Is this initial appeal letter suitable?

rorylando45

EDIT: Update in post #12

Hi all, got a private parking ticket recently and was wondering if anyone could have a read through of my initial appeal letter to the company who issued the parking ticket, and let me know how it is? Thanks! I will be around to answer any questions. I have replaced any specific info with square brackets.

[my address]

[date]

[their appeals address]

Dear Sir or Madam,

Reference number: [ref number]
Vehicle registration number: [reg]

You issued me with a parking ticket on [date] but I believe it was unfairly issued and I will not be paying your demand for payment for the following reasons:

• There was insufficient signage
The carpark in question has no clear signage to explain what the relevant parking restrictions are. This means no contract can be formed with the landowner and all tickets are issued illegally. Please see attached evidence I have gathered as proof, in the form of photographs taken at the scene.

Please see Fig 1. Highlighted in red is the space I occupied. As you can see, there is no visible signage anywhere on the adjacent wall. There is a clearer view of the wall in Fig 5 – as you can see, no visible signage.

Please now refer to Fig 4. On the occasion in question I was going into [shop] to buy a [thing]. Any sane person would reasonably conclude that these parking spaces are for the use of [shop] customers; they are directly outside the store and there is nothing to distinguish them from the legitimate [shop] spaces.

Now please take a look at Fig 2. This is the view I would have seen on the off chance I had turned my head to the right whilst walking from my car into [shop]. If you look closely you may be able to see a small sign innocuously placed on the brick wall. It is by no means clear and to presume that all users of the car park will see the sign is frankly preposterous. Even if I were to have noticed it, I would probably have assumed it only applied to the row of spaces directly in front of it. In any case I have perfect vision and would not have seen this sign unless I was right next to it.

• The fee is disproportionate
According to the Unfair 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 £100.00 charge you are asking for far exceeds the cost to the landowner – I was occupying the space for no longer than 10 minutes. If £100.00 was a fair penalty, that would imply the space is worth £600 per hour, which is of course ludicrous.

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.

Yours faithfully,



[name]

Nodding_Donkey

Don't be surprised if they don't treat it as an appeal but as a request for information.

There are examples of good appeals in the newbies thread.

rorylando45

I've just seen this part of the newbies thread:

If no time to 'dig out flaws' in paperwork, just use our appeal examples, no need to dig any deeper unless your PCN was from 'Devere', 'District Enforcement', 'Secure a Space', 'Napier', 'CPM' or 'Combined Parking Solutions' - if so, please start a thread with a picture of the sign on site and don't respond to private messages offering 'help'!

My PCN was from one of those firms. So should I post a photo of the sign?

Nodding_Donkey

Might be a good idea

rorylando45

Thank you

ColliesCarer

Was this a postal notice or a windscreen ticket?

If a postal notice then send the template 1st appeal letter you will find in the NEWBIES thread you have been reading.

If a windscreen notice and the car is not company/leased/hired wait for the NtK before sending the 1st appeal template.

The template letter is fine for 1st appeal stage for this company and that sign but when you get a rejection letter and a POPLA code post again on this thread as your POPLA appeal will need special wording to deal with the fact that they are trying to claim the charge is a contractually agreed fee.

It isn't because it's a nonsense to claim you have entered into a contract and agreed to pay a fee to do something that is not permitted - but your POPLA appeal will need careful wording to deal with this point.

rorylando45

It was a windscreen ticket. So I will wait to receive something through the post before taking any further action?

And also from reading the newbies thread, am I right in thinking that any appeal letter I send should be from 'the keeper' as opposed to 'the driver'? I am actually the keeper but on this case it wasn't me who got the ticket, it was my partner. I wrote the above letter on their behalf. [sorry for any confusion ]

rorylando45

Also I have just read Umkomaas' "walk-through" post. A couple of questions about some of his/her points:

2. If the parking incident was at a retail park/shop go back to the store the Parking Charge Notice relates to and see THE manager, complain about a genuine customer being harassed and ask that they cancel the ticket. Show him/her any receipts for the day in question. If they are unable to do this ask for the name and address of the MD/CEO, as you will now write to them (and DO it!).

I am not sure the shop that was visited owns the space that was parked in. In which case is it still worth doing this? I'm just not sure if the manager would have any authority to cancel the ticket.

Basically some of the spaces in the car park are for customers of this shop, and the others (one of the ones that was parked in on this occasion) are the CPM ones.

I've had a Google search for who the landowner is but can't find anything really.

4. If you have receipts for the day (or bank/credit card statements) proving purchases, send (redacted) copies of them to the PPC with covering letter stating you were a customer on the day, and shopping at their principal's establishment was the only cause of any overstay.

We do have a receipt from this shopping outing, but again is it worth sending that to the PPC on the basis that I don't even think customers of the shop in question are meant to use those spaces? And if so, should I do that now or wait for the NtK? (presumably wait?)

Sorry for the questions and thank you. It is hard to explain the specific situation without giving away any identifying details!

ColliesCarer

We don't need to know too much in terms of details - what happened on the day is largely irrelevant. What matters are the legal arguments contained within the 1st appeal template letter which doesn't need any additions - so wait for the NtK and then send the template letter from the Registered Keeper.

Shop managers often can cancel charges even if they are not the landowner and the manager may know who the landowner is for the area of the car park you parked in.

Can't really answer your question about the receipt as there seems to be some doubt about whether that would help or hurt your case.
But in general receipts aren't needed as it's the legal arguments that matter.

While you wait for the NtK read the NEWBIES thread and other threads for UKCPM (use Search the Forum - stick to recent threads though prob those < 6 months old) to gen up on why the particular circumstances are largely irrelevant and won't win an appeal.

Coupon-mad

We've seen that UKCPM signage wording before and the POPLA appeal will need to be very obvious and clear about the fact that this is an allegation of 'unauthorised' parking and so must represent a genuine pre-estimate of loss. Plus the usual other stuff about no authority/landowner contract.

Anyhoo, wait for the NTK before sending the template appeal from the NEWBIES thread which is deliberately written to force a PPC like this, to state the basis of their charge. If UKCPM say it is a contractual fee to park you can shoot that down, and if they say it was a GPEOL then you can shoot that down too!

rorylando45

Thank you to all. I will update this thread as and when I receive the NTK.