Parking eye - fine

Cobhead06

Hi I'm asking for help on behalf of my dad he recently got a parking charge notice through the post off parking eye as he apparently didn't pay for a ticket but the fact is he did pay for a ticket but made and honest mistake when purchasing the ticket and messed up entering his reg number in the machine. He's never used one before and thought it would be ok to put in the car window anyway as he believed it would be an ticket officer walking round. Can I please have some advice as I feel we shouldn't have to pay the £60 fine as he did in fact pay the car parking charge.

Guys_Dad

Has he still got the ticket?

Cobhead06

Yes he still has the ticket but it has the wrong reg number on you see this is why he feels he should just pay the fine as it was his fault for making the mistake

Guys_Dad

As long as it is only a digit or so out, there is an excellent case for an "honest" defence. By that, I mean one based on his mistake rather than the standard appeal clauses.

Ok when was the date of the mistake and when did he get the notice to keeper?

Hopefully it will be within the POPLA appeal period.

Assuming it is, then I would appeal to the PPC along the following lines, but tailor it as appropriate.

"I am the registered keeper of the vehicle in question. On the day, the driver entered the registration number of the car into the machine in the car park, but as the keypad was sticky, an error was made. The driver noticed immediately, but there was no mechanism for him to correct the error.

The ticket was displayed in the car window in order that your on-site operative, if they came round, could see that payment had been made and I enclose a copy of the ticket that clearly shows for the period that payment was made. You will also notice the number entered only differs from the actual registration by one digit.

Clearly there was payment received for the period of parking, so, in effect, your company has suffered no loss.

As one of the more professional of the Parking companies with a better than average reputation for fairness, I hope that, under the circumstances, you will see fit to cancel the charge, but should you not, then please send the POPLA claim documents and the POPLA code as the driver will have no alternative but to appeal. He also reserves the right to add other appeal points after further research."


Chances are they will send out a stock "appeal turned down" reply, and if they do, then we do a hard POPLA defence. But a wee bit of flattery and a reasonable reason just might give them the opportunity to do the right thing.

(I expect bazster is heading for the sick bowl after reading this, but at worst, you get a POPLA code)

Cobhead06

Thanks for all the help but he missed a letter off and also typed it in the wrong way round ill give an example say the reg was K784 3HT he put in the machine 3HT784 so this is why I think we don't have a good enough case but I'm angry as he was only there for 45 mins and as like you say they haven't lost anything as they would be able to tell from there records on that day that the wrong reg he did enter never entered the car park hope you understand

Cobhead06

Oh and the date of event was 13/7/13 date issued was 17/7/13 and he received it today

Coupon-mad

Cobhead06 wrote: »

Yes he still has the ticket but it has the wrong reg number on you see this is why he feels he should just pay the fine as it was his fault for making the mistake

Don't be daft, course not!

All you do is challenge as shown above and enclose a copy of the P&D ticket (make sure it's got a readable date, time and car reg but keep the original of course) and ask them to check their records for it and to check and prove you are honest, since there will be no car with that wrong car reg recorded as being there!

Also did he not think to complain to the Store if it was a shop/Supermarket? How exactly is it that people in the UK think for a minute that it's OK for an agent of some shops to send demands for money just because someone was shopping. We should complain more, certainly about this scam!

The_Slithy_Tove

Cobhead06 wrote: »

he missed a letter off and also typed it in the wrong way round ill give an example say the reg was K784 3HT he put in the machine 3HT784 so this is why I think we don't have a good enough case

But surely that is exactly what GD's appeal is saying - dodgy keypad, didn't accept the input. Why do you think that's not good enough?

Even [STRIKE]if[/STRIKE] when the initial appeal is rejected, it should be an easy win at POPLA given the right "hard" appeal on many points.

Custard_Pie

Cobhead06 wrote: »

Thanks for all the help but he missed a letter off and also typed it in the wrong way round ill give an example say the reg was K784 3HT he put in the machine 3HT784 so this is why I think we don't have a good enough case but I'm angry as he was only there for 45 mins and as like you say they haven't lost anything as they would be able to tell from there records on that day that the wrong reg he did enter never entered the car park hope you understand

Blimey I wish I had to deal with you guys on a regular basis. I could fleece you for thousands for honest mistakes. There was no attempt to deceive the PPC and not pay for parking. Even if there was, the loss would have been the cost of parking. These PPC are there to make thousands, it not Millions out of genuine hard working people, because they know that the majority will be duped or scared into paying up.

This is a request for monies, nothing more, nothing less. There are many points that if worded correctly in an appeal to PoPLA after appealling (and being rejected) to the PPC that makes this request for monies unenforecable.

Unless your Dad is stinking rich and likes to fund scammers, I'd suggest that you do the homework here and ensure that they get nothing.

Guys_Dad

Please read my suggested appeal again.

By all means adapt it, but please send one in.

I will be straight to the point. If you think that Dad's mistake was sufficient to make the charge valid, then why bother coming on here?

If you think that he paid and they didn't lose anything, then send them an appeal.

It's as simple as that and you have been given opinions and a draft appeal. It really is a no brainer.

zzzLazyDaisy

Cobhead06 wrote: »

Thanks for all the help but he missed a letter off and also typed it in the wrong way round ill give an example say the reg was K784 3HT he put in the machine 3HT784 so this is why I think we don't have a good enough case but I'm angry as he was only there for 45 mins and as like you say they haven't lost anything as they would be able to tell from there records on that day that the wrong reg he did enter never entered the car park hope you understand

So you can produce a paid ticket with the right letters/digits in the wrong order?

In the example you have given, anyone with half a brain can see that is the correct registration number and the person just made an honest mistake in entering the digits.

Just out of interest, does your father have any form of long term chronic illness that might have caused him to be confused? (Note, this is a genuine question, I am NOT suggesting that you make anything up!). If he has such a condition, he is almost certainly covered by the Equality Act (have a search for Coupon-mad's posts on the subject). If that's the case, there is a duty to make reasonable adjustments (eg to make allowances for the fact that he got the digits muddled up). That may be sufficient for the PPC to cancel the charge at first stage, without even needing to go to POPLA.

Either way, if the PPC rejects the appeal, there are experienced people on here who will help you with a POPLA appeal - have a look at the POPLA cases sticky, it's not difficult to see what points win at POPLA.