legends · 4 min read ·
Camera Review
A parking-camera reviewer issues penalties for a car in a loading bay, and the car is his, and the driver is him.
**Kerrow Borough Council — Civil Enforcement Camera Review (reviewer: S. Dacre)**
*Reviewers check images captured by static cameras and issue penalty charge notices (PCNs) where a contravention is clear.*
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**Review session — Camera 14, Mill Street (loading bay, no stopping 08:00–18:00)**
- **Image · Time · Registration · Contravention · Action**
- 14-0211 · 08:14 · KT62 HNR · Parked in loading bay · PCN issued
- 14-0212 · 09:02 · GL19 OPD · Parked in loading bay · PCN issued
- 14-0213 · 10:40 · — · Vehicle parked, plate obscured · Cancelled
- 14-0214 · 11:15 · — · **Vehicle: dark saloon. Plate illegible.** · Held for review
· · ·
**Reviewer's notes (S. Dacre, 3 October)**
Image 14-0214 shows a dark saloon parked in the loading bay at 11:15. The number plate is in shadow. I enhanced the image. The characters resolve as a registration: **LK71 SDR.** I ran it. It is registered to a silver hatchback, not a saloon. The registered keeper is a Mr. S. Dacre of 18 Pennant Street.
I rechecked. My own car is a silver hatchback. Its registration is LK71 SDR.
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**Reviewer's notes (S. Dacre, 6 October)**
I did not issue a PCN for 14-0214. I held it. But when I checked the system this morning, a PCN had been created, and issued, in my name as the reviewer. It had been sent to my home address. The penalty is £70, reduced to £35 if paid within 14 days.
The PCN includes the photograph. It is a different photograph from 14-0214. It shows my silver hatchback in the loading bay. The driver's seat is occupied. The person in it is me.
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**Appeal (S. Dacre, 9 October)**
I wrote to the council as a private citizen, appealing the penalty. I said I had not parked at Mill Street at 11:15 on 3 October, that I had been at work, and that the photograph, though convincing, could not be of me.
**Council response (appeals officer, 14 October):** *Thank you. Your appeal has been rejected. The photograph shows the vehicle, plate LK71 SDR, in contravention at the time stated. The driver is identified in the photograph. The reviewer, S. Dacre, confirmed the contravention.*
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**Reviewer's notes (S. Dacre, 17 October)**
I cross-checked the camera log. Camera 14 recorded my car in the loading bay on 3 October at 11:15, on 4 October at 11:15, and on every weekday since. It has captured my car, parked in the bay, every day at the same time, with me in the driver's seat, looking directly at the camera.
I have not been in Mill Street on any of those days. I have been at the office. I reviewed pictures of cars in loading bays. I looked at pictures of myself reviewing pictures of myself.
· · ·
**Penalty notices issued (to S. Dacre, 3 Oct – 17 Oct)**
Eleven PCNs, £70 each, total £770. Eleven photographs. In each, the car is in the same place, the driver is in the same seat. In the earliest I am looking at the camera. In the latest I am looking slightly to the left, towards the office door, as if I can see the reviewer's desk through the window of the council building across the street.
*The tenth photograph is different. In the passenger seat, there is a second person, in a council fleece, holding a laptop. The laptop shows the review software. The screen shows this photograph.*
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**Reviewer's notes (S. Dacre, 24 October)**
I went to Mill Street at 11:00 and stood at the loading bay with my phone. At 11:14 a silver hatchback came down the road. It slowed and parked, exactly where the marking begins. It was my car. I could see the dent on the offside rear wing from the supermarket car park. The driver's door opened.
I ran. I do not know why. I ran back to the office and shut my door and sat at my desk. At 11:20 I got a message from the system. *Image 14-0231 has been added to your queue.*
I opened the image. It was a picture of my desk. I was in it, with my back to the camera. Behind me, at the door of the office, stood a person in a council fleece with a laptop, looking at the back of my head.
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**Final entry (Kerrow Borough Council, 31 October)**
*Reviewer S. Dacre has left the Council's employment. His final decisions are as recorded. The system has processed 118 PCNs in his name. All have been paid.*
*Camera 14 has been removed from Mill Street. The loading bay is now clear. The system, however, continues to receive images from Camera 14 every weekday at 11:15, of a silver hatchback, which are reviewed by an operator whose name is not on the staff list, who is very thorough, and who has never yet cancelled a penalty.*