Seen on another forum and I thought it worth sharing here.
I received a PCN at 8.37am in Berkely Square, having parked my scooter at 8.30am and paid via the internet at 8.42am, once I got into the office and had logged on. My first challenge was rejected (my first challenge was based on the fact that I had actually paid the daily charge, even though it was a few minutes late), but i challenged again and was successful, after I argued that I couldn’t get through to their phone payment system. This argument was true - their phone system is often jammed at that time in the morning, and they admitted this in their letter back to me. Other users of this forum may want to use this successful argument in their PCN challenges. It also made me think that this parking charge is discriminatory against those who do not have a mobile phone, for whatever reason (I often forget mine). Why should we subject to a fine given between parking our bikes and getting to a phone or the internet??
Westminster spokespeople have said there should be a 5 minute grace period at least between parking and walking away from the bike and a ticket being issued to allow you time to pay. In practice this doesn’t happen but you can successfully use it to challenge the PCN.
Just Say No To The Westminster Parking Tax.
http://www.notobikeparkingfees.com
BTW. There’s no sign of additional security so we’re paying the tax for nothing. And since M/C PCNs in Westminster have jumped from 300 a week to 1500 a week (think about it. 12005240 per year), the real revenue is from the tax income generated by the PCNs.