Painted-over parking bay leads to 'shocked' East Barnet driver having car impounded

Anthony White was issued three PCNs but has since had two of them waived after showing Barnet Council the lines were “misleading”, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

The painted-over parking bay and (inset) Anthony White

An East Barnet resident who faced paying over £500 in parking fines has had two of his three charges waived after showing how painted-over lines were “misleading”.

Anthony White, who lives in Lancaster Road, had parked his car in what he thought was a legal space, but upon returning a few days later found his car had been impounded and saw the lines were in fact “coloured out”.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he had received three penalty charge notices (PCNs) plus a removal fee of £200 but that he was appealing all of them.

Barnet Council stated a PCN was issued for “each day” the car was illegally parked.

Anthony paid £265 to cover the removal fee and one of the PCNs, which he said was necessary to retrieve his car. But a council spokesperson confirmed the authority would waive two of the three penalty charges and refund him the removal fee.

Before learning of the council’s decision to waive the other two PCNs, Anthony expressed his shock over finding himself in this situation and the number of tickets he’d accrued.

The East Barnet resident said: “I was a bit shocked about it when I rang, they said you still have these other two [PCNs], of course if you pay them within a week it’s £65, if it’s longer it’s £130.

“I’m appealing after 14 days so If I’m unsuccessful I’m now in for £130 for each of those tickets on top of the £265.”

He confirmed there was no signage around the location warning motorists this was not a parking bay. Anthony added he had parked his car in the evening so the markings were “unclear”.

“I imagine one of the residents has decided to drop the pavement, in which case they presumably approached the council and got planning permission to do that and the council tried to colour out the existing parking bay. I think that’s what happened but again it wasn’t very clear.”

The council spokesperson said: “Mr White’s vehicle was found parked in a space which had previously been marked to allow footway parking, but which was painted out in 2021 when a dropped kerb was installed nearby.

“The vehicle was found to be parked in contravention of the prohibition on parking on the footway other than in marked bays, and a penalty charge was issued on each day according to our policy. On the third day, the vehicle was removed to our contractor’s pound, from where Mr White retrieved it.

“Mr White has submitted representations, according to the statutory process, in which he raised his confusion caused by the change in restrictions. While the penalty charges were all issued correctly, having considered Mr White’s representations we have decided to use our discretion to refund the removal fee and waive the first two of the three penalty charges issued.”

Local news needs your support

We are proud that we were at the forefront of reporting on the recent local elections. We can’t do this without the support of our readers.

Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.

If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.

ACT NOW!

Monthly direct debit

Annual direct debit

£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else. £84 annual supporters get a print copy by post and a digital copy of each month's before anyone else.