POPLA Decisions

Umkomaas

This shouldn't go further than debt collector hassle (which can be ignored); there seems to be a block put on by Aldi preventing PE taking their customers to court. They sue every other poor beggar!

Have you complained to Aldi and shown the receipts for the day? They do cancel many charges, and even losing at POPLA doesn't prevent them telling PE to cancel this.

Coupon-mad

polar-bear wrote: »

POPLA assessment and decision
13/01/2017
Verification Code

6063496352

DecisionUnsuccessful
Assessor NameGeorgina Riley
Assessor summary of operator case
The operator’s case is that the appellant’s vehicle parked at ALDI Blaby car park where the operator issued parking charge notice for remaining at the car park for longer than was made permitted.

Assessor summary of your case
The appellant’s case is that his wife parked at the store and entered the vehicle details. he says either the console was faulty or his wife made a mistake

Assessor supporting rational for decision
The operator has provided photographic evidence if the appellant’s vehicle entering the site at 11:07 and departing at 12:19 on 7 October 2016, as such the vehicle was at the site for one hour 12 minutes.

The operator has also provided a copy of the whitelist look up, which provides the vehicle registration numbers for vehicles registered at the car park on that day. This demonstrates that the vehicle was not registered to park at the site on this day.

The operator has provided photographic evidence of the signage in place at the site showing the terms and conditions in force. The terms and conditions state, “All Customers must enter their vehicle registration to qualify for 1 ½ hours free parking. See in store for details” and “Failure to comply with this will result in a Parking Charge of: £70”.

The appellant states that his wife parked the vehicle at the store, he says that the vehicle details need to be entered into a screen within the store. He says that either the screen did not record the vehicle details or his wife made a mistake.

The appellant has provided a receipt to validate the parking period. I acknowledge the appellant’s statement and evidence.

However, the terms and conditions are displayed throughout the site and it is reasonable to accept that the driver had the opportunity to review these before parking. Furthermore, it is the motorist’s responsibility to check the terms and conditions of a site before parking.

By parking at the site, the driver has agreed to the terms and conditions and agreed to pay the parking charge notice if she does not comply with them. Consequently, by failing to enter her full, correct VRN as required in the sites terms and conditions the appellant has not complied with the sites terms and conditions.

Additionally, it is the appellant’s responsibility to ensure she complies with the sites terms and conditions. Finally, while I understand that the appellant’s wife was shopping in store, by failing to register the vehicle at the site she has contravened the terms of parking.

In conclusion, the operator has demonstrated to my satisfaction that the appellant has not complied with the sites terms and conditions. Therefore, I determine that the operator issued the parking charge notice correctly.

As above - PE do not sue over Aldi sites so ignore this decision which was based on the sparse appeal you seem to have made.

You should have sent the receipt to Aldi to complain. Still can. If not, then sit tight and ignore the Equita letters because POPLA decisions are not binding on you.

Your POPLA appeal should have covered more of the usual grounds and would have likely won. Never mind - lucky for you PE do not sue re Aldi sites and you proved she was an Aldi customer.

Nigel_Byrom

I Googled "Aldi" on the Blaby District Council planning Simple Search facility to ascertain whether
the Brackley Court site had planning permission for the ANPR cameras and / or advertisement consent
for the ANPR signage. I found no evidence of either, but don't take my word for it - Google it yourself,
and / or contact the Council for confirmation. Having contacted scores of councils across England and
Wales the majority tell me that ANPR camera poles require permission, and almost invariably I was told
that the large ANPR signs require consent under the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007. Section 30 of the Regs states that erecting unauthorised
signs is a criminal offence, and almost invariably I am told that even if there is a retrospective
application for consent this cannot be backdated - it is only valid from the date of a decision. That
view was confirmed by Blaby District Council. Curiously, failure to obtain advert consent does not automatically make a parking contract illegal. However, all parking management companies are obliged
to be members of an Approved Operator Scheme and to abide by its Code of Practice. Both CoP's (BPA and IPC) require members to abide by the law, and that inevitably includes planning law. Only a few
months ago the Supreme Court confirmed that abiding by the CoP is a pre-condition for obtaining keeper
details from the DVLA, and without keeper details ANPR cannot function. So although you lost at POPLA
(and they don't seem to consider planning issues) you could still win in court, in that unlikely event.
(Please note: I am not qualified to give legal advice, so you need to make your own enquiries,)

Timothea

Nigel_Byrom wrote: »

Only a few months ago the Supreme Court confirmed that abiding by the CoP is a pre-condition for obtaining keeper details from the DVLA, and without keeper details ANPR cannot function.

What Supreme Court case was this? If correct, this would mean that PE breached the Data Protection Act 1998 by obtaining the keeper's personal information without reasonable cause.

See this thread to understand the implications of that!

Coupon-mad

The Beavis case...the Judges did indeed say that compliance with the CoP was effectively 'regulation', without which they could not get DVLA data. We know that and we can use it.

polar-bear

Thanks for this Nigel. I couldn't find a planning application for the ANPR cameras either. I have emailed the planning department at Blaby District Council to find if they require planning permission and if it has been granted in this case.

polar-bear

As above - PE do not sue over Aldi sites so ignore this decision which was based on the sparse appeal you seem to have made.

Yes, my appeal was a bit sparse! I was very naive in thinking I had a strong case. This is the first time I have had to deal with a parking charge like this.

You should have sent the receipt to Aldi to complain. Still can. If not, then sit tight and ignore the Equita letters because POPLA decisions are not binding on you.

I started to follow this route after I had submitted my POPLA appeal. Aldi's customer services advised me that I would need to cancel my appeal if I wanted them to pursue my case. I noticed that I couldn't resubmit my appeal if I cancelled., so thinking my appeal would be successful I let it go. Another bad decision! Aldi also warned that they couldn't do anything if my POPLA appeal was unsuccessful, but I will email them again anyway to see what they say.

The_Deep

Never mind, post on their Facebook website, Twitter, etc., they hate that.

Timothea

polar-bear wrote: »

Thanks for this Nigel. I couldn't find a planning application for the ANPR cameras either. I have emailed the planning department at Blaby District Council to find if they require planning permission and if it has been granted in this case.

Lack of planning permission is not a crime and it is often granted retrospectively, so not really 'unlawful'. Judges are very unlikely to rule against a PPC for that reason alone.

On the other hand, lack of advertising consent is a crime and it cannot be granted retrospectively, so definitely 'unlawful'. Judges are more likely to rule against a PPC if the crime is currently the subject of enforcement action by the local authority.

polar-bear

Do Parking companies need to advertise clearly that they are using ANPR cameras? Aldi have something on most of their signs, but the lettering is very small. They only use the initials ANPR, without any explanation of what that means, or what it is used for. I have taken some pictures if that helps.