UKPC parking Ticket in Catford

DeanMFC

Sorry guys, im new to all of this. I was in a carpark in Catford last night which had a 2 hour free parking. I stayed longer and got a ticket for £60 rising to more if not payed. Pay?? ignore ?? any advice would be good on this please.
Thank you

Umkomaas

DeanMFC wrote: »

Sorry guys, im new to all of this. I was in a carpark in Catford last night which had a 2 hour free parking. I stayed longer and got a ticket for £60 rising to more if not payed. Pay?? ignore ?? any advice would be good on this please.
Thank you

You need to understand the whole process in how to deal with your charge. Was this a private parking charge or one via a council warden?

I've produced a generic 'walk-through' of the process, most of it will apply to you, so work your way through and if you need any further clarification on any of thy stages, do come back to us.

Please note - this process relates only to Private parking Charge Notices, council tickets are a different kettle of fish!

A WALK THROUGH THE PROCESS

Firstly, you don't have to pay the charge, it is not a fine, it is not a penalty, it is a speculative invoice from a Private Parking Company that has no statutory authority. However, you will need to go through a few hoops to get rid of it.

The first thing you MUST do is to start to understand what all this stuff is about. The only way to do this is to spend a day or so reading this forum - the most recent threads, say from the past month. If you see the advice 'IGNORE' you MUST ignore it. Ignoring a Parking Charge Notice will bring you months of fun and games that I can assure you, you don't want to be dealing with.

In a nutshell this is the process you will need to follow.

1. Read recent threads.

2. If the parking incident was at a retail park/shop go back to the store the Parking Charge Notice relates to and see THE manager, complain about a genuine customer being harassed and ask that they cancel the ticket. Show him/her any receipts for the day in question. If they are unable to do this ask for the name and address of the MD/CEO, as you will now write to them (and DO it!).

3. If it was a general car parking facility you need to find out who the landowner is (Google search) and send off a letter of complaint to them.

4. If you have receipts for the day (or bank/credit card statements) proving purchases, send (redacted) copies of them to PPC with covering letter stating you were a customer on the day, and shopping at their principal's establishment was the only cause of any overstay.

5. If 2, 3 or 4 above don't work, then you're into the more formal stuff.

6. If it was a windscreen ticket, do not contact the PPC at this point, you must wait for the 'Notice to Keeper' (NtK) to arrive. This should be no sooner than 28 days after the incident and no later than 56 days after it. Theses dates are very important, and you must retain all tickets and letters you receive.

7. If it was an ANPR camera incident and the first correspondence you've received is the NtK, this needs to be received within 14 days of the incident; as above, dates very important, retain all paperwork.

8. Once you receive the NtK the process below will need to be followed.

9. Soft appeal to the PPC (you'll understand this when you start reading the threads).

10. Likely rejection, so in your soft appeal you ask that a POPLA code be given to you if your soft appeal is rejected.

11. Lots more reading about POPLA Appeals (read the 'sticky' at the top of the forum index 'POPLA Decision', especially the last couple of months' reports of victories - it will give you a good idea of which points win at POPLA).

12. Draft POPLA Appeal and let us see it for further advice before submission.

13. Send to POPLA.

14. Await POPLA (positive) result with PCN cancelled - we're running at 100% success rate on the forum. A POPLA decision is binding on the PPC, but (in the event of an unlikely loss), not binding on you.

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Please confirm a couple of things (if they are not already contained in your opening post)

a. Was the incident, and do you live, in England or Wales?
b. Is the car a lease/hire or company vehicle (important as the process will be slightly different and you will need to act quickly)?
c. Are you under 18?

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Now - final, but IMPORTANT points.

* Never say who might or might not have been the driver on the day - there is no obligation on you to do so (some PPCs will ask you to name the driver/motorist before they can deal with your appeal - DO NOT comply with their wishes). In any correspondence with the PPC, always refer to the driver in the third person, never say 'I didn't see the signs' or 'my wife didn't see the signs', you say 'the driver didn't see the signs'.

* Always be aware of any deadlines, PPCs impose them (but most of these are challengeable), but if they are reasonable do keep to them. The important one is the POPLA deadline - strictly 28 days from the date the rejection letter containing the POPLA verification code is sent to you by the PPC. Miss it and you miss the one golden opportunity you have to totally kill this charge. I cannot stress that enough.

Sorry this is a bit long, but it does more or less cover most bases.

Folkiedave

DeanMFC wrote: »

Sorry guys, im new to all of this. I was in a carpark in Catford last night which had a 2 hour free parking. I stayed longer and got a ticket for £60 rising to more if not payed. Pay?? ignore ?? any advice would be good on this please.
Thank you

You need to tell us more than this.

1. Who has issued the the ticket?
2. Are you the registered keeper of the car (not hired or leased)

Have a look at the stickies at the top of the page. Can you go back and speak to the people whose facilities you were using, cinema, retail store etc? Any receipts including credit charge receipts etc.. Try and get the charge cancelled. But be assertive.....

Standard advice is

1. Do not admit you were the driver.

2. Wait for the Notice to Keeper. This should be delivered to you between 28 and 56 days after the incident.

3. Make a "soft" appeal asking for a POPLA number.

4. Make a "hard appeal using advice of here. Get it checked here.

But in the meantime get reading around the forum especially the stickies at the top.

DeanMFC

I have just been sent, Notice to keeper and the fine is now £100. what do I do now ?? sorry, I know im lame

DeanMFC

so I make a soft appeal. Can I do that online, or is it better in the post ?

Coupon-mad

DeanMFC wrote: »

so I make a soft appeal. Can I do that online, or is it better in the post ?

Depends on what the Notice to Keeper says, follow what it allows - and if email is OK for appeals I would use that since it gives you a record.

Since you started your thread in October I have created this guidance thread which has lots of info but you just need to pick out the stage you are at (appeal):

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

Examples & links there for every stage, including an appeal simply saying they have made no loss as it's a free car park, etc. Have a good look at the linked appeals and choose the style that suits you best (short appeal or longer one). Write only as the registered keeper, as explained there, not implying who was driving.

When you get a rejection, as most cases are rejected, come back to read up on what makes a winning POPLA appeal because that's different, and winnable.

DeanMFC

Sent in my appeal, just waiting now

DeanMFC

I have got been sent my POPLA forms, any advice ??? thank you

Umkomaas

DeanMFC wrote: »

I have got been sent my POPLA forms, any advice ??? thank you

Appeal.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816165

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

Coupon-mad

'How to win at POPLA' is in that second link, please use an example from there and adapt it, and forget any paragraph about Planning Permission. One day that's going to trip someone up as I've seen two POPLA appeals today written with loads of stuff as point #1 about Planning Permission in a POPLA appeal, when it's not relevant to the car park in question! And forget stuff about 'witness statements' in a POPLA appeal about a small PPC which doesn't use them.

So just find a relevant example from that 'How to win at POPLA' link in the newbies thread and adapt it. Show us your draft first if you like.

DeanMFC

Thank you for all your help on this. Ticket has now been cancelled. Thanks once again