In a London borough, drivers who appealed against penalty notices achieved success in every case for over a year, as discovered by the BBC. From July 2022 to September this year,
Greenwich Council did not contest a single appeal, consistently citing "no evidence" as the reason.
When no evidence is presented by the council, adjudicators are required to quash the penalty charge issued to the driver. The council attributed its inability to provide evidence during that period to staff shortages.
The revelation came to light after the BBC's Vince Rogers successfully challenged his own penalty charge.
Despite these findings, Greenwich Council has since addressed its staffing shortage, and starting this month, it has resumed submitting evidence to the tribunal service responsible for handling appeals.
In contrast, across other London borough councils, Transport for London (TfL), and London Councils, a collective borough representative organization, 48% of appeals are successful. Over the past year, they have successfully defended themselves against 17,188 appeals out of the 33,153 administered by London Tribunals.
Vince Rogers came across Greenwich Council's 0% success rate after receiving a £130 penalty charge notice in June for driving in a bus lane in Kidbrooke. Rogers believed he was not in the wrong, as he had been following his sat-nav's directions to turn left. However, he was surprised to encounter a bus lane sign under the bus in front of him, which disappeared under his front wheels before he could react.
Upon revisiting the location, Rogers discovered that the bus lane was undotted and lacked the necessary advance warning lettering on the road, which is typically required to indicate the start of a bus lane.
Curious about whether others had appealed similar cases regarding the bus lane, Rogers searched the London Tribunals website. It was at this point that he learned not only had others successfully appealed against the bus lane penalties, but also that Greenwich Council had not contested any appeals since July 28, 2022.
Despite saving £130, Rogers felt somewhat disappointed that he didn't have the opportunity to contest his penalty notice in court to demonstrate its unfairness. He also speculated that there must be other traffic violators in Greenwich who have escaped penalties.
A spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Greenwich explained, "It is correct to say that for a period, due to staff shortage, we were unable to compile and submit evidence packs to the tribunal service in the required timeframe." The council has since resolved this issue by recruiting additional staff to handle tribunal appeals. They confirmed, "We now have two officers working full time on tribunal appeals and have contested every appeal received in October." Photo by Kleon3, Wikimedia commons.