Illegal credit card surcharge on Staffordshire PCNs

After seeing the press statement from the council perhaps a little reminder is in order. You cannot break the law to enforce the law.
Once that is understood and all PCNs are cancelled and then refunded then the public will start to have respect for enforcement.

Here is Elton with a message for Stafford borough and all the other councils out there ...




Motorist gets ‘illegal’ ticket
Burton News
by SAMERA KHATOONTOWN

Hall officials have been left with red faces after handing a driver an ‘illegal’ parking ticket.East Staffordshire Borough Council slapped the unnamed motorist with a £70 fine — which can be reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days — for parking in Hawkins Lane, Burton, on Friday.

However, an investigation by Internet advice group motoristslegalchallenge.co.uk has since revealed the penalty is ‘illegal’ because it tells credit card users they are liable to pay a 1.6 per cent levy — a move outlawed in March 2008. According to the group, Government guidance tells local authorities there ‘are operational savings to debit and credit cards’ so they ‘cannot justify applying surcharges for their use’.

This clause allows drivers to contest parking tickets on the grounds they would end up paying above the prescribed amount on the penalty ticket.The council said that the fine issued to the driver was from an old batch of tickets and that staff using them had been told to cross out the line about the surcharge.

A council spokesman said: “The council removed the 1.6 per cent levy on credit card payments in September 2009, following a ruling made by the Traffic Penalty Tribunal, the national adjudicator for parking appeals, on an appeal issued by a London authority.“While the ruling does not set a legal precedent, the council made the decision to remove the charge.“The back of some of our penalty charge notices still make reference to the levy and our civil enforcement officers have been asked to delete this sentence.“While this did not happen on this occasion, we can confirm that measures are in place to ensure that the 1.6 per cent charge is not levied on any credit card payment for a penalty charge notice.“The driver had still parked the vehicle in contravention of a parking restriction and the council remains committed to keeping our highways clear for responsible users.”

Neil Herron, a spokesman for motoristslegalchallenge.co.uk, said: “It makes a reassuring change for a council to immediately admit the mistake.“Let’s hope they do the decent thing and cancel all the pending tickets that have the 1.6 per cent charge and investigate why this error occurred in an open and transparent fashion.”