Waltham Forest Council forced to refund Penalty Charge Notices

This time because of an unlawful yellow box junction.

What is extraordinary in this instance is that the council asked the Department for Transport if the yellow box was lawful ...and they were told it wasn't ... AFTER they had issued £thousands of tickets. Full story here

The case has enormous implications.

Environment cabinet member Cllr Bob Belam said: "The council is carrying out a thorough investigation to find out why this happened and will be taking steps to ensure that a similar occurence does not happen again.
"As soon as we discovered this error the council instructed our parking contractor to stop issuing tickets incurred by motorists at this junction and have cancelled all outstanding tickets.
"If anyone feels they have been given a fixed penalty at this box junction in error they should contact our parking section and a full refund will be made."
Notices will be placed in the council's WFM newsletter informing motorists they can get their fines refunded.
Cllr Belam said that a decision has yet to be made on whether the junction will be removed or merely altered."

Sorry Cllr Bellam. This is not good enough. It is not up to the motorists to contact you. You have the Registered Keeper details and the details of those who paid. If the two tally ... refund. If they don't (ie. if the driver not the Registered Keeper paid) then write to the Registered Keeper pointing out that a refund is due and can they inform the driver to ensure that an appropriate refund is made.
If there are any monies that cannot be refunded then it must be given to charity.

To get your refund call the council's parking department on 020 8496 3000.

The admission is that a council has been using a sign or road marking which has been confirmed by the Department for Transport as unlawful ... and the council has admitted that it has to refund the money.

Now consider the case of the unlawful (as confirmed by the Department for Transport) 1028.4 / 1032 hybrid parking/loading/disabled bays. Same principle.

Have you had a ticket in such a bay? Check out the Parking Appeals website and sign up to ensure that you have the latest info when councils are caught out.