PPS Parking charge - Didcot

KrispiiDuck

Hello,

I am a little late to the game having only just found this board.

On 14/12 I found a Parking Charge attached to my car upon return. I had purchased a ticket from the machine and placed it on the dash and *somehow* it must have flipped over when I closed the door and ran for the train. It was a wet & windy day.

Anyway, I appealed through PPS directly sending a copy of the ticket I had bought plus a copy of the receipt of my train ticket bought shortly after so as no-one could suggest that I had acquired a random ticket from some other means later.

I have had an email back with photos of my car not displaying the ticket - although the images show a ticket present, they are not accepting that I had paid and had not intended to flout the parking rules. They now say I have to either suck it up and pay the £60 or appeal to POPLA with the risk of paying £100.

I would appreciate any advice as to whether I have grounds for appeal to POPLA or if I am wasting my time and gambling a further £40 on the outcome.

Many thanks in advance.

AoD

Read the stickies at the top of the forum.

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

Now you have a POPLA code you can draft your POPLA appeal based on no pre-estimate of loss, inadequate signs etc. The above sticky will guide you through. Post your POPLA draft here first.

And watch your time-scales - you have 28 days from the date of the POPLA code.

Hot_Bring

Did they give you a POPLA code ?

KrispiiDuck

POPLA code dated 020114.

Thank you.

Hot_Bring

Follow AoD's advice then and draft a POPLA appeal. Post it here before sending it.

Redx

edit the code from your post, a simple yes or no and date would suffice

ie:- no personal details are needed on here, and should not be given either

KrispiiDuck

Thanks again - I will draft a response and post here.

I really appreciate the time you guys take to help.

bod1467

Whilst not a REAL problem, it would have been better to have ignored the ticket and waited for the notice to keeper through the post. Having appealed the ticket then they (probably) know you were the driver.

But the POPLA silver bullets will probably still apply - No GPEoL and No Authority (explained in the NEWBIES thread).

Coupon-mad

There is now no risk of paying £100 IMHO. We win 100% of POPLA appeals.

KrispiiDuck

Dear All, I would be grateful for you comments on the draft below - sections borrowed from various previous postings.

Thanks in advance.

Premier ParkPCN number xxxxx
POPLA code xxxxxxxxxx (dd/mm/yyyy)
Vehicle Registration My Reg

On 14th December 2013, Premier Parking Solutions issued a parking charge notice of £100 because the above vehicle was not displaying a valid dashboard ticket.
I appeal on the grounds that I am not liable for the parking charge. I HAD purchased a ticket for 24 hours at a cost of £6.10 (overpaid as I did not have the correct change available) The ticket states “Fix ticket inside window” but is not supplied with any means of affixing the ticket to the window. Therefore, I placed the ticket on my dashboard.

I believe that the 'parking charge' is not a genuine pre-estimate of loss and I question the proprietary interest of Premier Park in the land.

'The charge is a penalty and not a genuine pre-estimate of loss'.

In this case the £100 charge, far exceeds the cost to the landowner who would have charged me £6.00 for the time my car was parked there. The £100 charge, in addition to the £6.10 already paid, cannot be construed as anything but a punitive penalty. For this charge to be justified, a full breakdown of the costs Premier Park has suffered as a result of the car being parked at the car park is required and should add up to £100. Normal expenditure the company incurs to carry on their business (e.g. provision of parking, parking enforcement or signage erection) should not be included in the breakdown, as these expenses would have been suffered irrespective of the car being parked at that car park.


Proprietary Interest

The appellant does not believe that the operator has demonstrated a proprietary interest in the land, because they have no legal possession which would give Premier Park any right to offer parking spaces, let alone allege a contract with third party customers of the lawful owner/occupiers. In addition, Premier Park lack of title in this land means they have no legal standing to allege trespass or loss, if that is the basis of their charge.

The appellant contends that Premier Park are only an agent working for the owner and their signs do not help them to form a contract without any consideration capable of being offered. VCS -v- HMRC 2012 is the binding decision in the Upper Chamber which deals with this issue.

The Keeper believes there is no contract with the landowner/occupier that entitles them to levy these charges and therefore has no authority to issue parking charge notices (PCNs). This being the case, the burden of proof shifts to Premier Park. The appellant expects Premier Park to prove that they are not in breach of section 7.1 of the BPA code.

Even if a basic contract is produced and mentions PCNs, the lack of ownership or assignment of title or interest in the land reduces any contract to one that exists simply on an agency basis between Premier Park and the owner/occupier, containing nothing that Premier Park can lawfully use in their own name as a mere agent, that could impact on a third party customer.

Due to these reasons, I respectfully request that this ‘Parking Charge Notice’ should be dismissed.

Coupon-mad

Yep, your homework has paid off! You will win the POPLA appeal in February so the PPC will be the ones to 'suck it up'!