Wales 20mph change left old signs in place

Since 17 September 2023, Wales changed the default speed limit on restricted roads from 30mph to 20mph. Old signs that refer to 30mph were not always updated or removed — for example, school keep-clear bay plates or parking restriction plates that mention a 30mph zone. A stray 30mph reference is not, by itself, a defence to a parking ticket. The defence arises where the out-of-date signs or order wording relate to the parking restriction you are accused of breaking, so that drivers are no longer given adequate information about what is actually restricted. Where that is the case, the failure to sign the restriction properly can defeat the charge.

Legal basis

Restricted Roads (20 mph Speed Limit) (Wales) Order 2022 (W.S.I. 2022/800); Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 section 81 (general speed limit for restricted roads) and section 64(2), under which "[t]raffic signs shall be of the size, colour and type prescribed by regulations" made under section 64(1)(a) except where the relevant authority authorises a sign of another character; Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/2489) regulation 18, which requires the order making authority to secure the placing of "such traffic signs in such positions as the order making authority may consider requisite for securing that adequate information as to the effect of the order is made available to persons using the road" and "the maintenance of such signs for so long as the order remains in force"; Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (S.I. 2016/362), which prescribes the sign types.

How to identify this in your case

Check whether the road is now a 20mph restricted road. Photograph any retained 30mph signage, 'School Zone 30' plates, or TRO references that mention 30mph. Focus on signs and order wording that describe the parking restriction you were ticketed under: the defence is that the out-of-date signing deprives drivers of adequate information about that restriction, not that a stray 30mph reference survives somewhere nearby.

Sample appeal wording

Before you send this

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Sample wording to adapt and send yourself — it may not fit your notice or the stage you are at. Replace the bracketed prompts with your own details; leave any case citation as it is.

Dear Sir/Madam, Re: PCN [PCN_NUMBER] The road in question, [STREET], was a restricted road whose general speed limit was reduced from 30mph to 20mph on 17 September 2023 by the Restricted Roads (20 mph Speed Limit) (Wales) Order 2022. The TRO governing the parking bay at this location dates from [DATE] and refers to '[OLD LIMIT/CONTEXT]'. The retained signage at the kerb still references '[OLD WORDING]'. Regulation 18 of the Local Authorities' Traffic Orders (Procedure) (England and Wales) Regulations 1996 requires the order-making authority to place, and to maintain for as long as the order remains in force, such traffic signs as are requisite to secure that adequate information as to the effect of the order is made available to persons using the road. In the Scottish case of Macleod v Hamilton [1965] SLT 305, often cited in parking adjudication, the court held that notice of a restriction by means of traffic signs is an integral part of the statutory scheme, and that unless signs give the public the opportunity to know what they cannot lawfully do, no contravention is committed. In the parking context the Court of Appeal in Herron v Parking Adjudicator [2011] EWCA Civ 905 qualified the older strict-compliance approach of Davies v Heatley [1971] RTR 145: the decisive question is whether the motorist was adequately informed of the restriction and not misled. Here the order and signage for the parking place itself refer to '[OLD LIMIT/CONTEXT]' and '[OLD WORDING]': the signing of the restriction relied on is contradicted by its own retained references to a limit that no longer exists, and a motorist reading it is not adequately informed of that restriction but positively misdirected about the terms that apply. Further, the Welsh Government's guidance on the amendments to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (August 2023) required 30 mph terminal signs on affected restricted roads to be replaced or removed at commencement, and 30 mph carriageway roundels and 30 mph speed-camera reminder signs to be removed by 17 September 2023, with no transitional saving for those categories; the savings periods running to 17 September 2024 and 17 September 2028 concern superseded 20 mph zone and repeater signage. To the extent the out-of-date references identified above fall within those categories, they remained in place beyond any period the guidance allowed. And in any event, where retained references to the superseded limit form part of, or directly accompany, the signing of the parking restriction relied on, they contradict or materially confuse that restriction, and the regulation 18 duty to secure adequate information as to the effect of the order is not met. I request that the PCN be cancelled. Yours faithfully, [NAME]

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Sources

legislation.gov.uk/wsi/2022/800
gov.wales — Guidance on the proposed amendments to the TSRGD 2016, August 2023 (transitional signing deadlines)
Macleod v Hamilton [1965] SLT 305, as applied in Burnett v Buckinghamshire CC (londontribunals.gov.uk key case)
Davies v Heatley [1971] RTR 145
Herron v Parking Adjudicator [2011] EWCA Civ 905 (caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk)