Glenn Dickinson v The Parking Adjudicator and Hull City Council CO/3845/2008

Glenn Dickinson is a 62 year old engineer from Hull. He challenged a number of parking tickets issued by Hull City Council. His appeal, and subsequent request for a review was rejected by a National Parking Adjudication Service (now called the Traffic Penalty Tribunal).

He then applied to the High Court for a Judicial Review of the Parking Adjudicator’s decision and on 16th December 2008 was granted permission by Nicola Davies QC sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge.

The main grounds of his appeal are:

• NPAS was not independent and therefore in breach of Article 6(i) of the European Convention on Human Rights
• He perceived the adjudicator to be biased in favour of the council by failing to have regard to Statute law namely the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002

Since permission was granted new information has come to light which raises fresh doubts about the independence of the TPT (Traffic Penalty Tribunal). Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act have confirmed that administrative staff working at the "independent" tribunal, including the tribunal manager, are Manchester City Council employees – in apparent contravention of European Human Rights legislation.

More seriously and of concern is that the Chief Adjudicator, responsible for re-appointing sitting adjudicators, is also an employee of Manchester City Council. Alarmingly, this information was not released to the Court in the Herron case and only became available after Herron was refused grounds on the independence and impartiality point.

Dickinson, who could lose his home and business if his legal action fails, says the new evidence is vital:

"Article 6(i) of the European Convention on Human Rights allows me to have my case heard before an independent tribunal."

"How on earth can a body be perceived to be independent when its staff are all employed by the council and the people who are charging the fine are paying the people who adjudicate it?"

Glenn’s tickets were issued under the Decriminalised Parking Enforcement scheme, which allows councils to take over parking enforcement and keep the money raised from fines.

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal is the final stage of appeal for motorists against a penalty issued by a council in England and Wales, outside London. However it is totally reliant on income from parking tickets – 60p on each ticket issued. Manchester Council is the lead authority, "the headquarters" for parking enforcement for the whole country outside London.

Independence and Impartiality

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal (formerly the National Parking Adjudication Service) is responsible for handling motorists parking appeals for PCNs issued outside of London. The Parking and Traffic Appeals Service (PATAS) is responsible for PCNs issued by the 33 London Boroughs and Transport for London. Its sole source of funding is from 60p from every PCN issued.

All councils participating in Civil Parking Enforcement must join the ‘Joint Committee’ known as PATROL. The Joint Committee appoints the adjudicators and the Joint Committee has no legal personality. Therefore, Manchester City Council is responsible for all contracts on PATROL’s behalf. The TPT staff are all employed by Manchester City Council.

Tribunal Manager is Andrew Barfoot, a solicitor, and an employee of Manchester City Council. The Chief Adjudicator, Caroline Sheppard and one other (yet to be named) adjudicator are actually employed by Manchester City Council. The other adjudicators are paid by Manchester City Council. The Chief Adjudicator can re-appoint adjudicators.

The Traffic Penalty Tribunal and the PATROL Joint Committee share offices on the same floor of the same building. The accounts for the Traffic Penalty Tribunal and Manchester City Council are prepared by the same Treasurer and audited by the same auditor. Article 6(i) of the ECHR requires that a court or tribunal not only be independent but also are perceived to be independent.