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IAS Appeal - help needed please

Hello, Newbie here (Yes, I can hear the groans!)
I have read through the newbie stickies and threads, and quite a few of the other threads on here, so I have started this thread instead of asking questions on other peoples posts, I hope this is OK.
I have read conflicting advice regarding appealing to the Independent Appeals Service, and, on balance, have decided to appeal through them, to help gather evidence of whether they are independent or not, and in the hope my charge will be dismissed.

Briefly, as the Registered Keeper, I received by post a Parking Charge Notice from Vehicle Control Services (Sheffield) for parking longer than the maximum period permitted (154 minutes stay, maximum 2hrs permitted). This arrived 16 days after the alleged Contravention was detected by ANPR cameras. I don’t dispute the overstay, actually, and I know some people may take the view I should accept it and pay up, Initially I thought so too.

But after reading various posts on here it seemed to me that PoFA 2012 applies in this case, and the PCN should have been delivered within 14 days beginning with the day after the alleged contravention, and for that reason I decided to appeal to VCS, basing my letter on one of the Templates kindly provided on here.
I also realised that the PCN (I assume it is a PCN) only had a rather confusing “Issue Date of This Notice”, not a Date Sent or Date Given as required by PoFA 2012 Schedule 4 Section 9, 2) requires.

I realise that I am basing my appeal on a technicality, but if its good enough for “celebrities” to “get off” on a technicality because they can afford a good lawyer, why shouldn't a "little man" give it a go too? Better than lining these operators pockets without a fight, I feel.

I did also include in my appeal some mitigating circumstances, and having read further I realise that was probably a waste of time. The gist of the mitigating circumstances was that the car park in question only requires a valid Blue Badge to be displayed, it does not allow any extra time for disabled users. The Equality Act 2010 states that “service providers are to take reasonable steps to ensure that disabled people do not find impossible or unreasonably difficult, to enjoy the service on the same basis as non-disabled people.” In this instance a 92 year old disabled person took longer than an able-bodied person to get around the shops due to their mobility problems.
As the car parking policy clearly aims to dissuade all people from parking for over 2 hours, signified by the £100 parking charge, under The Equality Act 2010 charging disabled people the same as non-disabled people for exceeding the free 2 hour parking period may be considered to be discriminatory. I also said that they may wish to review the terms and conditions of this car park, especially since the nearby council run car parks, who are perhaps more mindful of The Equality Act 2010, allow free unlimited parking at all times for blue badge holders.

VCS promptly rejected my appeal. I have now decided to appeal to IAS, and I am looking for any advice or guidance as to how best to word that appeal, and whether to include the mitigating circumstances. I' m also aware that in PoFA there is an assumption that the PCN is "deemed" to have been delivered within 2 days after it was sent, and I don't know how to prove that it wasn't - do I have to "prove my innocence"? Or will the Adjudicator make the assumption that it was delivered within the correct timescale anyway?

Apologies for a very long, rambling first post, I will try to do better, and thank you for taking the time to read my post
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Comments

  • henrik777
    henrik777 Posts: 3,052
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    Register the intent to appeal 1st and hope they nail their colour to the PoFA mast and THEN you screw them on it with the failures.
  • henrik777 Thank you for such a fast reply, very much appreciated

    OK, I have registered my intention to appeal with IAS, and will update progress here.

    I noticed that the IAS appeal system seems different to that posted on here previously, perhaps its been changed in face of the criticisms on here!
    After lodging an Intent to Appeal on the IAS website, the “appealer” (me) is told that the Parking Operator is provided 5 working days to to upload sufficient evidence to show that the “appealer” is liable for the charge.
    Once they have submitted their evidence, the “appealer” then has two options
    1)within 14 working days, submit an appeal by uploading any evidence or photos, once submitted it is not possible to amend or add to it.
    2)Refer the case straight to Arbitration. The Assessor will consider ONLY the evidence provided by the operator and NOTHING MORE.

    Who would choose option 2, especially after the operator had already rejected an appeal to them? That seems a bit pointless IMO.

    I am assuming that once the operators “evidence” has been uploaded, the “appealer” can see it before he has to respond, but I will let you know when that happens

    I have just noticed that after registering on the IAS site and the “system” having found the PCN, it states that the operator originally rejected the appeal on 3/5/16, three working days AFTER the date on my rejection letter! What is going on here? Does this date discrepancy have any significance?
  • henrik777
    henrik777 Posts: 3,052
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    Yes, you can see it.

    The discrepancy may, or may not matter.
  • Guys_Dad
    Guys_Dad Posts: 11,025
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    Your 14 day technicality - it doesn't actually apply to the date you received it but to the date on the NtK.

    Date of contravention was ???????????????
    Date on NtK was ??????????????

    Remember that POFA says allow 2 days for delivery except for weekends and bank holidays as they don't count and the NtK should be dated and sent to comply.
  • henrik777
    henrik777 Posts: 3,052
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    Guys_Dad wrote: »
    Your 14 day technicality - it doesn't actually apply to the date you received it but to the date on the NtK.

    Date of contravention was ???????????????
    Date on NtK was ??????????????

    Remember that POFA says allow 2 days for delivery except for weekends and bank holidays as they don't count and the NtK should be dated and sent to comply.

    (4)The notice must be given by—

    (a)handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or

    (b)sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

    (5)The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended.

    (6)A notice sent by post is to be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been delivered (and so “given” for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4)) on the second working day after the day on which it is posted; and for this purpose “working day” means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday in England and Wales.


    The 14 days is correct.
  • Guys_Dad
    Guys_Dad Posts: 11,025
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    henrik777 wrote: »
    (4)The notice must be given by—

    (a)handing it to the keeper, or leaving it at a current address for service for the keeper, within the relevant period; or

    (b)sending it by post to a current address for service for the keeper so that it is delivered to that address within the relevant period.

    (5)The relevant period for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4) is the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the specified period of parking ended.

    (6)A notice sent by post is to be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been delivered (and so “given” for the purposes of sub-paragraph (4)) on the second working day after the day on which it is posted; and for this purpose “working day” means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or a public holiday in England and Wales.


    The 14 days is correct.

    Never said it wasn't. What I did say is that the OP writes "
    This arrived 16 days after the alleged Contravention was detected by ANPR cameras. .....I also realised that the PCN (I assume it is a PCN) only had a rather confusing “Issue Date of This Notice”, not a Date Sent or Date Given as required by PoFA 2012 Schedule 4 Section 9"
    but does not give the NtK date issued.

    To use the 14 day point, then the date on the NtK is the important one. Yes, the PPC could back date it and blame the Post Office and if their wording is deficient, then that's another appeal point.
  • henrik777
    henrik777 Posts: 3,052
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    Guys_Dad wrote: »
    Never said it wasn't. What I did say is that the OP writes "
    This arrived 16 days after the alleged Contravention was detected by ANPR cameras. .....I also realised that the PCN (I assume it is a PCN) only had a rather confusing “Issue Date of This Notice”, not a Date Sent or Date Given as required by PoFA 2012 Schedule 4 Section 9"
    but does not give the NtK date issued.

    To use the 14 day point, then the date on the NtK is the important one. Yes, the PPC could back date it and blame the Post Office and if their wording is deficient, then that's another appeal point.
    Your 14 day technicality - it doesn't actually apply to the date you received it but to the date on the NtK.

    It is the date given (received in the letterbox) that counts. It might be harder to prove if they back date the NTK but that doesn't change the fact that it's the date given that counts. Obviously if nobody can tell the date given (actually delivered) then it's deemed date that counts. Either way the date on the NtK is largely irrelevant in a technical sense on this point.
  • Guys_Dad
    Guys_Dad Posts: 11,025
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    henrik777 wrote: »
    It is the date given (received in the letterbox) that counts. It might be harder to prove if they back date the NTK but that doesn't change the fact that it's the date given that counts. Obviously if nobody can tell the date given (actually delivered) then it's deemed date that counts. Either way the date on the NtK is largely irrelevant in a technical sense on this point.

    I would agree with you but then we would both be wrong. POFA does indeed state that it is 14 days following the day after the event but then defines that it will be deemed delivered 2 working days after it was sent.

    Which is why I asked for the NTK date as that will be the relevant date used by the IAS, if any, to determine if the NTK was delivered within the timescale.
  • Thank you both for your help, outline details below,

    Alleged Contravention Date 10/3/16

    Issue Date of PCN 22/3/16 ( not “date sent” or “date given”as required by PoFA)

    Date PCN received by me in post 26/3/16 - I dont know how to prove this, as envelope had a business franking from “whistl”, with no date.

    Date of my appeal to VCS 1/4/16

    Date of VCS’ letter of appeal rejection 28/4/16

    Date of Registration of Intent to Appeal (Standard Appeal) to IAS 19/5/16

    From what you have said, my thoughts are:
    1) that there were 12 days between alleged offence and notice "given", if it WAS posted on 22nd March then the second working day after the day on which it is posted would be the 24th, so it would be DEEMED to have been given within the timescale (just). I don't know how "Whistl" works, but I do know it was delivered by Royal Mail, so I assume its a business competitor of RM who uses the RM network for delivery, so is there any reason it would have taken longer than the 2 working days after it was posted, I wonder?
    2) So now, the 25th was a public holiday, and the 26th a Saturday, which is when it was delivered. So my question then is how can I Prove it was delivered on the 26th, and would that be "deemed" outside the time limits of PoFA? Or am I stuffed?
  • Guys_Dad
    Guys_Dad Posts: 11,025
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    Because the date on the NtK is 12 days after event, you have an uphill task on the 14 day point, as I suspected. I do not doubt for one second your statement that it arrived 16 days after, but with the wording of POFA and the fact you are dealing with the IPC, I think you would be on a loser with this point at IPC.

    Are there any better points you could major on? The wording failing to meet POFA requirements would be good if you highlight them in the appeal.
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