Premier Park appeal rejected - what now?!

GemmaDi

Hello,

I received a PCN back in Feb for parking on a bit of private land on my road which really annoyed me because I have a residents parking permit for the road but at the time there were at least 4 cars parked without permits. I accept that I shouldn't have been parked there but it was late on a sunday, pouring with rain and I needed to unload my car rather than parking 10 mins away down a dark alley and lugging my stuff from there! anyway, I wrote a letter:

Premier Park Ltd,
PO Box 624
EX1 9JG

Dear Sir or Madam,

Ticket reference number: xxxxx
Vehicle registration number: xxxxxxxx

You issued me with a parking ticket on xx.xx.2014 and although not on the Parking on Private Land Appeals list of grounds for appeal I believe the ticket was unfairly issued and I will not be paying your demand for payment for the following reasons:

Mitigating circumstances
There are mitigating circumstances to explain why I parked where I did and I am requesting that the charge be waived for this reason. I have a residents parking permit for the road where I was temporarily parked and at this time all spaces were filled. This may be due to the council not enforcing permits at this time , therefore leading to non-residents parking in the road. This is not my fault and the only options I had was to park in the middle of the road or park out of the way on an area which is not used at the time and was not obstructing any rights of way, which I did. May it also be noted that the ticket was issued at xx:20 and I returned to my car at xx:24. I have photographic evidence to show the complete lack of parking spaces in the permitted area, if required.

The fee is disproportionate
According to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations, parking charges on private land must not exceed the cost to the landowner during the period the motorist is parked there. In my case, the £60-100 charge you are asking for far exceeds the cost to the landowner of my parking on the land for less than one hour, during a time where no access was required.

If you choose to pursue me please be aware that I will not enter into any correspondence and this will be the only letter you will receive from me until you answer the specific points raised in my letter.

I think this is fair enough? But I have just had a letter to say my appeal has been rejected because the charge was issued correctly. I can't argue with that, but... £60-£100?!!
so I either have to pay, appeal to POPLA (which as I understand will be rejected due to the circumstances?), or they will 'seek to recover the monies owed via their debt recovery service'

Also, in my opinion it is the councils fault I couldn't park, can they do anything?

Sorry about the garbled information in this post, as you can tell I do not really understand what the law is regarding this ticket, but as far as I understand, I shouldn't have to pay so much for such a silly ticket!

Thanks for your advice

Redx

did they include a POPLA CODE ?

if they did then appeal to popla using the usual appeal points listed via the newbies thread here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4816822

if they didnt issue a popla code report them to the BPA

most of your "circumstances" are irrelevant in this case, including the council argument

Stroma

Okay you've admitted to being the driver which is not really the thing to do, but its to late now. On your rejection did they supply a popla code to appeal to them?

GemmaDi

yes they supplied a POPLA code...

Redx

GemmaDi wrote: »

yes they supplied a POPLA code...

in that case find a suitable popla appeal from the sticky thread and copy and paste it into notepad, then adapt it for your own circumstances and post a redacted copy on here for checking before submitting it to popla

bear in mind popla do not accept mitigation so most of your post is not relevant, so not a gpeol , no contract and bad signage are the winning words generally

the ideal situation would have been if you had asked for help BEFORE submitting your appeal to PREMIER , not admitting you were the driver

you need a lesson in third party letter writing

ie:- the driver did this, the driver said that , etc

GemmaDi

thanks, I used a template I found on here so thought it would be correct.

I wanted to appeal ASAP because I cannot afford to pay £100 charge!

I will have a look at the signs, sorry to keep asking questions as I am looking at the POPLA info thread, but how to I know whether the ticket was for damages or contractual charge?

4consumerrights

I have a residents parking permit for the road where I was temporarily parked (Pavilion Place) and at this time all spaces were filled. This may be due to the council not enforcing permits at this time (20:20 on a Sunday), therefore leading to non-residents parking in the road

Is this a private road or adopted under the council?

I think we need to see the signs here if you can take some photos and post them up please. If this is council owned then why are Premier Park involved and including a POPLA (parking on private land appeal).

AFAIK Premier Park do not have any contracts to enforce council parking charges either.

GemmaDi

4consumerrights wrote: »

Is this a private road or adopted under the council?

I think we need to see the signs here if you can take some photos and post them up please. If this is council owned then why are Premier Park involved and including a POPLA (parking on private land appeal).

AFAIK Premier Park do not have any contracts to enforce council parking charges either.

sorry it is a bit unclear, the road is council enforced residents parking but there is access to the courts off the road, which is private land, not sure who it is owned by...

Coupon-mad

GemmaDi wrote: »

thanks, I used a template I found on here so thought it would be correct.

I wanted to appeal ASAP because I cannot afford to pay £100 charge!

I will have a look at the signs, sorry to keep asking questions as I am looking at the POPLA info thread, but how to I know whether the ticket was for damages or contractual charge?

Good question - but you'd need to show us the sign ideally.

- Damages is where the signs say a PCN is issued for 'breach' or 'failure to comply' and is the easiest scenario to win at POPLA.

- Contractual charge is rarer and is where the sign (and the PCN) says the charge is literally a fee for parking the car in that manner = an agreed fee to park. E.g. 'this car park is free for permit holders but non-permit holders can park here for £100 per day' would be a case of a contractual charge alleged.

GemmaDi

I have looked at the sign and it definately fits into the contractual category...is there a way to post the photo on here?

Stroma

Yes drop the http://www part of the link