Appeal Hounslow Penalty Charge Notice for FREE

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How to Appeal Hounslow Penalty Charge Notice

This guide provides you with free advice on how to challenge your Hounslow penalty charge notice.

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Read this guide to understand key appeal points and tips.

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Why Did Hounslow Issue a Penalty Charge Notice

Hounslow is a local council who have a responsibility to manage street parking, keep traffic flowing and ensure pedestrians are safe when using public highways. They also run Hounslow managed car parks.

They issue a penalty charge notice, also referred to as a parking fine for:

Breaking traffic rules
Not observing parking restrictions
Not parking correctly in a Hounslow run car park

When you receive a Hounslow penalty charge notice, you have the option to pay or appeal it. You have nothing to lose by appealing a penalty charge because if the appeal is rejected, the discount will often be re-offered. You can contact Hounslow on twitter @LBofHounslow to ask any questions or get instant advice.

Types of Hounslow Penalty Charge Notice

There are four types of penalty charge that Hounslow can issue to a motorist. Each type of penalty charge has specific rules and guidelines that the Hounslow must follow. If the rules are not followed, you can challenge this and get the penalty charge notice cancelled.

Bus Lane
Windscreen
Moving Traffic
Off-Street Car Park

Appealing a penalty charge using our app requires a no prior understanding of the rules because you will be guided through the options. We wanted to make this process easier than ever because most people are too busy to read the laws, so all you need to do is follow the steps in our penalty charge appeal letter app.

If you don’t find a defence, don’t worry, we are still updating our app and it will eventually cover all bases.

All you have to do is put the right contravention code and our app will show you the best defence in each scenario.

Did Hounslow Issue Your Penalty Charge Notice Correctly

The following is a simple checklist to see if your penalty charge notice was issued correctly.

In all scenarios, you have to remember that Hounslow have to prove that the contravention occurred. If there is no evidence of contravention, then you should challenge them and ask them to prove a contravention occurred.

All the points below are included in our appeal letter app and all you have to do is choose the options which apply to your specific case in our app.

Hounslow Windscreen PCN

- Was the PCN placed on the vehicle and do the photos prove this?
- Did you receive multiple penalty charge notices for the same offence?
- Does the signage support the penalty charge notice?
- Were you loading and unloading?
- Was the notice to owner issued after 6 months?

Hounslow Moving Traffic PCN

- Was the PCN issued within 28 days?
- Does the penalty charge notice have the correct contravention code?
- Have you received multiple PCN’s during a short period of time

Hounslow Bus Lane PCN

- Was the bus lane signage clear?
- Did you drive in the bus lane for less than 20 metres?
- Were you entering a bus lane to access a building?
- Did you have to drop or pick up a passenger in a bus lane?
- Did you just turn into a bus lane and there was no sign?

We have reviewed over 360,000 cases from London Tribunal adjudicators, and evidence has shown these reasons are valid for getting a penalty charge cancelled and if you include them in your appeal, you have a high chance of your PCN being cancelled.

How to Write Your Penalty Charge Appeal Letter

You should write your PCN when you are relaxed, calm and can think straight. Often people underestimate that appealing a penalty charge notice is a legal process and the council have trained staff who are there to respond to challenges professionally.

The easiest way to beat your parking fine is to simply use the Parking Mate UK app to write your appeal letter since it will guide you through the process and provide the best defences to select from. Our app walks through the following:

When to Appeal Your Hounslow Penalty Charge

You have 28 days to pay or appeal your penalty charge notice. Anytime you receive correspondence from Hounslow, you usually have 28 days to respond, however you should aim to respond within 14 days.

A 2019 report from London Councils showed that less than 1% of penalty charges were appealed, which was 36,000 from 5.9million tickets.

This means 99% of penalty charges are not challenged. If more people challenge penalty charges, it will result in more appeals timing out, councils not being able to contest every case at the London Tribunal and therefore more appeals being won.

If you appeal outside the discount period, the full amount is due, and in this case, you should take the case through the full enforcement process.

If after writing a free penalty charge appeal letter you find that you have some legal defences or any of the following scenarios apply, you should definitely appeal your Hounslow penalty charge notice throughout the full process including the tribunal.

· Hounslow did not leave a penalty charge notice on your windscreen

· The postal penalty charge notice from Hounslow came after 28 days

· Hounslow sent your notice to owner after 6 months

· Any documents went to your old address

· Our appeal letter app shows that you have a legal defence

· If you have proof that a contravention did not occur

When to Pay Your Hounslow Penalty Charge

Our general advice is that even if you do not have a genuine reason to contest a penalty charge and it was issued correctly, you still appeal the first penalty charge anyway and if the council refuse to allow the appeal and cancel the penalty charge, they will offer you the discount and you have nothing to lose.

If you have no genuine defence, you should pay the penalty charge notice when Hounslow reject your first appeal and re-offer your discount.

You should always send an appeal at least once since you have nothing to lose.

How to Appeal Hounslow Temporary Covid Restrictions

If Hounslow have put temporary restrictions using cameras or bollards, you can challenge them if you were not informed in advance or the road does have any warnings before you reach the restriction.

These restrictions are often introduced to reduce rat-running (drivers taking shortcuts) on residential streets and to promote social distancing, so you may find that your normal route has “road closed” signs or “parking suspended” signs.

Please read this article which goes in detail on rat running from the RAC which covers What is rat-running and should cut-through traffic be illegal?

In all cases, inspect the signs carefully because if they are not clear or if the restrictions were installed overnight or it’s your first offence, Hounslow may be able to cancel the penalty charge.

If Hounslow have introduced a temporary restriction on a road called Westminster Road, use google to search their site for the traffic management order, the google query would look something like this: site:*.westminster.gov.uk “Westminster road TMO” you can also add a space and “filetype: pdf” if you want to restrict answers to pdf documents only.

Once you find the documents, simply read through to identify anything you can use in your appeal.

How to Send Your Hounslow Appeal

Dealing with Hounslow at London Tribunal

Appeals which go to London Tribunal will be reviewed by an independent adjudicator.

If you only rely on mitigating reasons, your appeal will almost always fail.

The adjudicators can only allow an appeal if they find that the council has not followed the rules or has made an administrative error.

You should provide as much evidence as possible when sending your appeal to London Tribunal because Hounslow have to prove that the contravention occurred and they will submit a detailed case file in most cases.

Finding Supporting cases At London Tribunal

Since all councils in the UK follow the same laws, you can use a supporting case from London Tribunals to improve your chance of winning your appeal. London Tribunals publish all successful appeals, therefore, if you have a similar scenario, you can use the law mentioned to get your penalty charge cancelled with Hounslow. To find similar cases, simply follow the steps below.

You can see the key cases here

Finding cases at London Tribunal:

Go to https://londontribunals.org.uk/
Select Statutory Registers
Select search under Environment and Traffic Adjudicators
Enter the following:
- Enforcing authority as Hounslow
- Enter desired dates
- Outcome as Appeal allowed

You will then be presented with a list of all successful appeal cases which you can review and find one that matches your case. Simply copy the “case reference number” and “adapt the text from the decision” to include in your appeal letter.

Common ways to win London Tribunal appeals against Hounslow

If Hounslow does not include a penalty charge notice in their case file, it means they will not prove the contravention occurred and therefore the appeal will be allowed
If Hounslow send you a charge certificate while your case is with the London Tribunal, you should update your appeal at London Tribunal and upload a copy of the charge certificate, it means the authority has sent a demand for payment which they are not allowed to demand and enforcement is unlawful.
If Hounslow don’t upload a case file on time, then the appeal will be allowed
If Hounslow responded to your formal appeal after 56 days, you should highlight this to London Tribunal because Hounslow are deemed to have accepted the representation and the appeal will be allowed.
Finally, the assessor will only check the facts you state, they are not obliged to highlight any error made by the council if you don’t highlight it.

How to Send Your Appeal to London Tribunal

How to complain about unfair penalty charge enforcement

If you have lost an appeal and you feel that Hounslow haven’t dealt with it properly, you can use the complaint process to get things right. The complaint process works in 3 stages.

Stage 1 complaint – This complaint is sent to Hounslow via the complaint process detailed on their website. If you are not satisfied with the response, the case can be escalated.

Stage 2 complaint – This complaint is sent to a very senior representative within {{mpg_partner_name}}, usually the CEO, this is the final chance for the council to get things right.

Stage 3 complaint – The final stage requires escalating the complaint to The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman. The purpose of the ombudsman is clearly stated on their home page which says:

“We look at individual complaints about councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing local public services. We are a free service. We investigate complaints in a fair and independent way – we do not take sides.”

Please note that your complaint cannot be about why you believe the PCN wasn’t issued correctly, your complaint must be if the process of managing the penalty charge notice was not correct.

Frequently Asked Questions

01. Can I Ignore {{Mpg_partner_name}} Ticket?

The simple answer is no, if you ignore the penalty charge, the amount will keep increasing as enforcement escalates. A £65 penalty charge notice in London can easily become £513 if ignored and bailiffs are involved. Use our guide to see your options at every stage of the enforcement process

02. What if Hounslow reject my appeal ?

If Hounslow reject your appeal, you can submit the appeal to London Tribunal within 28 days. Once your appeal is submitted, the authority will have to submit their case within 28 days, if not, the appeal will be decided in your favour.

03. How to pay the Hounslow PCN

To pay your Hounslow ticket

Go to the council website
Enter your parking ticket details
Make your payment.

Once payment is made, the case will be closed.

04. My London Tribunal appeal has been rejected

London Tribunal consider your appeal based on evidence provided. Their decision is binding on you and the authority and the PCN must be paid after this.

05. Will bailiffs arrive on my door ?

Yes, Hounslow can instruct bailiffs to collect payment if you don’t deal with the penalty charge notice. Appeal now to avoid more costs later.