UK Parking Patrol Office charge notice - help!

ColliesCarer

But can I expect the POPLA appeal process to be fairly straight forward? I can't really be bothered with a lengthy back and forth between us!!

The process is
You send 1st appeal - which more than likely will get rejected and the parking company provide you with a POPLA code to enable you to submit a POPLA appeal. (The code has a 28 day time limit for use to submit your appeal)

You read up on the NEWBIES thread post #3 for information on how to appeal and various winning templates

You draft your own POPLA appeal using one of the examples as your base to modify - post it up on your thread and the forum will help you fine tune it

You then submit your POPLA appeal

It will be assessed and you will be notified of the result

Sign close up:
http://postimg.org/image/ay8qq530t/

Sign on lamp post:
http://postimg.org/image/nr1wn6ky5/


Also, what does no GPEOL mean?

No GPEOL means NOT a genuine pre estimate of loss
It is a legal argument on which a large number of POPLA appeals win.
The wording on those signs (Failure to comply ....)shows this is what is termed a breach of contract model which means the No GPEOL point will definitely apply for your POPLA appeal and it will win.

The parking companies try to claim that the sum they are charging is by way of damages to compensate them for the driver breaching the parking contract the driver supposedly entered into by parking on that land. Damages must be a genuine loss but on a free car park the parking company lose nothing and so they can not justify the ludicrous amount they are trying to claim - so the appeal gets upheld in your favour.

If you feel all of the above is too much - there is a paid appeals service being offered by some of the long standing forum members to assist people who may not want to do this themselves ( I'm not involved - just letting you know the option is there) where for £16 they will handle the full appeal process for you and guarantee to pay the charge should the appeals not succeed. If interested in this rather than the DIY option above then see

https://www.parkingticketappeals.org.uk

kingdave82

Thank you ColliesCarer - thats all really good and useful information.

Do you have any opinions on the 2 pictures I posted in terms of their "legality"? Text too small, wording too confusing, not clearly setting out T&Cs etc?

Coupon-mad

It wasn't a question of legality I was looking for in the signs. It was simply a case of us looking at the signs to make sure they were alleging the car was parked in breach of terms. That is what the sign alleges as it says 'failure to comply' with terms will result in a PCN. Which is exactly what we wanted to see because it means you WILL almost certainly WIN on 'no GPEOL' when you get to POPLA stage.

The NEWBIES thread does explain what 'no GPEOL' is among the acronyms explanation there. And it's important that you do read that sticky thread because that's where you will find your first appeal template and that's where there's a whole post about POPLA and a hyperlink 'how to win at POPLA' with examples to copy.

It's really as easy as pie to win at POPLA when the signs say 'failure to comply' and you will be using two simple templates.

kingdave82

Resurrecting my old thread here because I'm not now sure what to do.

Posted the appeal letter to the company on the 15th May (not signed for, but do have a proof of posting) and I've heard nothing back. I'm unsure whether this means they haven't received it, or they are still thinking about the next steps.

They haven't even responded or posted anything further out to say that they are now taking me to court etc.

Is it safe to assume this problem has now gone away? Or if they do start threatening anything further now do I have grounds to say that they didn't respond to my letter within 28 days, or even within 28 days of issuing their original letter?

Dee140157

If they have an email address, email them as they have to respond within 35 days according to the BPA Code of Practice demanding a response.

They have breached Part 22.8 of the BPA Code of Practice (acceptance/rejection of an appeal must be communicated, in writing, within 35 days).

kingdave82

Got another update for this one and now need more help!

We've posted off the appeal letter way back in May and heard nothing back from them. No appeal code, no rejection of appeal - nothing!

Now, 2 months later we've received a letter which basically says they have upped the price to £159 and unless we respond it will be given to a debt recovery company.

What do I do now?!

Seems completely unfair as I have followed all the rules, appealed on fair grounds which they have ignored and now I'm basically being threatened to cough up. Is it now too late to do anything?!

bazster

No of course it's not too late.

What you do is this:

- you write to UKPPO pointing out that you appealed on May the whatever (enclose a copy of the proof of posting) and that according to the BPA AOS Code of Practice they were required to acknowledge your appeal within 14 days and decide it within 35 days - or advise you of any delay. Since they did none of these things you deem your appeal to have been successful and you will not be paying them a penny.

- you complain to BPA Ltd. and DVLA that this company is flouting the Code of Practice by ignoring your appeal, failing to issue a PoPLA code and continuing to pursue payment.

BTW, the the threat of debt collectors is about as scary as me threatening to set my cat on you.

kingdave82

bazster wrote: »

No of course it's not too late.

What you do is this:

- you write to UKPPO pointing out that you appealed on May the whatever (enclose a copy of the proof of posting) and that according to the BPA AOS Code of Practice they were required to acknowledge your appeal within 14 days and decide it within 35 days - or advise you of any delay. Since they did none of these things you deem your appeal to have been successful and you will not be paying them a penny.

- you complain to BPA Ltd. and DVLA that this company is flouting the Code of Practice by ignoring your appeal, failing to issue a PoPLA code and continuing to pursue payment.

BTW, the the threat of debt collectors is about as scary as me threatening to set my cat on you.

Thanks for this advice, much reassuring! However, I have a slight problem....

Since the initial letter was sent in May (I still have an electronic copy of this but that probably means sod all as I could just change the date on the Word doc!) I seem to have mislaid the posting receipt. Probably because so much time has passed and they never bothered getting in touch it was probably deemed not to be that important and stuck in the bin during a clean up.

Will that affect the process at all?

Coupon-mad

Nope, not really.

bazster

I agree, just carry on anyway.