Council urged to refund millions in 'unfair' fines due to errors by 'incompetent staff'

A council has been urged to refund millions in motorist fines which were allegedly due to errors made by "incompetent staff".

Southwark council has come under fire from independent bodies, with growing calls for them to refund motorists who strayed into bus lanes in the borough. The council raised more than £2.6million over five years by issuing 43,300 fines to drivers. A mistake in the wording of said fines means the PCNs are now "legally void".

Phillip Morgan discovered the oversight and says motorists were a "soft target" for councils looking to raise money through fines. He has since called for the fines to be reimbursed as they were issued by "incompetent staff". He said: "I am deeply concerned by the incompetence of staff employed by London council's parking departments. Their failings range from the inability to copy and paste mandatory information from the laws to the inability to fairly and correctly assess representations and appeals from motorists who, to me, are soft targets used to obtain revenue."

Bus lane

The London Local Authorities Act, 1996 states a 28-day time limit is in place to challenge a PCN from "the date of notice" but the council put on its tickets that the month-long window for legal challenges started from "the date the penalty charge notice was served". One ruling saw a judge say: "The penalty charge notice does not comply with the statutory provisions. This amounts to a procedural impropriety and I therefore allow the appeal."

Southwark Council representatives have since spoken out on the framework for its appeal times, the Daily Mail reported. A statement read: "Southwark council issues penalty charge notices for motoring offences in the interests of public safety for all road users. They are issued within a legal and statutory framework, which includes the rights of appeal. Income received from penalty charge notice fines goes towards road upgrades and projects to help make streets safer and more accessible.

"In February 2024 we updated the wording of our PCNs to fully comply with the requirements of the London Local Authorities Act 1996, reducing the time drivers have to consider the notice or pay the fine. Our original wording stipulated drivers had from the time the notice was received, rather than when it was sent, allowing them more time in the process."

The local authority also confirmed there were no plans at this time to repeals or cancel PCNs which have not been successfully appealed. Jack Cousens, the head of roads policy at the AA, called for councils to have a "fines threshold" as drivers do not often break rules on purpose.

He said: "The vast majority of drivers do not break the rules on purpose, which is why we have always argued that first time offenders should receive a warning letter, and that a 'fines threshold' should be set, so that councils have to investigate and improve schemes that are earning huge sums." The Mirror has contacted Southwark Council for comment.