PCN appeals upheld and overturned

The request was refused by Sefton Borough Council.

Dear Sefton Borough Council,

Under the freedom of information act I would like to request details of the reasons for all PCN appeals for the past 5 years both overturned and upheld.

I look forward to hearing your response within the next 20 days

Yours faithfully,

Tom Douglas

Information, Sefton Borough Council

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Dave Marrin, Sefton Borough Council

Dear Mr Douglas

Thank you for your Freedom of Information (FOI) request that we received on the 5th May.

I can confirm that we are unable to supply the information you have requested.

If I could explain a little. When a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) is issued the details are downloaded into the parking management system using the information that is collected on the handheld device used by the by the Civil Enforcement Officer who issues the PCN. This will include details such as registration number, make and colour of the vehicle, location, date and time of contravention and the code and description of the contravention.

Any challenges subsequently received are scanned and saved to the case. Whilst the system then allows us to search to see if any challenge has been made against the PCN the detail of the challenge can only be obtained by an officer looking at each individual case and reading the letter of challenge to see what it actually says. A response is sent to each challenge and this is also saved to the case. If the case is cancelled then this is recorded and a search can be made for cases which have been cancelled. However, the search will not tell us the exact reason for the cancellation. Again, this information can only be obtained by looking at the detailed correspondence of the challenge and our reply within each case detail. Challenges / appeals could be made on a number of grounds.

Our records indicate that over the 5 year period from 1.4.10 to 31.3.15, 47,805 PCN's were issued which then subsequently had an appeal logged against them at some stage. I estimate that it would take a minimum of at least 5 minutes to look at each case to ascertain the reason for the appeal and to look at the 47,805 PCN’s would therefore approximately 4000 hours. Consequently, the cost of locating and retrieving the information would exceed the “appropriate limit” as stated in the Freedom of Information ( Fees and Appropriate Limit ) Regulations 2004.

If you would like to discuss modifying your request so that it falls within the “appropriate limit” then please do not hesitate to contact me.

The Freedom of Information Act asks that public authorities must provide applicants with particulars of how they may complain about the handling of their request for information should they wish to.

Any such complaint should be directed to [Sefton Borough Council request email] or the Data & Information Management, Governance and Security Officer, 7th Floor, Merton House, Stanley Road, Bootle, L20 3UU.

You may choose to request a review of the decision taken and if dissatisfied following the authority's review, you are entitled under section 17 (7) (b) of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision notice.

Further information can be found at:-

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Yours sincerely
Dave Marrin
Manager - Highways Management
Sefton Council
Investment Programmes & Infrastructure Division
Magdalen House
30 Trinity Road
Bootle
L20 3NJ
0151 934 4295
[email address]

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