ParkingEye/Popla

Moaning_Me

Hi

I parked in car park in April 2014 and the machine would not take my money. I thought perhaps there was something wrong with the ticket machine - no instructions of what to do - signage showed telephone number but did not have a phone. I left the car in the car park for 38 mins.

I then received a parking fine from ParkingEye saying I had to pay £100 but would reduce to £65 if paid within time period or I could appeal. I appealed the ticket stating the reasons. I received a letter back saying my appeal had been refused and as a gesture of goodwill extended the time period or I could appeal to POPLA. I decided to appeal to POPLA, unfortunately I did not seek any help because it was a genuine reason. I heard back from POPLA - my appeal had been refused because ParkingEye had produced evidence that a ticket had been bought from the machine whilst my car had been parked, so there was nothing wrong with the machine and POPLA advised me to pay the £100.

I received a letter on the same day as I received the POPLA refusal from ParkingEye stating it was a letter before Court Action, which I found quite threatening - I am not going to pay the fine and have written a letter to ParkingEye (registered) stating that the charge is unreasonable and will not enter into any correspondence with them unless they actually answer my original questions.

I am a bit scared (65 yrs young) but these people are bullies and I feel that POPLA did not consider my reasons for not purchasing a parking ticket. POPLA just dismissed my reasons because another member of the public had managed to purchase a ticket.

I am a law abiding citizen and will take my chance in Court.

Has anybody been in this situation.

Umkomaas

You've missed out one other option in your 'Poll'

'Should I have read the NEWBIES sticky at the top of the forum index before starting this thread?'

Why do you need a 'Poll'?

Hot_Bring

Wow - how many things can a single person get wrong !

Please read the Newbies thread to see how to respond to the Letter Before Action. You might want to downloaded the Parking Pranksters guide to defeating Parking Eye in court as well.

You will need to be well prepared for court and the arguments you used in your POPLA appeal won't work.

pogofish

Your actual situation means very little here and the chances of debt collectors turning up at your door is minuscule.

You need to read the Newbies Sticky carefully to see the various options for seeing them off.

nigelbb

You've missed out one other option in your 'Poll'

Should clueless newbies be able to start a Poll with their very first post?

Umkomaas

nigelbb wrote: »

You've missed out one other option in your 'Poll'

Should clueless newbies be able to start a Poll with their very first post?

:rotfl::rotfl:

I've already voted for 'What about bailiffs attending my home'. Seemed like a good one to pick!

BigRedOne

The British Parking Association's Code of Practice states:

19.7 If prompt payment is made (defined as 14 days from [FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans][FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans]the issue of the parking charge notice) you must offer [/FONT][/FONT]a reduced payment to reflect your reduced costs in [FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans][FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans]collecting the charge. This reduction in cost should be by at least 40% of the full charge. [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans][FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans][FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans]£65 is less than the 40% reduction which should be offered - so there is one technicality that you havbe them on[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans][FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans][/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans][FONT=Gill Sans,Gill Sans]BRO
[/FONT][/FONT]

da_rule

As you are probably aware by now, your mistake was to assume that POPLA would be interested in what actually happened on the day (they aren't). They are only interested in legal points.

You may also be aware that ParkingEye are extremely litigious and take people to court every day.

So I'll try to address some of your concerns. Firstly, you may receive correspondence from 'debt collectors', these are not bailiffs (although some may also be bailiffs, they will not be acting in this role at this stage). Debt collectors can be dealt with in one of two way; ignore or send a strongly worded cease and desist letter.

Now, you've had a LBCCC (letter before claim) which you have already replied to. ParkingEye use a template LBCCC which is not compliant with the Civil Procedure Rules (the rules which govern the civil courts). There is a template response to this in the Newbies sticky thread (at the top of the forum), send that to them as well.

Now, if you receive a claim form (N1) from Northampton County Court this means that they have commenced court proceedings. You have to acknowledge the claim within 14 days. You then have a further 14 days (28 days in total from when the form was issued) to prepare your defence. The Newbies sticky thread again contains some links to materials that will help you, should you need them.

Now, we come to bailiffs and CCJ's etc. If you lose at court and don't pay the amount then you will end up with a CCJ (but let's be honest, if the court orders you to do something you're probably going to do it). Likewise with bailiffs, you will only have real bailiffs knocking on your door if you lose at court and don't pay up by the deadline set out by the court (usually within 14 days, but can be longer depending on the amount etc).

Finally, two quick things:
1) Don't send things recorded to parking companies. Send them first class, but take them to a Post Office and obtain free proof of postage. The law sets out an assumption that anything sent first class will be deemed as delivered 2 working days after it is posted, unless the recipient can prove otherwise. Sending it in a manner which requires their signature means that they can 'reject' the mail and therefore rebut the assumption.
2) It is not a fine, it was a speculative invoice which you have not paid.

Hope this is of some help.

bod1467

Regarding recorded delivery ... I used to think the same. The reality is though that it is still deemed that an attempt to deliver has been made, so meets the legal requirements. (i.e. with recorded you still have a proof of posting).

But since recorded (in such a scenario) gives no advantage over a certificate of posting, then why waste money on recorded?

da_rule

A further point. Have you complained to the landowner? Or any shops that use the car park? As these often have the ability to get parking charges cancelled, even at this late stage.

Redx

I then received a parking fine from ParkingEye saying I had to pay £100 but would reduce to £65 if paid within time period or I could appeal.

no you did not , you received a speculative invoice from PE

I decided to appeal to POPLA, unfortunately I did not seek any help because it was a genuine reason. I heard back from POPLA - my appeal had been refused because ParkingEye had produced evidence that a ticket had been bought from the machine whilst my car had been parked, so there was nothing wrong with the machine and POPLA advised me to pay the £100.

you used mitigation and popla do not accept mitigation and it tells you this on their website , that is why they ruled in favour of PE.

had you used not a gpeol , no contract and bad signage you would have won your appeal, probably on not a gpeol , then you would not be in this pickle

I received a letter on the same day as I received the POPLA refusal from ParkingEye stating it was a letter before Court Action, which I found quite threatening - I am not going to pay the fine and have written a letter to ParkingEye (registered) stating that the charge is unreasonable and will not enter into any correspondence with them unless they actually answer my original questions.

they followed correct procedures and so yes it is considered "quite threatening" , its supposed to be

no they do not have to answer your questions , not unless they take you to court as they would have to defend themselves agaisnt your questions at court, so are unlikely to prove it beforehand as they have no compulsion to do so

you are on the back foot here, so need to be more pro-active , not expect them to help you , they would prefer to stall and hinder you , or take you to court regardless , you need to wise up and play the game better than them , bearing in mind they do this every week and you dont

I am a bit scared (65 yrs young) but these people are bullies and I feel that POPLA did not consider my reasons for not purchasing a parking ticket. POPLA just dismissed my reasons because another member of the public had managed to purchase a ticket.

I am a law abiding citizen and will take my chance in Court.

yes they are bullies , that is how they make their money

popla dont allow for the argument you put forward, so you missed using legal points there and its too late now as they made their ruling

the law abiding citizen doesnt apply here as this is private land and so only civil law applies and they could take you to court for trespassing or more likely breach of contract, they would allege you failed to pay and so are seeking remuneration in a small claims court for their invoice , so its PE versus you at LBCCC stage and small claims court

so yes , take your chance in court if it comes to that , you may well win

Has anybody been in this situation.

hundreds of people seeing as they issue maybe 12000 court claims a year

so yes is the answer , many times over

so much so that parking prankster has a book on amazon and smashwords for sale , plus a free book too , written specifically about court claims and parking eye , and defending said court claims

its more than likely that there is a similar case daily in one of the courts in england and wales, probably several , with one going to the high court on appeal later this year (the cambridge case)

so time to wise up and learn the rules of the "game" (sorry to be so blunt but its true)