Purpose of this post to give some idea of the changes to Parking Laws that become effective on 31st March 2008 and for those interested, a source of reference as to where the Law is contained and what is stated.
The Regulations only apply to England and whereas the old (current) applied to London and partly elsewhere, they all apply throughout the Country.
Instead of a single comprehensive documents dealing with all matters one has to go from one Statutory Instrument (SI) to another - six in total. So in a nutshell:
1. The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) General Regulations 2007
S.I. 2007 No. 3483
Dispensed with is the term ?Special Parking areas? under the old (current) law and instead the term ?Civil Enforcement Area?
Traffic Warden is renamed to a Civil Enforcement Officer who may serve a Penalty Charge Notice there and then
(a) by fixing it to the vehicle; or
(b) giving it to the person appearing to him to be in charge of the vehicle. (Reg 9)
BUT
10.?(1) An enforcement authority may serve a penalty charge notice by post where?
(a) on the basis of a record produced by an approved device, the authority has reason to believe that a penalty charge is payable with respect to a vehicle which is stationary in a civil enforcement area; (See later)
(b) a civil enforcement officer attempted to serve a penalty charge notice in accordance with regulation 9 but was prevented from doing so by some person;
Or
(and note this which effectively can close the door on the driveway loophole):
(c) a civil enforcement officer had begun to prepare a penalty charge notice for service in accordance with regulation 9, but the vehicle concerned was driven away from the place in which it was stationary before the civil enforcement officer had finished preparing the penalty charge notice or had served it in accordance with regulation 9,
BUT NOTE THIS
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c), a civil enforcement officer who observes conduct which appears to constitute a parking contravention shall not thereby be taken to have begun to prepare a penalty charge notice.
Part 3 deals with immobilisation of a vehicle
Part 4 deals with Adjudicators.
Part 5 deals with Enforcement of Penalty Charge Notices (PCN) and sets out what details a PCN should contain to be lawful.
Letters sent out must be First class Post. Notice to Owners invalid if not received within 6 months.
2. The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (England) Representations and Appeals Regulations 2007
SI 2007 No. 3482
These Regulations make provision entitling persons who are or may be liable to pay penalty charges in respect of parking contraventions, or who pay charges to secure the release of vehicles which have been immobilised or removed on account of such contraventions, to make representations to enforcement authorities regarding their liability for the charges and to appeal to an adjudicator if the representations are not accepted.
Register to be kept of Appeals.
3.The Removal and Disposal of Vehicles (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2007
SI 2007 No. 3484
?Power of civil enforcement officers to remove vehicles in a civil enforcement area for parking contraventions in England
(a)
in the case of a vehicle as respects which there are 3 or more penalty charges outstanding, 15 minutes;
(b)
in any other case 30 minutes.
However if the vehicle is deemed to be causing an obstruction then it can be forthwith removed under the Disposal of Vehicles Regs.
4. The Civil Enforcement Officers (Wearing of Uniforms)(England) Regulations 2007
SI 2007 No 3485
(3) Civil enforcement officers?
(a) when exercising specified functions must wear such uniform as may be determined by the enforcement authority in accordance with guidelines issued by the appropriate national authority, and
(b) must not exercise any of those functions when not in uniform.
Just what exactly ?uniform? consists of is not stated merely that ?Guidance? to be given to Local Authorities and they will set their own standards.
5.The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (Approved Devices) (England) Order 2007
SI 2007 No. 3486
Defines/use of ?Approved Devices? to detect offences (cameras/CCTV)
6. The Civil Enforcement of Parking Contraventions (Guidelines on Levels of Charges) (England) Order 2007
SI 2007 No. 3487
Charges in relation to PCN.
List and scale of payments for Higher and Lower level contraventions.
Enjoy.
DVD
Made sticky because of its enduring value as a post of reference.
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 12/01/2008 at 14:42
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