North Street Romford resident wins long Havering Council PCN appeal

Aftab Mahboob, a 16-year resident of North Street, was wrongly issued a PCN on June 17, 2023, the Environment and Traffic Adjudicators, supported by London Tribunals, found.

Aftab, 44, told the Recorder he was "disgusted" by the council's response in refusing to grant his five appeals.

"It was a year of my life," Aftab said, in regard to writing letters to council officers and challenging the PCN.

"It's the inhuman side that I'm really bothered about," he added. "There's a fear now about driving onto our drive[s]."

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Driveways to houses in North Street, including Aftab's, must be accessed via a bus lane, this Google photo shows (Image: Google)

Aftab had been accused of driving in a bus lane, and promptly issued a fine in June 2023 by the council.

He successfully argued this manoeuvre was needed to access his drive, prompting the adjudicator to allow his appeal and directing the council to cancel the PCN.

"The appellant stated that he was gaining access to his house or the entrance next to it that he rents," adjudicator John Lane stated.

"The local authority's Traffic Management Order at paragraph 4(b)(iv) creates an exemption to do so," he added, in a document seen by this paper.

In response, the council said the mistake was down to a "difference of opinion" between one of its officers and Mr Lane.

“Our officer had to make a judgement as to what was a reasonable length of bus lane to use," a council spokesperson said.

"The adjudicator has ruled in favour of the resident and the council respects this outcome," they added.

But Aftab said he was dissatisfied with this response and demanded an apology from the council for its alleged "aggressive" approach.

"People are probably just paying fines because they're scared of the repercussions," he claimed.

Aftab said he had dedicated his free time over the past year after work appealing the PCN.

“Every time I wrote a letter it took me a week to write, because I was working in the day," he said. "People don't have that time and they [the council] know that, the system knows that in general.”

Aftab claimed others on his road had also been affected.

He started appealing two weeks after the fine was issued in June 2023 and continued to do so until the adjudicator got involved, he said.

His appeals were finally heard on July 11, more than a year after the PCN was issued.

"I've heard nothing back from the council," Aftab said. "Not even a sorry for your time."

The council stated that it always looks to carry out parking and traffic enforcement fairly to ensure its roads are safe.