Requesting photos of Peel Centre's car park (Stockport)

Einstein_A_Go-Go

Hi all,

We are building up a defence against PCN issued at the Peel Centre car park in Stockport, just-in-case I have to go to court later.

This is a notorious car pack where the parking restriction signage and machine was not clearly visible to drivers entering the car park; not if you were watching the road. The PPC even lost a case, Excel -Vs- Cutts at Stockport County Court, and was criticised about it by the Judge, but they failed to improve the signage for many months after. I believe the PPC finally changed/updated the signage in the summer of 2013; the centre is a long way away from us, so we have not been back.

The best images I have are the images in Google Street View dated September 2012. These clearly show very poorly positioned and very limited signage, and I can definitely take some screen shots of these, but I am unsure whether I will be allowed to use them (copyright issues?) in my defence.

For those interested in seeing what I see, you can go to Google Maps ( maps dot google dot com ), search for coordinates "53.414737,-2.149461", then go into Street View and look around.

So my request here is for readers to kindly share any photographs of the Peel Centre signage that they may have taken any time between January and April 2013 or any other time before the signs were changed last summer.

I suspect many other readers will find the images invaluable as well.

Many thanks in advance.

Redx

anyone who has had an excel pack in the post or by email should have those as they would feature in their popla packs (not had that problem myself though)

I know they were changed and that other members have stated the signage on there is actually very good now (although they hate to say so)

C_Mababejive

With all due respect to anyone who has been ticketed,i know this car park. I know you have to pay to park on it and display a ticket..so whats the problem?

Redx

C_Mababejive wrote: »

With all due respect to anyone who has been ticketed,i know this car park. I know you have to pay to park on it and display a ticket..so whats the problem?

already answered in his other recent thread

also you are incorrect, despite knowing the car park so well

if you had read his other thread you would know this relates to KFC, where parking is "free"

its also a well known problem too, the KFC business as opposed to the main car park you are talking about

Einstein_A_Go-Go

C_Mababejive wrote: »

With all due respect to anyone who has been ticketed,i know this car park. I know you have to pay to park on it and display a ticket..so whats the problem?

The problem is that up to around March or April 2013 (maybe a bit later as well), it was not at all clear to drivers unfamiliar with the parking that it was a pay and display parking. That is evident from the numerous complaints on this forum and other sites on the web. And let us not forget that the huge majority of people who would have been trapped in the same way would have silently paid the invoice ("pcn") after reading the threatening letters from the PPC.

It may be clearly signed now (I don't know, haven't been recently) or you may be a frequent visitor to the parking area, but it does not change the fact that it was not at all clear for many many other visitors pre-summer 2013. Hence the request for photo/s to help prove the previously poor positioning and size of the notice/s.

For example, Google Street View shows only a single sign 4 to 5 meters to the left of the entrance of the the car park and a small parking plate above the driver's line of view to the right. No careful driver concentrating on the road and looking out for crossing shoppers ahead can reasonably be expected to have seen these on the way in.

From inside the parking area of the car pack, if the driver looked way back to the entrance, he/she would only have seen a blank white backing of the larger sign.

As said above... the signs may have been corrected in the summer of 2013 to make them visible, but that was definitely not the case prior to that as clearly ruled by the judge in Excel Vs. Cutts.

Redx

as far as I am aware, there have also been the changes whereby it went from about 14 hours a day pay to park to 24/7 pay to park

added to this, the KFC signage is not supposed to be clearly signed as the main entrance and exit relate to the peel centre car parking (changed since the court case) but afaik dont make it clear on entry as to the rules with KFC , where its 15 minutes free parking for quick turn rounds, but I also believe its not clearly signed near KFC that parking charges apply for a longer stay as per in the main car park there

this KFC business catches out many a visitor including the driver of the car featured in this particular case

the PCN was issued on the basis of this long stay with no paid for ticket whereby the driver buys a ticket and puts the reg number into the machine

either way, its been proven enough times at popla that no legal contract has been produced as yet, and the usual not a gpeol is also a winner as regards this site too

so no matter how you dress it up, the punishment does not fit the crime and the KFC business only makes matters worse !!

the OP does not have to justify his request, he is merely asking for recent photos of this signage , so I am sure somebody in the process of appealing to popla on the peel centre or kfc at the peel centre issues will have these photos

I already know prankster has various info about contracts etc for this site as he says so in his posts or blogs

Coupon-mad

You know about the Cutts case but maybe you haven't found Martin Cutts blogs about this?

http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/plcdev/files/126/original/DVLA-BPA-Cutts22Apr2012_1b_mf.pdf

Martin is one of the founders of the Plain Language Commission. Photos in that PDF. The case is well known to us.

C_Mababejive

Fair enough...i am not sure about the KFC situation. In fact i hadnt even noted a KFC on site. Towards the rear of the peel centre in the area where the service road enters at the back of the stores and adjacent to the gas holder yard..there was a parking area which was un metered for quite some time. I'm not sure if this has now been converted into pay and display. I do think it is poor, given the state of small town shopping areas like stockport, that they do charge for parking.

I would advise everyone to boycott the peel car park and either park in Matalan, ASDA,Sainsbury or even better..park for free in big Tesco. Cut off their income stream.

Of course people wont do it.

If photos are of use of the car park as it is now, i will happily take and provide as i have some spare time

Redx

excellent reply, and yes I think those photos may be helpful given the current KFC parking problem

how anybody is expected to enter the peel centre using its single entrance , park at KFC in a red bay, order a meal , pay for it , receive the meal, get back in their vehicle and exit that car park using the single exit all in 15 minutes to qualify for free parking is beyond me, then you dont know if the meal really costs more like £100 all in until about 10 to 14 days later, if you get a PCN in the post !! ridiculous , also clearly designed to trap the unwary like the partner of this OP who isnt aware of this being a stranger to the area

I also agree that Tesco is the best bet and also free too for 3 hours , as Staples/Maplin etc car park has JAS patrolling it and they give out tickets just for going "off site" so nobody should think of parking there and walking to KFC or Nandos !!

nigelbb

Sorry, I am sure your post is heartfelt but that is a totally unreadable mess without paragraphs, capitalisation & punctuation.

bondy_lad

ok thanks for that not looking for sympathy,i have a disability,so its either post this way or not bother,post deleted.