Parking Fine

BritishLion

Hi all,

I, like many others, received a parking ticket yesterday. The ticket was from Euro Car Parks and was for non-payment. The car park was in England.

I have parked in the same car park every week day for the last 7 months and I always use the pay by mobile facility, however yesterday I completely forgot to pay. I hold my hands up, no real excuse other than I took a call as I was about to pay and subsequently forgot to pay.

Having read a few of the posts here, most peoples reason for appealing is overstaying or ticket blown off dash etc which may stand up at appeal, however non-payment doesn't really have any mitigating circumstances!

My only thought was to appeal on the basis I regularly park there (I have all the receipts to prove it), and that I did apply for a permit but they don't have them for the car park I park in (again have the email trail requesting permit), and hope they take pity on me and allow me to pay the £6 parking charge rather than the £60 invoice. Admittedly I can't see this happening!

So can anyone offer any advice on the best way to proceed? Do I ignore the invoice or start the appeal process with ECP, then POPLA and so on, or do I just pay given I didn't actually pay for parking?

My other slight issue is I will be on the other side of the world for the next five weeks so I will not be able to act upon any correspondence sent by post (although reading through the forum its quite a draw out process anyway so might not be an issue).

Thanks in advance,

BL

Umkomaas

BritishLion wrote: »

Hi all,

I, like many others, received a parking ticket yesterday. The ticket was from Euro Car Parks and was for non-payment. The car park was in England.

I have parked in the same car park every week day for the last 7 months and I always use the pay by mobile facility, however yesterday I completely forgot to pay. I hold my hands up, no real excuse other than I took a call as I was about to pay and subsequently forgot to pay.

Having read a few of the posts here, most peoples reason for appealing is overstaying or ticket blown off dash etc which may stand up at appeal, however non-payment doesn't really have any mitigating circumstances!

My only thought was to appeal on the basis I regularly park there (I have all the receipts to prove it), and that I did apply for a permit but they don't have them for the car park I park in (again have the email trail requesting permit), and hope they take pity on me and allow me to pay the £6 parking charge rather than the £60 invoice. Admittedly I can't see this happening!

So can anyone offer any advice on the best way to proceed? Do I ignore the invoice or start the appeal process with ECP, then POPLA and so on, or do I just pay given I didn't actually pay for parking?

My other slight issue is I will be on the other side of the world for the next five weeks so I will not be able to act upon any correspondence sent by post (although reading through the forum its quite a draw out process anyway so might not be an issue).

Thanks in advance,

BL

Obviously you can pay the charge and that will be the end of the matter and you can go abroad with nothing further about this on our mind. However, I don't think you'd be posting on here if your first intention was to pay the charge, so I'll take it that avoiding the charge is your position?

At the moment the PPC doesn't know who you are (I presume you are the Registered Keeper - RK?), so unless you contact them (definitely NOT advised) they will have to apply to the DVLA (cost to them £2.50) for the RK's details.

They have to wait for 28 days after the issue of the windscreen ticket (Notice to Driver - NtD) to apply for the DVLA details. They will then send you a Notice to Keeper (NtK) which will invite you to give them details of the driver, which, should you not do so, would mean they can then pursue you (RK) under the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (PoFA). This gives them a few more hurdles to get over than if pursuing the driver.

So first things first - await NtK. NO contact with the PPC until then, and before doing so, get back here for advice.

The forum is no longer issuing the advice to ignore charges when the appeal routes are still available to the individual - but these do have time limits, so you need to be aware of these, especially given your upcoming absence abroad.

The likely best route for you now is - Await NtK, send 'soft' appeal to PPC (with help from here), get POPLA verification code from PPC, draft POPLA appeal and post here for further refinement by appeals experts on here.

A bit of light reading for you, in preparation.

Keeper Liability Checklist

Some POPLA Appeal Examples and other related links:

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

POPLA Decisions

Hope this helps

BritishLion

Many thanks for your reply. Yes you were correct in thinking my first intention is not to pay the charge and yes I am the registered keeper (are you Derren Brown!?).

I will not respond to the parking notice at this stage then and await the NtK.

Reading through some of the links you sent, do I need to be getting photos of signage etc? Is there anything else I should be gathering to fight my case?

Many thanks again,

BL

Umkomaas

BritishLion wrote: »

Many thanks for your reply. Yes you were correct in thinking my first intention is not to pay the charge and yes I am the registered keeper (are you Derren Brown!?).

I will not respond to the parking notice at this stage then and await the NtK.

Reading through some of the links you sent, do I need to be getting photos of signage etc? Is there anything else I should be gathering to fight my case?

Many thanks again,

BL

Nothing that instantly springs to mind (although other more experienced Forumers might proffer further advice) in need of gathering other than, as you say, photos of signage, including noting if the entrance has signage - and photos of the entrance whether or not signs are in place.

Just one other point, not made in my original reply. Keep all documents received (including envelopes) and make sure any correspondence you ultimately generate is clearly dated - dates are very important from here on.

Regards

[STRIKE]Derren[/STRIKE] Umkomaas :rotfl:

BritishLion

Hi,

I have now had my NtK through stating I did not observe the signs in the car park when I forgot to pay.

Obviously I now need to go down the POPLA route and I have read through a few POPLA appeal examples but I haven't yet found one where someone just completely forgot to pay so unsure how I tackle this one. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Regards,

BL

Hovite_2

You're getting ahead of yourself a little. You can't go to POPLA until you've "appealed" to Euro.

You now need to send Euro a soft appeal.

Something along the lines of :

Dear Con Artists,

Ref the parking charge xxxxxx issued on xxxxx. The keeper doesn't accept that Euro Car Parks have the necessary authority to issue said charge.

You should either cancel the charge ( as you have no authority to issue it ) or provide a POPLA code within 35 days.

Regards,

Print Name ( don't sign )

BritishLion

Ahhh many thanks Hovite! Its sooooo unlike me to get ahead of myself... not!

I will send the appeal to ECP today and await their response. Should I put my address at the top and date it as I would a standard letter?

What is the reason behind not signing the letter (just curious)?

Thanks again,

BL

Hovite_2

Well they already know your address as the keeper so it doesn't really matter.

Don't sign it as you're dealing with scumbags here who would probably welcome the chance to forge your signature on a document saying "yes, I was the driver and I agree I owe Euro Car Parks money" !

Coupon-mad

BritishLion wrote: »

Ahhh many thanks Hovite! Its sooooo unlike me to get ahead of myself... not!

I will send the appeal to ECP today and await their response. Should I put my address at the top and date it as I would a standard letter?

What is the reason behind not signing the letter (just curious)?

Thanks again,

BL

Well you can sign with a squiggle - but why would you let scammers see your actual signature? That's the point!

I always sign with a squiggle when a firm doesn't need a real signature. I also use a fake date of birth for online transactions where a shop doesn't need my real one for any good reason.

It's a simple matter of protecting your ID.

BritishLion

I have just looked at Euro Car Parks ways to appeal and they have an online form I can use. Can I use that or would it be best to post a letter?

Cheers,

BL

Guys_Dad

BritishLion wrote: »

I have just looked at Euro Car Parks ways to appeal and they have an online form I can use. Can I use that or would it be best to post a letter?

Cheers,

BL

Both.

Try a version of this appeal that I have just recommended to someone else.

"I wish to appeal on the basis that you do not have the authority of the landowner to levy these charges. I require you to supply me with a copy of the relevant sections of the contract that you are working under in order for me to check (a) the contract is, in fact, with the landowner whose details have been supplied to me by the council and (b) in order for me to check the limit of your authority to levy charges as some landowner contracts do not, in fact, grant that authority. If you are unwilling to provide me with this, then I require, in accordance with the BPA and POFA regulations, a POPLA code in order for me to take my appeal to POPLA.

In addition, after checking thoroughly with your signage and the BPA guidelines, I believe that they are deficient and this is a further reason why I require a POPLA code. I refer you to the POPLA web site for the required timescales for a response.

If, on the other hand, after consideration, you decide to cancel the charge, please feel free so to do".