Parking Ticket on Motorway CP PLUS

Emir_Salar

Hi,

Firstly I have been reading the various threads and stickys both here on PePiPoo and other places on the net. Whilst I kind of get what im supposed to do , there is so much advice I am finding it hard to take in, and on what basis to appeal .

I can see that 'GPEOL' seems to be the winner in the appeals thread and I've downloaded a template letter from parking cowboys from here parkingcowboys appeal letter which includes that clause/basis

However I am unsure as to whether I should just send that out as a shot gun approach or write a more personalised one?

Anyway here is my story

I was on the motorway a last week and during heavy rain my wipers stopped working so I pulled over on the side, and intermittently managed to drive to service station which luckily for me was only a few miles away.

Initially I didn't stop at the service station I drove straight through to the petrol station which was heavily lit, it was dark, raining, windy, and I had little visibility and I didn't notice any signs about parking 1) because I could just about see and 2) I was aiming for the petrol station, where I could park and attempt to repair (temporarily) my car, because I know a bit about wipers and its a common fault on my model/make of car.

After struggling with no luck to open the screws (I know, hilarious) and repair the wipers, and not having breakdown cover, I phoned my brother to come and help me. During all this time I was parked on the side in a petrol station under lights..

He took a very long time in coming, road works, diversions etc, and eventually I gave up waiting in my car and after speaking to the attendant I drove back on my self into the service station, again I didn't see any signs in the car park .. I went inside as by now the kids who were previously asleep woke up and got myself a coffee and them some food

after 15/20 minutes of being in the service station car park my brother turned up, we repaired the wipers, and I drove home....

10 days later I receive a letter from CPPLUS (BPA AOS) saying I had 2 hours free parking and I was there much longer. They have ANPR installed so have my number plate.

It was late after 9 .. when I entered the car park was mainly empty and I of course £90 is not a fair loss for parking in a mainly empty car park, for 15/20 minutes and maybe another 30 to repair the car..

I personally believe I have mitigating circumstances , but the advice seems to be, they are almost always ignored and may identify me as the RK. So ..

So what route shall I go down?

Template letter from Parking Cowboys (shot gun approach , hope to scare them off or at least get a reference number for a Popla appleal?

or

A more personalised one, just using GFEOL and Unfair claims and my 'story'?

Thank You in advance..

Umkomaas

You really don't need much of a letter to the PPC, they'll more than likely have seen the Parking Cowboys' letter before and not likely to 'scare them off'. More probably they will guess that you're not that sure of your grounds by just grabbing and regurgitating verbatim an internet template.

So you just need to send a short letter with just a little bit about the circumstances (but nowhere near as much detail as you've given here), then stating that their signage was inadequate especially as it was not illuminated (appeal point 1). Then, the charge they are invoicing the Registered Keeper for in no way resembles any form of loss to them or the landowner, it is therefore punitive and as such is unenforceable (appeal point 2). Either cancel the charge or forward a POPLA verification code, where the above points (and a number more) will be robustly placed before POPLA.

Don't reveal who might or might not have been driving at any time.

The point here is just to hook a POPLA code; hardly any PPC upholds an appeal, so don't waste time typing out a long one, nor showing yourself as someone who is a bit unsure of their grounds.

Do some further research on a couple of stickies - POPLA Decisions and Newbies read this thread .... - both at the top of the forum index.

Don't send your POPLA appeal until you've run a draft of it past the forum regulars for any further advice.

HTH

Emir_Salar

Thank You for your kind response