But if I've already admitted I'm the driver...?

Coupon-mad

It's easy to tell - CP Plus in SW trains car parks issue PENALTY Notices, not Parking Charges. Doesn't mean you just fold and pay though but be wary about it if you park there very day. Beware - CP Plus also clamp cars under the guise of byelaws and it's all very muddy waters which the BPA ignore.

There will be no appeal to POPLA re a PENALTY Charge but you can complain to the TOC and to Passenger Focus - and string the communications & appeal letters out for months, take your time responding each time.

A case has to be laid before the Mag's court within six months or it's dead - and the ones we have seen, are dying and not pursued that way. CP Plus use the byelaws excuse but then revert to Debt Recovery Plus letters and would not be likely to refer it back to the TOC to pursue in court within six month (not least because CP Plus would then nit get the payment!).

You have shot yourself in the foot which was silly - but there are plenty of CP Plus threads about these Penalty Charges. Search and ONLY read threads specifically about stations and Penalty Charges by CP Plus - we have had about 3 threads in the past couple of months like this and it's all been discussed, and advice links provided.

Please read threads like this on here and on pepipoo forum here:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=60

I recall useful stuff posted by anon45 on pepipoo about these 'penalty charges' and have never seen one revert to a court, especially not if DRP send letters you know it's not going in that direction.

You could also find threads by Googling 'CP Plus penalty SW station car park' or similar but I will leave that to you. DON'T get spooked and pay up - that wouldn't be very MSE when we have several threads and so do pepipoo, about this very issue and NONE have gone to court.

davestalker

thanks Coupon-mad, I've read a few of your posts on here and you always seem to give sound advice.

i'll freely admit I was silly in identifying myself, unfortunately it was before I started looking into it. the benefit of hindsight, eh?

perhaps my avenue lies in arguing that the penalties are punitive and unreasonable and that I should invite them to break down how my actions caused them loss of revenue to that amount?

I took photos of the signs at the station today, but because i'm a new user it won't let me post the links.

they do look like i'm bang to rights, though I know a lot of people do get off them. I've looked on pepipoo, but will dig deeper.

I asked at the station today about seeing or getting a copy of the station byelaws and the guy behind the counter was completely floored, he said they didn't have anything they could give me and suggested everything I needed was printed on the signs.

Coupon-mad

I presume you are following Puddings thread now after searching for other CP Plus cases in railway car parks? I never give links to obvious threads, it's on page one/two right now on this forum as Puddings updated it today. There are others as well - not sure what you mean by 'they do look like i'm bang to rights, though I know a lot of people do get off them' since this is a pseudo-penalty ticket, a hybrid that only CP Plus issue and yet there is no POPLA.

So it's just a matter of getting past that six month timeline - after which it goes nowhere as it will be too late for the TOC to pursue - and you can then complain to the BPA and DVLA about your data being obtained under the guise of railway byelaws when it was not pursued under that route. It's a leap of faith by you I know, and SWT do sometimes follow penalties up but I think they are ones where THEY have issued the penalty themselves. But I have never seen a CP Plus penalty ticket morph into a mag's court case, yet. They seem to just go the predictable way of debt recovery plus letters. Keep a close eye on Puddings' thread as he's months ahead of you!