UK CPS Ltd

Coupon-mad

Sorry, wrong link by me! Try this one, post #2:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4695227

Lots of persuasive and relevant legal stuff makes it hard for the PPC to rebut, IMHO. So add the legal cases & laws cited to your heading 'Unlawful Penalty Charge'.

Also I have just noticed you said that the sign by the disabled bay didn't say that a Blue Badge had to be displayed? If so make more of that and have another heading under your 'other points':



INSUFFICIENT SIGNAGE - NO CONTRACT FORMED OR BREACHED
Because the signs fail to properly inform drivers of the full terms & conditions at a low enough height at the entrance (nor even at the disabled bay), the elements of a contract have not been met. Any alleged contract would be formed at the entrance to the premises, prior to parking. It is not formed after the vehicle has already been parked, as this is too late.

The BPA Code of Practice states under appendix B, entrance signage:
“The sign should be placed so that it is readable by drivers without their needing to look away from the road ahead.''

The BPA Operational Requirements Section 18.9 states:

''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 the BPA Code of Practice re signage 'Contrast and illumination':
''There must be enough colour contrast between the text and its background, each of which should be a single solid colour. The best way to achieve this is to have black text on a white background, or white text on a black background. Combinations such as blue on yellow are not easy to read and may cause problems for drivers with impaired colour vision.”

I was the driver and I know that the signs and any core parking terms UKCPS are relying upon were unclear in all respects. They need to show POPLA their evidence and signage map/photos which they might contend meet all the requirements I have listed above. The truth is, the vague and non-compliant signs, such as there were, failed to properly and clearly warn & inform me of the terms in this car park and any consequences for breach - as in Excel Parking Services Ltd v Martin Cutts, 2011.

In addition, to suggest a breach of contract, UKCPS need to prove that I actually saw, read and accepted terms which said I had to display my daughter's Blue Badge. This is untrue because the sign by the disabled bay does not even say that a Blue Badge has to be displayed (and even if it did then that term cannot be binding nor is it capable of acceptance by a driver because it creates unlawful disability discrimination, as already explained).

In Mendelssohn v Normand Ltd [1970] 1 QB177 Lord Denning MR at 182 dealt with the question whether a term on a notice board at a car park might have been incorporated into a contract where it was not obvious as the driver came in but was obvious when paying for parking at the end, and where the plaintiff had parked often before. He said:
“He may have seen the notice, but he had never read it. Such a notice is not imported into the contract unless it is brought home to the party so prominently that he must be taken to have known of it and agreed with it.”

I neither knew of nor agreed to any 'contract' to display a Blue Badge; indeed the Blue Badge Handbook and Government information website make it clear that the scheme does not apply on private land. As far as any contract is concerned, the disabled bay had already been offered to me by the landowner/occupier as a free 'reasonable adjustment' in accordance with disability law and this was the only consideration that I accepted.

charlotte66

Thanks Coupon-mad. I have inserted what you suggested.

I also went to the retail park this morning to check for any signs immediately in the bay or close by indicating I needed to display a badge and there were none within plain view. About 150 yards ahead of the yellow box and to the left there is a sign on a shop wall in between adverts saying: Disabled Bays for Badge holders only.
Even if I would have seen that notice when I parked I would have assumed it was a request for general common courtesy and consideration for disabled people. There is no stipulation about displaying a badge.

I think I am nearly finished now.
After all this inconvenience, time and stress, I will certainly be writing to the retail park managers to complain about the way we have been treated.