CP plus parking charge

claire16c

Hi, my SIL received a letter from CP Plus saying she needs to pay a parking fine because she over stayed the 2 hour limit at a service station on the motorway.

So Ive done some searches on the forum, and it seems that she does not need to pay - but what I want to check is - should she ignore the letter, or appeal it through this popla thing I have read about?

As one post says to ignore it, and then another says 'ignore it if youre in scotland as there is no popla.' My SIL is not in Scotland so I just want to check that ignoring it is the best thing to do!

Coupon-mad

Most of us regulars now say that ignoring is not necessarily the best thing now that there is POPLA. After all, POPLA costs the PPC money and is binding on them (not the driver of the car) and most POPLA appeals are being won. IMHO, the more that can be won the better as it sends out a strong message to the PPCs, to London Councils who run POPLA, and to the BPA who are constantly seeing plenty of their scumbag PPC members' money being pssed up the wall to pay for these decisions!

Here's a pepipoo thread discussing 'appeal or ignore' and also going into detail about the sort of legal challenge that regular posters here sometimes suggest as it ties the PPC up in knots and gives them lots to fail to answer in their rejection:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=77301

It doesn't matter too much how she words the challenge. She'll get a rejection anyway.

Was SIL there for over 2 hours for any reason caused by any disabled or elderly passenger, or feeding a baby, anything like that? All covered by the Equality Act which would add to her challenge.

claire16c

Nope she was just there meeting a friend and having coffee, lunch etc

Do you mean the appeal is likely to be rejected at first? Sorry not sure what you mean as you said most appeals are won.

What happens after that then? If her challenge is rejected that is.

I will have a look at the thread thanks. Im just cautious of advising her not to pay the £50 I think it is, when in about a week it says it goes up to £90 - and Im the one who told her to do it!

Coupon-mad

claire16c wrote: »

Nope she was just there meeting a friend and having coffee, lunch etc

Do you mean the appeal is likely to be rejected at first? Sorry not sure what you mean as you said most appeals are won.

What happens after that then? If her challenge is rejected that is.

I will have a look at the thread thanks. Im just cautious of advising her not to pay the £50 I think it is, when in about a week it says it goes up to £90 - and Im the one who told her to do it!

Top of the forum, this sticky tells you about POPLA (where most appeals are won, at this second stage which is independent):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4263959

Of course the private parking company (PPC on here) will 99% of the time reject any first appeal, they are not concerned with fairness or parking management at all, they are a profit-making private company and it's in their interests to issue and collect on as many fake PCNs as possible.

Another sticky from the top of the forum, linked below, gives examples of winning POPLA appeals (notice it's not about what happened, more about tripping the PPC up regarding their procedures, signage, contract etc.):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4488337

I know you are concerned but I have told MANY friends and colleagues NEVER to pay a fake PCN from any private company, and my 19 yr old niece has ignored 8 fake PCNs on my say-so! They are not fines and do not have to be paid.

Watchdog videos below which should help you all see this for what it really is, a well-known scam:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3164256

The only thing that's different from the advice on the funniest and best video - with the Solicitor Tim Cary talking to Anne Robinson - is that in England/Wales only, the PPCs nowadays do not 'need' to know who was driving and there is now a POPLA independent appeal, funded by the scammers themselves (the PPCs).

The only choice to make really is whether she does appeal (and uses POPLA) or just sits tight and ignores the whole scam including debt collector letters as shown in another top sticky thread 'PPC letter chains' which you can find near the others at the top. I have ignored two myself prior to POPLA coming into existence - but when I get another one (because they are rife) I would actually appeal now that the POPLA appeals decisions are better known on what sort of argument they will accept. The advantage of POPLA is costing the PPC money only to see their fake PCN cancelled, so that the victim no longer gets the debt collector letters at all.

claire16c

Many thanks for your help! I've shown my SIL this thread and she's going to read through the links. Either way she said she's not paying after reading your first post and that link! Good to know how many you've dealt with too.

fil_cad

No dont pay cp plus and ignore all begging letters you will get, then HEY PRESTO THERE GONE FOREVER:money: