Can you give examples of avoidable mistakes people make which lead to them picking up PCNs?
Five examples of situations where people pick up PCNs which are easily avoided.
- Don’t park in a resident permit holder bay and then pay by phone to park or display a pay and display ticket (this is more common than you might think). Pay and display parking will always be indicated by signs either next to the bay, or within the row of bays where this type of parking is permitted (tip: if there are different signs near each other, pay attention to where the bay markings are in relation to the sign you are looking at, as it should be clear which sign applies to which bay or bays).
- Don’t forget to renew your resident’s parking permit on time. We understand that on occasion people forget, which is why we send email reminders about three weeks before the permit is due to expire, and we give you 14 days grace (starting the day after your permit expires) before we will issue a PCN. However, it remains the responsibility of the permit holder to ensure that they renew their permit on time (tip: we recommend you set a reminder in your diary to give yourself enough time to renew).
- Don’t assume that single yellow lines are not enforced on Sundays. Single yellow lines will either have their own time plate nearby advising the days and hours of enforcement, or if they are part of a Controlled Parking Zone (CPZ), the hours of enforcement will be shown on the large entry boards. Some CPZs within the borough operate on Sundays, as do some of the individually signed yellow lines, so be careful when parking to check which type of line you are stopping on.
- Don’t park with part of the vehicle outside of the bay markings or over two bays. When you park always check that your vehicle is wholly within the bay markings and not over two bays or slightly outside of them (tip: look for white t markings on the carriageway which we use to separate bays).
- Don’t park in the same spot where you have previously incurred a PCN. Common sense says that if you do this you risk incurring more, so you are advised to avoid parking in the same spot until you understand why the PCN was issued, or you are prepared to pay them if you are wrong.
