Stockwell Terrace: the missing map-based schedule left the restriction unproved (2026)

Case 2250437205 / 2025-12-31 / Adjudicator Chez Cotton

Stockwell Terrace

“The appeal is allowed based on no case to answer.”

Chez Cotton

The motorist disputed the signs and asked about a restriction on a previously familiar route. Lambeth supplied a traffic management order which referred to a map-based schedule, but did not identify the schedule relevant to the allegation. An enlarged image was illegible, and the evidence did not explain another sign close to the restriction sign.

Chez Cotton found that the authority had not established the existence and terms of the restriction sufficiently to resolve those issues. The adjudicator was not required to investigate a general council website to find the missing map-based schedule, and neither was the appellant. The appeal was allowed on 31 December 2025.

The lesson is to identify the precise evidential gap: the road, extent, operating terms or exception that cannot be established from the supplied order and maps. This was not a finding that every map-based order is defective or that a familiar route may always be used. A complete, legible pack could lead to a different result.

Source and case reference

Use case reference 2250437205 in the London Tribunals register to find the official decision. This commentary distinguishes the adjudicator's finding from a possible argument in a different case; previous tribunal decisions do not bind another adjudicator.