Parking Fine @ excel centre london

patching98

Hi I was at the Excel Centre London for 3 days this week, I am registered Disabled , parked in a disable bay. On the last day I got issued a parking fine for not having a valid ticket. I read the sign near to my car and it only stated that the blue badge had to be clearly displayed, nothing about having a valid car park ticket

The fine is £60 if paid within a week - Company issuing ticket Smart Parking.

Any Advice

Dee

pogofish

Smart Parking are jokers - Check the past threads on them anf their forerunners TCP.

You do not need to display a Blue Badge in a private car park, no matter what the signs say - The Equality Act applies here, not the BB regs (check your handbook/issuers website), which only apply on-street/in public car parks.

You have superb grounds for a POPLA appeal here, so you need to make an "appeal" to TCP and then use the POPLA code on their near-inevitable refusal. You can then ignore POPLA in the unlikely event that goes against you.

Alternatively, you could write a strongly worded letter to the Excel, demanding they get the ticket cancelled - as they are equally responsible under the Equality Act and you seem to have done more than needed to advise anyone concerned of your disability. If they decline to deal with it, a letter before action could be quite profitable to you.

Guys_Dad

pogofish wrote: »

Smart Parking are jokers - Check the past threads on them anf their forerunners TCP.

You do not need to display a Blue Badge in a private car park, no matter what the signs say - The Equality Act applies here, not the BB regs (check your handbook/issuers website), which only apply on-street/in public car parks.

You have superb grounds for a POPLA appeal here, so you need to make an "appeal" to TCP and then use the POPLA code on their near-inevitable refusal. You can then ignore POPLA in the unlikely event that goes against you.

Alternatively, you could write a strongly worded letter to the Excel, demanding they get the ticket cancelled - as they are equally responsible under the Equality Act and you seem to have done more than needed to advise anyone concerned of your disability. If they decline to deal with it, a letter before action could be quite profitable to you.

Just a little point, see here http://www.excel-london.co.uk/visiting-excel/travel-guide/travel-by-road/

ExCel has NO FREE PARKING FOR DISABLED DRIVERS. So it looks like patching98 missed the bit about parking not being free. The ticket is not for anything to do with Blue Badge, but not buying a parking ticket.

This looks like a case where OP should offer landowner the valid charge for the time parked.

I do not think equality comes into this at all, unless the signs are placed in a way that a disabled person could not see them.

Half_way

Is this a pay car park, and the ticket is in relation to a missing pay and dsiplay ticket?

some car parks offer free parking to people with long term disabilitys, some dont.

pogofish

Guys_Dad wrote: »

ExCel has NO FREE PARKING FOR DISABLED DRIVERS. So it looks like patching98 missed the bit about parking not being free. The ticket is not for anything to do with Blue Badge, but not buying a parking ticket.

If that's the case and the signage at the bay is unclear, then the OP still has a very good case to challenge it. They could still contact the Excel and offer whatever the sum involved is in a full and final settlement.

Guys_Dad

pogofish wrote: »

If that's the case and the signage at the bay is unclear, then the OP still has a very good case to challenge it. They could still contact the Excel and offer whatever the sum involved is in a full and final settlement.

I agree and advised the same.

Coupon-mad

Possibly two breaches of the BPA Code of Practice here for starters?

- The CoP says categorically that a PPC 'must not' put a fake PCN on a car that's displaying a Blue Badge and it does not stipulate that this is any different in a P&D situation at all:

'16.5 If your landowner provides a concession that allows
parking for disabled people, if a vehicle displays a valid
Blue Badge you must not issue it with parking charge notices.'

- And secondly, the BPA Code of Practice also says that there should be a sign close to the disabled bays spelling out the t&cs:

'18.9 So that disabled motorists can decide whether they
want to use the site, there should be at least one sign
containing the terms and conditions for parking that can
be viewed without needing to leave the vehicle. Ideally
this sign should be close to any parking bays set aside for
disabled motorists.'

- And then thirdly, there's a probable breach of the Equality Act 2010 because I see from the website that a certain amount buys 2hrs, or 7hrs or whatever. In fact, the same parking fee for a disabled visitor should BUY MORE TIME than an able bodied person - which has already been challenged against some Councils who had to change their stance and pay compensation to motorists:

http://www.councilwatchuk.co.uk/index.php/forum/shropshire-council/1306-shropshire-council-change-parking-fees-after-dmuk-intervention-was-it-because-of-legal-threats.html

@patching98, you do know NOT to pay this and that it's not a real fine I hope? You called it a fine so you need to know it's actually a scam fake PCN and no-one should be looking to pay these at all.

There is now a POPLA appeals procedure and we are seeing most referrals there win now, which cancels the fake PCN at the PPC's expense - £27 a pop for them to cough up. Nice!

You can still ignore but if it was me I would challenge the fake PCN and then take it to POPLA, ONLY mentioning the parking on the day in question - DO NOT mention the other days at all.

Here's a couple of threads to explain it all with links as well:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4529803

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...e#post60502765

And on the Parking Cowboys site, they have this template below which you may like to think about and use some of it in your 'challenge'. Your response should NOT be a 'sorry I never saw a sign' appeal!

It should be an angry ' :mad: WHY did you do this and what authority do you have, where's your contract with the landowner and by the way you breached the BPA code of practice twice and the Equality Act as well - and you are harassing a disabled person...' sort of thing.

Like this - unless you would rather word it in a less legal way:

http://www.parkingcowboys.co.uk/appeal-letter/

I always say NEVER just use a template verbatim - so work out what you want to say unless you've decided to ignore them.