Research by the AA has revealed that authorities in London have been issuing drivers with invalid penalty charge notices (PCNs).
A review of appeals taken to the London Tribunals in the three weeks up to 4 January found that at least 12 authorities had wrongly fined drivers, with 17 appeals upheld.
The authorities were Lambeth, Croydon, Harrow, Redbridge, Greenwich, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Newham, Westminster, and Havering councils, the City of London Corporation, and Transport for London.
Traffic adjudicators ordered that fines were cancelled for a range of reasons, including because authorities could not prove that the traffic management order (TMO) had not expired or that an enforcement camera had been installed legally.
In two instances, the supposed contravention was found not to have occurred at all, and in several cases drivers were fined when the signage to inform them of a restriction was inadequate.
One driver was issued with two fines for entering two restricted access areas – but she pointed out that once she realised she had driven into one, there was no way of leaving it without entering the other.
In another case, a woman was assured by a council employee that her resident permit enabled her to enter restricted school zones – but the council later fined her for doing so.
A London Councils spokesperson said: ‘We encourage any motorist who does not believe that the PCN should have been issued to make representations to the relevant local authority, and then appeal any rejected decision with London Tribunals.’
Overall, 56% of appeals made against bus lane penalties in London last year were either upheld or not contested. The figure was 35% for moving traffic offences.
Luke Bosdet, from the AA's motoring policy unit, said the Department for Transport (DfT) needed to review the ‘lack of accountability’ for councils’ road traffic enforcement.
The DfT said councils must ensure that TMOs were up to date, and that it would be ‘sharing proposals to modernise this process’ and make it more efficient.
