Greenwich Council: Drivers succeed in every penalty charge notice appeal

The BBC's Vince Rogers discovered Greenwich Council had not contested any appeals when he investigated his own penalty charge notice

Drivers appealing against penalty notices in a London borough were successful every time for more than a year, the BBC has found.

Figures showed that, from July 2022 to September this year, Greenwich Council did not contest a single appeal - citing "no evidence" in every instance.

In such circumstance, the adjudicator must quash the driver's penalty charge.

Greenwich Council said it had not been able to supply any evidence during that period because of staff shortages.

The figures emerged after I successfully challenged their penalty charge.

• London council owed £2.6m in unpaid parking fines

However, the council said it had now addressed the shortage and has this month resumed submitting evidence to the tribunal service that handles appeals.

Across the other London borough councils, Transport for London (TfL) and the collective borough representative organisation London Councils, 48% of appeals are successful.

Between them, they have successfully defended themselves over the past year against 17,188 appeals out of 33,153 that were administered by London Tribunals

Penalty charge notices are issued for parking offences, breaking traffic rules and low-emissions violations

I uncovered Greenwich Council's 0% success rate after I received a penalty charge notice of £130 in June, for driving in a bus lane in Kidbrooke.

I was sure I was not in the wrong.

Unfamiliar with the area, I had been preparing to turn left as directed by my sat-nav. But I was then horrified to see the words "bus lane" suddenly appear from under the bus in front of me and then disappear under my front wheels before I could take evasive action.

I later went back to the bus lane to find it was undotted and had no advance warning lettering on the road - a requirement to indicate the beginning of a bus lane.

The site in question had no dotted line indicating an upcoming bus lane

Curious as to whether others had made an appeal about this same lane, I decided to look it up on the London Tribunals website.

It was at this point I learned that not only had others made appeals over the bus lane and won, Greenwich Council had not contested any appeal of any kind since 28 July 2022.

Despite saving £130, I felt oddly disappointed that I did not get my day in court to show that my penalty notice was unfair. And there must be others who are guilty of traffic infractions in Greenwich who have got off scot-free.

A spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Greenwich said: "It is correct to say that for a period, due to staff shortage, we were unable to compile and submit evidence packs to the tribunal service in the required timeframe."

The south-east London council's spokesman said that a recent round of recruitment had resolved this issue, adding: "We can confirm we now have two officers working full time on tribunal appeals and have contested every appeal received in October."

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