Parking Eye - Machines Out of Order

kelvinhandley

Hi, I would like some help writing a POPLA appeal please.

I've received an £40 fine (discounted from £70) from Parking Eye for not buying a valid parking ticket. On this day I couldn't buy a ticket as both machines were out of order, people were standing around wondering what to do etc.. but I didn't take a photo of the machines, expecting that they would know this.
I have stated that they haven't supplied evidence the machines were out of order - all I have is some photos of my car entering and exiting.
I now have a POPLA form but I'll probably appeal to them online.

I've tried downloading the template from parking cowboys but it doesn't work on my computer (does anyone have this in pdf or word format?) and I'm not sure it would cover my scenario.

Surely I have a good case? If I get declined what would happen if I ignore the charge?

Thanks in advance.

Stroma

Have a read around the forum, start at the sticky threads and you will know how to word your appeal, this is a good start for you

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

Appeal points to popla

1) Not a genuine pre-estimate of loss
2) no contract to issue tickets to motorists
3) inadequate signage

Those are winning points at popla, don't use your machine not working, as that is simply mitigation and will not be considered, you will win on the above. Please post a draft of what you propose to use before submitting to popla.

Guys_Dad

Here is a reply I got from the BPA on this very point.

Personally, I would just go along with the advice in Coupon Mad's sticky "Advice to Newbies" at the top of this forum and not take a chance on them being considerate enough to accept your mitigation. But by all means quote this reply from the BPA in your soft appeal.

Dear GD,

Further to our previous e-mail in regards to your query about broken pay and display machines. I have spoken to one of my managers who has advised the following.

Clearly “putting the customer at the heart of your thinking” would suggest that any parking systems and equipment deployed to control entry, exit and payment for parking should be in operation and motorists provided with the means to comply with any requirements for payment. To undertake enforcement action of any kind when this was not the case would be unfair. It is the adjudication services, both statutory and POPLA that would deal with this unfairness should it arise. Guidance of this kind is not something the BPA currently publishes since it is common sense to some extent and the appeals mechanism is in place.

In practice when payment devices are malfunctioning or not available common sense prevails in most cases and especially when the motorist draws attention to the fact. Most parking operators, public and private sector have routines in place to regularly inspect and maintain equipment to ensure that it is functioning correctly and most equipment manufactured in recent years can be monitored remotely over the internet. It is also worth remembering that in most cases, when an enforcement agent enters say a pay and display car park, the first thing they do is to check the equipment before undertaking enforcement action. This is often evidenced by then physically purchasing a ticket to prove it functions correctly; this also provides the car park operator with times, proof that the enforcement agent was present in the car park. There are a number of other similar or related working practices.

However, operators can have motorists who have received a parking charge notice claim the machine was broken to avoid having to pay to park and paying the parking charge notice. Therefore if you come across a broken machine, we would suggest you look for another machine within the car park and contact the number on the machine to let the operator know.

We hope this clarifies the position further.

Kind regards,

AOS Investigations Team

Redx

one thing you should not do in england and wales is ignore the charge

read the sticky threads and the normal procedure is a soft appeal to the parking company, in this case PE, which if it fails should generate a POPLA code, then you put in a more detailed defence to POPLA , probably with help from this forum

obviously its hard to prove what you have said, in fact anybody can say that anytime they like (I am not saying you are lying, just that it could be said by everybody but its difficult to prove when its true)

if popla deny your appeal, then its down to you if you pay it or wait for it to go to small claims court and fight it there

clearly you have a good case, but winning it on the grounds of faulty machines may be difficult to prove, so you may have to win it on the other typical silver bullets floating round - as long as you win then its irrelevant on the point you win it on , gpeol , no contract with landowner , faulty machines - who cares ? as long as you win

good luck

spacey2012

people were standing around wondering what to do

I bet they know what to do next time.

Park somewhere else.
Machines or no machines you can not trust this company not to scam you.
If they have another word for what they did here, they have a paid forum troll, serve one up for us.

Stroma

Guy the OP has done the soft appeal and has a popla code, so my post two is what should be done now

Guys_Dad

Stroma wrote: »

Guy the OP has done the soft appeal and has a popla code, so my post two is what should be done now

Agreed. However, my hand working faster than my brain. You see that I said that they should follow c-m's sticky (and the next logical step would be POPLA.) I should have explained that the reply from BPA could be sent as a 2nd soft appeal to see if the PPC would accept BPA comments and avoid POPLA. ( That's what I wrote first time before I forgot to "Submit reply" and scrubbed the lot!)

Also, if they don't it could be added to POPLA appeal to see if they comment on it for future ref.

Coupon-mad

I've tried downloading the template from parking cowboys but it doesn't work on my computer

Why?

That's a great website but that old example FIRST challenge is NOT a POPLA appeal.

'How to win at POPLA' and 'POPLA decisions' (read the latest posts only) are shown as links on the sticky thread you've already been advised to read - linked by Stroma. It's as easy as copying & pasting - so please get onto the sticky thread for newbies that you seem to have overlooked so far.

barbsch

hi,
- thought I'd share here, I have won an appeal against a ticket by 'parking eye' on an aldi car partk - I had gone 57 minutes over the allowed hr.
I argued that they would find it difficult to justify any losses occurred by the owner (ALDI) in Court as this car park is 1/3 empty even in busy times. (Obviously this applies also (possibly) if car park is full and you park outside marked bay without obstruction ;-) or if they incur losses due to machines being out of order!
note also that parking eye were dragging the matter out by not sending a complaint response which is needed to turn to POPLA. I had to put my foot down by turning to BPA to get them to send that in the first place. They had already put up charges to 70£.
Interesting is that the decision maker at POPLA not only follows my argument of losses not proven, but also says their business model did not convince (they had claimed their expenses for putting up the boards and sending reminders as part of the losses which does not make sense at all).
So be of good cheer and don't pay them.:rotfl:

Coupon-mad

barbsch wrote: »

hi,
- thought I'd share here, I have won an appeal against a ticket by 'parking eye' on an aldi car partk - I had gone 57 minutes over the allowed hr.
I argued that they would find it difficult to justify any losses occurred by the owner (ALDI) in Court as this car park is 1/3 empty even in busy times. (Obviously this applies also (possibly) if car park is full and you park outside marked bay without obstruction ;-) or if they incur losses due to machines being out of order!
note also that parking eye were dragging the matter out by not sending a complaint response which is needed to turn to POPLA. I had to put my foot down by turning to BPA to get them to send that in the first place. They had already put up charges to 70£.
Interesting is that the decision maker at POPLA not only follows my argument of losses not proven, but also says their business model did not convince (they had claimed their expenses for putting up the boards and sending reminders as part of the losses which does not make sense at all).
So be of good cheer and don't pay them.:rotfl:

We'd love to see the whole decision copied & pasted into the 'POPLA decisions' thread at the top, please. Well done!