Forum Topic

PCN Hartington Rd

My wife got a PCN today from those nice people at LBH for 'failing to comply with a prohibition on certain types of vehicles (motor vehicles)' at Hartington Rd jt. Chiswick Quay on April 29th'. We live in the CS CPZ and she travels most days up/down this road. Both our vehicles are registered for exemption with LBH and this is the first ticket we've received. Can anyone throw any light on this?We'll write to LBH sending a copy of the email confirmation of exemption but it's a mystery why we received a PCN..

Jim Brown ● 1999d18 Comments

Send them an invoice for a £50 administration charge for your wasted time in dealing with this.

Bruce Hammal ● 1999d

Thanks Bruce, great idea!

Jim Brown ● 1999d

I can't put my handon the reason, I think Cllr Sam Hearn posted it on here.  Several peole have had these incorrect PCN who are on the Council's "White List".  Apparently LBH "white list" is a different system which is not compatable  with the system the company issuing the tickets uses!  LBH technical abilities are woefully inadequate.  That is the first thing they should have sorted out BEFORE they embarked on these LTN diversions!    Who are the maniacs continuing to vote these unskilled, inadequate people into power???

Jennifer selig ● 1999d

"Who are the maniacs continuing to vote these unskilled, inadequate people into power???"Not me, that's for sure. Absolute shower, the lot of them.

Jim Brown ● 1999d

I have a vision of some dank dungeon in Hounslow Towers where some poor snivelling clerk toils Bob Cratchit-style checking the day's observed registration numbers against the legendary "white list" and missing the odd one when hunger gets the better of him. If it's not human error then what? Mistakes do indeed seem to be happening - maybe the Council are using some second-hand software by Fujitsu that they got cheap from the Post Office.

Bruce Hammal ● 1999d

Think there control room is a refurbished car park under a block of flats on the Haverfield estate

Bernard Allen ● 1999d

Pretty similar then!

Bruce Hammal ● 1999d

Here was Cllr.Sam Hearn's message posted on here:-" there is unfortunately no automatic link between the White List and Serco (who administer the PCNs). A human being at the Council has to enter the data from the white list into the Serco system. It is therefore possible to be on the White List but not on the Serco system. Its called "timing differences" or "human error" - take your pick.The ward councillors patiently explained on several occasions to traffic officers that they should not be introducing such a "noddy" admin intensive scheme. What was needed was a tried and tested system that worked with the minimum of manual intervention. On Thames Road / SOG they have gone for a system that does not require a White List or manual intervention. Unfortunately it is likely to be legally unenforceable when the ANPR cameras are finally installed.But hey ho the traffic officers had their marching orders and could not deviate.

Jennifer selig ● 1999d

Well, there you go. Perhaps hitting them with an admin charge when they screw up isn't such a daft idea, it might at least keep Bob Cratchit on his toes if it came out of his wages.

Bruce Hammal ● 1999d

"It is therefore possible to be on the White List but not on the Serco system."That seems unlikely in this case, as Jim said his wife travels most days up/down this road.  Maybe there's a manual check at Serco that went wrong.It reminds me of problems with the TfL Congestion Charge system which in 2019 falsely logged my car as being within the CC area while it was actually parked in Chiswick, on 8 separate occasions.

Richard Jennings ● 1999d

I also had a  run-in over the Congestion Charge the first time I used it. I paid online but some days later received a PCN. It turned out that  while I could speak to someone to pay the fine, it wasn't possible to have the ticket cancelled by giving that person the reference number for my online payment. I had to write to somewhere in Coventry pleading my case in order  to have the ticket cancelled. To add insult I had to pay for a stamp! While the penalty was cancelled there was never so much as a word of apology. I vowed at the time that if this ever happened again I would send them a bill for the stamp, my trouble and the work caused to the company from whom I leased the car. So far the occasion hasn't arisen but it would be interesting to see what would happen.

Bruce Hammal ● 1999d

I believe that if you appeal a PCN with an adjudicator and they subsequently come down on your side and agree that the council (or TfL) were being vexatious, then the adjudicator can award costs. Doesn't happen very often.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2007/3482/schedule/made

Andrew Jones ● 1999d

It might be useful if the adjudicator's remit extended to compensating victims of administrative incompetence! If the system Hounslow are operating for Hartington Road is as crude as it appears then frankly it isn't fit for purpose.

Bruce Hammal ● 1999d

Whilst this does not relate to a PCN on Hartington Road.    I do believe that LBH make these changes before ever really studying the impact on area.  My view for what its worth, the traffic lights actually require re-setting at the moment possibly 3 cars can go through (either side) and then there is the problem with cars coming from Dukes Meadow who cannot go straight across but have to turn R or L which causes real problems.

Janice White ● 1999d

Thanks all for your replies. I emailed Serco and wrote separately to LBH to the postal address given on the PCN (located in Sheffield!!) enclosing a copy of the LBH email confirmation of the exemption of our vehicles and will advise once I receive a reply.

Jim Brown ● 1999d

So a week after getting the first PCN for driving up Hartington Road, a second PCN has arrived for my wife's vehicle. We have email confirmation dated 6th October 2020 from LTN/LBH that both our vehicles are indeed registered on the exemption list for this ludicrous LTN scheme. We've both been driving happily up the road since and all of a sudden two PCNs. Totally weird and we've obviously appealed both. Has this happened to anyone else? Seems like the camera is losing the plot or someone at LBH/Serco is....

Jim Brown ● 1992d

Jim, as previously discussed, keep a record of the time you have to waste on this because of administrative incompetence and send them  a bill.Might I suggest a charge of £130 reduced to £65 for prompt payment?Possibly the poor serf manually checking the list is just overwhelmed. I happened to be walking along Hartington Rd at about 5.45 yesterday evening and there was a steady stream of cars northbound. Very few of them had Hounslow CPZ permits in their windscreen so unless they all park off-road in CS or RV a significant number must be getting tickets every day. Maybe the council will spend the money on buying  a monitoring system that's fit for purpose.

Bruce Hammal ● 1992d

Thanks Bruce, I appreciate the comments. We live in CS and don't have permits as we have off street parking. It's very frustrating having to waste time batting back PCN charges which are clearly not valid. I'm sure this LTN stealth revenue scheme is raising a fortune for our beloved council...

Jim Brown ● 1992d