Parking Control Management - Bluewater

happyhippo2468

Hi, I'm new to the forum so apologies if this question is answered elsewhere.

I parked in the Disabled Ground Floor Level of Bluewater Retail Park, Kent. I am a Blue Badge holder but I forgot to put my Badge on the dashboard. Parking within Bluewater is completely free. After doing my shopping I returned to my car and had been issued a PCN with photos of my car, inside and out. I tried phoning PCM but only got their answerphone and instructions on how to pay the fine. I appealled to PCM but this was rejected for failure to display my Badge. I ignored this notice (after looking at the advice on this forum on Bluewater) and did not appeal to POPLA. I have now received a letter from Newlyn Debt Collection Ltd saying court action is pending. I know now after reading lots of threads that I should not have ignored and should have appealled at that point.

Lots of threads are saying that I should complain directly to Bluewater, quoting the Equality Act 2013 . Is it too late for that?

The NDC letter says that we have 14 days otherwise proceedins will be initiated in the County Court where a Judgement may be obtained.

Should I continue to ignore this letter. The fine has now gone up to £149. I am the registered keeper of the car and over 18 years of age.

I don't understand why I should pay a fine when parking is completely free but this is now starting to worry me.

Would be grateful for any help or advice on this.

Coupon-mad

It is not a fine.

Newlyn cannot start court action. (Only PCM could).

Lots of threads are saying that I should complain directly to Bluewater,
quoting the Equality Act 2010 . Is it too late for that?

Never too late to complain to the retail park - especially in a disability discrimination case.

Read this thread on Pepipoo (all of it!!):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=79002

He won in court but had lost at POPLA first because POPLA got it wrong. You just have to get it right with a robust and assertive complaint and a response to PCM now telling them that they are guilty of discrimination (learn from grunwald's thread). You need to rattle some cages to head off the court threats. You CAN get this cancelled. DO NOT PAY.

happyhippo2468

Thank you so much for your swift response. Have printed the entire link and will be reading up on this tonight. Thanks again

happyhippo2468

Can anyone give me any advice regarding the letter to Bluewater (pasted below). Is it ok to send? Have I missed anything? I will be very grateful for any advice/help. Thank you

Letter to Bluewater
I haverecently received a letter from Newlyn Debt Collection Ltd, advising me that Iowe the sum of £149 arising from a Parking Charge Notice issued by ParkingControl Management (UK) Ltd [add date].

I have been in touch with theEquality Advisory Support Servicewho has advised me that Landlease (the owners of Bluewater Retail Park) areresponsible for the actions of their agents, Parking Control Management (UK)Ltd.

I believe that in theissuing of this PCN you have failed to consider areasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010 and therefore you are guiltyof discrimination. Bluewater offers freeparking for all shoppers and, therefore, the cost of £149 cannot be justifiedas no loss of income or other cost resulted from my failure to display mybadge.

Bluewater should stop the actions currently being taken byParking Control Management (UK) Ltd immediately, otherwise I will be holdingyou liable for breach of the Equality Act 2010.

You should also take immediate action to ensure that thissituation never arises again.

Coupon-mad

my failure to display my badge.

Nope, no admissions!

Send a pm to the poster called trubster who has suitable letters he used in the same circumstances against PCM (he actually WON at POPLA) only his case was against Meadowhall and he didn't let it go! Here's his original thread to read (yes another one to read, but it's very similar to yours, same PPC, and he's the one with the letters to use that WORK):

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=75213

trubster posts on here and on pepipoo, like I do.

HTH

happyhippo2468

Thank you so much. Will let you know how I get on.

Coupon-mad

Don't rush it, wait till trubster responds to you if you have pm'd him. You need his version of a 'Letter before Claim' to the Management of Bluewater.

happyhippo2468

Thank you coupon mad for all your advice. I have sent a PM to trubster.

Another question (sorry!) in addition to the letter to Bluewater Management I was also going to send Newlyn one of lazy daisy's template letters saying I have no intention of paying, they need to provide me a LBC etc etc. Is that the correct thing to do?

Thank you in advance. Really appreciate all your help on this.

Coupon-mad

Entirely your choice - it does no harm for the price of a stamp - or you could just ignore Newlyn.

happyhippo2468

I wanted to update you regarding the PCN ticket issued back in June 2013.

I originally sent an appeal which was rejected so decided to ignore. I then received a letter from Newlyn saying that it had been referred to them. I wrote a letter to them saying that they should desist from any contact with me. They sent me another letter saying they noted my comments but I still owed £148. Writing to Newlyn is a complete waste of time.

After reading kentboyjohn's thread I decided to go straight to Bluewater Management. I used a similar letter to that of kentboyjohn and it worked. Had to send a copy of my blue badge. Today received an email to say that the PCN has been cancelled. Result.

Thanks to couponmad and kentboyjohn for all their help.

My advice is go to direct to Bluewater Management to get the PCN cancelled.

Thanks everyone:j:beer::T

Coupon-mad

Just read this - well done and quite right!

I will add your success to the successful complaints' sticky thread for posterity.