PCN Appeals

Quickathri

Thanks for responding. I feel a bit like the proverbial swan as the person I care for is not well so I am having to pick this up when I can and put it down again quite frequently. Anyway to business, I think the letter I wrote to POPLA about not having heard from them did the trick but not in a good way. The following email was sent to me yesterday (17th):

Thank you for your email below. [I had emailed them besides writing]

I am unable to locate an appeal for the below verification code. If this appeal was submitted on 01st July 2014, it is outside the 28 days for an appeal to be registered with POPLA.

In order to avoid any further action by the operator, payment of any amounts owed should now be made without delay. Details of how to pay will appear on previous correspondence from the operator.

Kind Regards

POPLA Administration Team

I've emailed back pointing out that I had sent the appeal twice so I did not see how they could not trace it and that I had proof of posting for both submissions. I asked why they thought I am outside the appeal period and how can that be when the rejection of appeal letter was dated 26 June 2014. I've told them a copy of the 26 June letter was attached to my POPLA appeal and that the dates I sent it (1 and 10 July) were both within the appeal period. Plus I had checked the verification code and it was shown as being a valid one.

I've asked POPLA: to explain what is going on; why it has taken so long for it to reply; if it is saying that my appeal has not reached it twice; and that the PPC has not issued me with a valid verification colde? I've also asked it to answer all of my questions because it is my intention to take this whole matter further.

I told POPLA the appeal can be sent a third time but I look forward to receiving instructions how I can ensure it will reach them and that by the date on the PPC's letter I am still within the 28 day period.

What do you think? Have I missed anything? Do you think I should not just rely on the email but should write again to POPLA enclosing a copy of the appeal rejection letter from the PPC. Should I add this point to the stuff I am putting in my letter to the DVLA. Should I also write to BPA about this, as an addition to my complaint letter to them?

Questions, questions! Happy to receive any any all suggestions except rude ones!

Coupon-mad

You are doing great in pressing POPLA about this. I would also email Steve Clark at the BPA and state that the rejection letter was dated 26th June and you've struggled to get POPLA to accept your appeal (and you are a carer of a person who is very unwell so don't need the stress of all this).

Redx

also bear in mind that if this is a case of where the PPC has jumped ship to the IPC, the dvla and bpa and ipc have all agreed that the correct appeal process should still be followed , so in this case popla should be dealing with this bpa case as agreed between them all and blogged about by parking prankster not long ago

perhaps the problem lies in this aspect of this particular case ?

if so, mention this to the BPA in your complaint and ensure he gets popla to accept it, because they may have received the paperwork but havent logged it due to the PPC changing hats

just a thought

Quickathri

I sent an email to S Clark as suggested but he is out of the office today - just my luck. Anyway I have copied the email I sent to him to his alternative contact for POPLA matters, hopefully Gemma Ridgewell will be able to do something in his absence. I've posted this note just in case you did not have her name in your arsenal of email addresses. I'll copy the points from the email I sent today to POPLA into letter to them over the weekend and post it on Monday 21 July 2014.

Back to the DVLA me thinks.

Quickathri

Fun, fun, fun. Gemma Reidgewell is also on leave today. I love out of office messages that just waste time.

Quickathri

My complaint to the DVLA just needs a bit more work on it and then I can send it off. I'll probably get it on its way on Monday 21st.

The POPLA situation has got me fired up again and I had a thought (I don't get many of them these days so they are precious), does anyone know if I can submit a questionnaire to the shopping centre about its use of blue badges and parking. What I am thinking of is you used to be able to ask employers to provide information before an Employment Tribunal - I can't remember what it was called. The questionnaire could show certain deficiencies in an employers public approach to matters and the actual real situation. What put this in my mind is the comment someone made to me (who works at the centre) that the people usually being given PCNs by the PPC these days are BB holders. Mind you I'm not sure I would know what questions to ask. It just occurred to me it might be something to send or enclose with my next letter to the owners of the shopping centre. To go to the registered address I thought. What do you think? Am I over complicating matters?

Coupon-mad

I thought I would remind posters that your original case is about a genuine disabled person:

Quickathri wrote: »

Actually, I have received two PCNs on differing dates. I was parked in disabled bays with a blue badge holder who has memory problems. Both times they forgot to put their blue badge on the dashboard despite being reminded to do so. Parking is free elsewhere on the site.

So as carer for a disabled person you can make a formal complaint to the Retail Park that disabled service-users are being harassed, pursued for money and subjected to detriment that other motorists are not - and under the Equality Act 2010 that's not lawful. Ask them to pass the complaint to the designated person with responsibility for disability discrimination complaints. You should explain the issue and that the PPC are being discriminatory and aggressive. And that you would appreciate a face to face meeting with the Retail Park Site/Customer Manager about the issues (if you would! That worked for a poster about Bluewater Retail Park) and that your car reg should be added to an exempt 'white list'. And of course the PCN needs cancelling immediately. Say that your impression is that no discussions ever took place prior to enforcement as regards avoiding discrimination and harassment of disabled people, so you want the retail park to step in to deal with the failures of its agent. State that there's a lot more to the issue of discrimination than simply 'stalking the disabled bays' pretending the agent has authority over the BB scheme (it doesn't), typically looking for disabled people who may have forgotten their badge but are still legally entitled to use the adjustment unharassed and for free. And you want to escalate the complaint about this agent and if the PCN is not cancelled you are minded to involve the EHRC to look at the whole set up.

You can't issue a Freedom of Info request as the Retail Park is a private operation.

Quickathri

You keep late hours Coupon Mad. I'm happy to have a meeting with the shopping centre. I'll have to ensure the person I care for can be left or arrange for someone to cover for me. When I get an opportunity to draft something for the shopping centre would someone cast an eye over it just in case ... .

Just some small points, the shopping centre wrote on 24 June to say it had requested the PPC to cancel the PCN's (mentioned earlier in this thread) but then a few days after this the PPC wrote to me (their letter was dated 26 June) rejecting my appeal about the first PCN issued on 24 March (see previous post) but just leaving a blank after the sentence "I have considered your case carefully and have decided to reject your appeal on the following grounds;" So I wrote to the shopping centre (27 June) basically asking the shopping centre to explain what was going on. On the day that was posted (27th) when my mail arrived it contained a second letter dated 23 June from the debt collectors. So I had to write again to the shopping centre on 27th referring to my previous letter of that day and then dash out again to the post office. The two letters of the 27th prompted the shopping centre to write to me (on 30th June) as per my previous post in this thread. The second PCN issued in May at the same centre in practically identical circs was the one I appealed at IPC and won because for that one I did get a rejection letter in good time and I could not hang around waiting for the shopping centre to respond. I sent the POPLA appeal in as quickly as I could to ensure it got to them in good time, plus I thought if I had been successful at IPA then POPLA seemed a probable 'win'. That is the one POPLA are saying hasn't arrived either time I have sent it. That appeal went on its way before the shopping centre responded saying the PPC "were an independent company who have issued the PCN in line with the Blue Badge scheme and therefore do not have to cancel tickets even at their request, which is why it is important to display your Blue Badge in future as it is unlikely I will be able to arrange for any futher tickets to be cancelled if this a happens again." They told me to write to the PPC if I had any doubts that the PCNs had been cancelled. I did not do that because I thought it unlikely the PPC would respond. The letter writer also said they had asked the PPC to confirm they had "called off" the debt collectors. The shopping centre told me (after my appeal had already gone on its way) I did not need to do "anything further including appealing to POPLA as they could not help me if there is not case to answer to and this may just confuse matters".

Apologies, if I did I not make the above clear earlier? Does that change any of your previous advice to me? Do you think that is why POPLA cannot trace my appeals? Surely, if the PCN had been cancelled P OPLA would let me know? Have I been wasting everyone's time?

Sorry if this is rather a gabbling post. Thanks.

Quickathri

Uodate:

complaint to DVLA emailed today

another complaint letter put in the post to POPLA

Nothing heard from BPA yet

Nothing heard from POPLA concerning my email response to them on 18 July 2014

I'm going to begin drafting the letter to the shopping centre to ask for a meeting

Quickathri

Update:

DVLA emailed that they could not open the attachment I had sent them. I pasted it into an email and sent that back to them.

BPA asked for copies of documents that I had already attached to my letter of 14 July to S Clark. I replied that I had sent them but they came back saying they could not find my email of 14 July. I had to reply I had sent a letter not an email (I did tell them that when I referred to it in my email on 18 July.

I just need someone to say computer says no and my life will be complete.