- Southwark Council has raised more than £2.6m over five years by issuing PCNs
- However, an error in the wording means that all tickets are “legally void”
Demands are growing for a Labor council to refund millions of pounds to motorists after “incompetent staff” left the mistake of “unfair” fines.
Southwark Council has raised more than £2.6m over five years by handing out 43,300 fines to motorists who stray into bus lanes in its borough.
However, it has now emerged that an error in the wording of the Penalty Notice (PCN) means all tickets issued are “legally void”.
Phillip Morgan, who discovered the incorrect wording, said motorists were a “soft target” for councils looking to raise money.
He said: “I am deeply concerned about the incompetence of staff employed by London council parking departments.
“Their failings range from an inability to copy and paste statutory information to an inability to fairly and properly assess the statements and appeals of motorists who are to me soft targets used to generate revenue.”
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The law states that the 28-day period for contesting a PCN should start on the “date of notification” of the fine.
However, the council incorrectly stated on its tickets that the one-month period for legal objections began “from the date of service of the penalty notice”.
In one decision on an appeal against a £130 fine, the judge said: “The fine notice is not in accordance with the statutory provisions. This constitutes a procedural impropriety, and therefore I allow the appeal.’
Southwark Council said: “Southwark Council issues fine notices for motoring offenses in the interests of public safety for all road users. They are issued within a legal and statutory framework that includes the right of appeal. The revenue raised from penalty notice fines goes towards road upgrades and projects to help make streets safer and more accessible.
“In February 2024, we updated the wording of our PCNs to fully comply with the requirements of the London Local Authorities Act 1996, reducing the time drivers have to consider or pay a fine. Our original wording provided that drivers had notice from the time they received it, not from when it was sent, which gave them more time to process.”
“We have no plans to cancel PCNs that have not been successfully appealed through the statutory parking appeals process.”
Laws passed in May 2022 allowed local councils to apply for special powers, previously only held by the police, to fine drivers for “traffic offences”.
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Since then, 85 of England’s 152 road authorities have been able to enforce fines of up to £70 for entering yellow boxes, making illegal turns or driving in bus lanes.
The AA also suggested that “cash-strapped councils” would use it as a “new revenue stream”.
Jack Cousens, head of road policy at the AA, said: “Allowing local authorities to fine drivers for yellow box offenses has undoubtedly opened up a new source of income for cash-strapped councils. Some drivers may feel this is another example of being used as a wallet on wheels.”
He added: “The vast majority of drivers don’t break the rules deliberately, which is why we’ve always argued that first offenders should receive a warning letter and that a ‘penalty cap’ should be put in place to force councils to investigate and improve systems that make huge sums of money.”
In 2022, MailOnline tracked down Britain’s worst bus lane – in Clapham Park Road, Lambeth, south London – which made £2m in just one year.
At one stage it averaged £5,300 a day as drivers mistakenly turned left into the bus lane near Clapham Common.