Hill,
Gibson Building,,
Gibson Drive,
Kings Hill,
West Malling,
Kent,
ME 19 4LZ
The Ashford Stour Borough 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 much is the PCN fine for each of the 3 kinds of PCNs served in the Ashford Stour Borough Council?
A Parking PCN in the Ashford Stour Borough 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- 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 Ashford Stour Borough 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 Ashford Stour 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 Ashford Stour Borough Council. As per your driving license rules, you are bound to abide by Parking, Bus Lane, and Moving Traffic contravention codes in the Ashford Stour Borough Council.
If you neither pay your Ashford Stour 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 Ashford Stour Borough 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 An Ashford Stour PCN with the Traffic Penalty Tribunal if the Ashford Stour Borough Council dismisses my appeal?
Yes, you can dispute the decision of the Ashford Stour Borough 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 Ashford Stour Borough 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 Ashford Stour Borough 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 Ashford Stour Borough 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 Ashford Stour Borough Council.
Conclusion
This blog post addressed the question “How Can I Challenge An Ashford Stour PCN?” You need to gather evidence diligently to end up with something to support your PCN challenge, for which you might need to focus on a camera more than you do on the road (while driving). The main focus of your PCN challenge argument should not be on some kind of aesthetic problem which forced you to move or park your vehicle in an illegal direction (or position) but instead be on proving how the traffic violation never occurred.