PCN in Scotland, just clarifying

claire86_2

I just want to check that ignoring this PCN is the right thing to do before I go ahead and ignore, I have read the advice but I'm not 100% sure on the differences between charges here in Scotland and those in England/Wales. There's also not much info on the particular PPC who issued the ticket.

The ticket was issued at a shopping centre car park for parking outwith marked bays, by Palmaris Services Ltd (who appear to be a security firm?!). I'll start by holding my hands up to the car being outwith the bay as there were no spaces left and several other cars had done the same, but we did display our child's blue badge (which I now realise has no standing in a private car park, my mistake). Our disabled child was taking part in an event at the centre and so we needed to be in the car park.

For one, the times on the ticket are wrong ("Time: 13.40" but "Time first observed: 14.02") so even if the company could enforce it, would it possibly be invalid on that technicality? More the point, the ticket says "Parking Charge Notice" as opposed to Penalty and has all sorts of threats about the amount increasing from £60 to £90 after 14 days, escalating to debt collectors, court, bailiffs... I'm guessing this is complete tosh but I'm just not sure whether to ignore it completely, or whether I should be complaining to the centre management to try and have them get the ticket cancelled, or enter into a dubious appeals process with the PPC.

AltheHibby

Hi Claire,

It's a total ignore for us up here. Don't let it worry you.

Al.

claire86_2

Thank you Al. So the circumstances of the parking etc are irrelevant then? Been fretting all weekend over the 60 quid. Should've looked here first!

Iceweasel

Do NOT contact them at all - not even to say "Get stuffed".

They can not do anything at all - despite their threats.

You will get 5 of 6 letters at monthly intervals each one threaten even more dire consequences - all of which are impossible.

I have not encountered Palmaris before in Scotland, which town or city was this?

claire86_2

Iceweasel wrote: »

I have not encountered Palmaris before in Scotland, which town or city was this?

It was around Glasgow. They are based in Coatbridge apparently.

AltheHibby

All circumstances are irrelevant as there's not a thing they can do except contribute to the POs profits by sending lots of letters. :-)

Coupon-mad

claire86 wrote: »

Thank you Al. So the circumstances of the parking etc are irrelevant then? Been fretting all weekend over the 60 quid. Should've looked here first!

You only had to search this parking forum in 2 seconds flat for the keyword 'Scotland' and you'd have found this same advice given every single day! The Watchdog video still applies to Scotland & NI (not England/Wales any more):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAIcdi9niHA

Enjoy.

But to be honest I would actually wait to see if they write to you at all when/if they get your data from the DVLA, then send the same complaint about the ticket in the light of your child's disability, to both Palmaris and the Centre Manager of the Shopping Park.

Say you are the registered keeper (do not imply who was driving or you tell Palmaris what they need to know!) and that you have seen on their website that Palmaris boast an equality policy which you wish to invoke and complain about the ticket and letter which has been sent to you. The driver placed the Blue Badge on the dashboard in good faith and needed a wider bay as there was a disabled child on board, so in the absence of a free disabled bay that day, the car needed to be at a slight angle. Other cars had parked similarly without Blue Badges but in this case Palmaris' employee should have seen that the car was used by a disabled person and not ticketed it (as per the BPA Code of Practice). Say that, as a family you all feel that this has tarnished what was a nice trip for the child attending an event at the centre (remember no naming the driver, no 'I parked', no 'me'; stick to 'us' or 'the driver')

http://www.palmaris-services.com/userfiles/files/Palmaris_Equality_Diversity.pdf


HTH - better than putting up with debt collector letters all next year IMHO.