PCN for wrong car registration number entered

dearn21

Hello. Firstly I am really sorry if i have posted this is the wrong place, it is my first time so please be gentle with me!

We parked in a Excel parking ANPR carpark last month. I bought a ticket entered my reg and away I went. A couple of weeks later I received a parking charge notice for £60 if paid within 28 days or £100 after this time. I knew I had definitely paid and luckily I still had a copy of the ticket and that is when I realised what I had done wrong. I had entered my car reg number in ( we were in my husbands car) I sent a letter straight back explaining the situation. genuine error etc, I received a letter back saying if I paid a £10 pcn charge and proved that the car of other vehicle reg that I entered belonged to me, that would be it. I was so angry because as far as I was concerned I had paid the car parking charge displayed my ticket. my husband said just pay it but i felt that it was unfair, so upon reading forums about popla etc I wrote back and said that I would not pay the £10 as I felt that they had not lost out financially. I had a copy of the ticket and I quoted all the details to them and said that if they looked at their system they would see that no car with the incorrect reg number that I entered had gone into that car park that day and I had ticket to prove the actual incorrect reg number that inputted. I asked that if they turned down my appeal would they send me a POPLA code.
They replied saying that they now wanted £60 and gave me a POPLA code. I now think should I have just paid the £10 but deep down I know that I have to stick up for mine and other peoples rights and it just is not fair when a genuine mistake is made and I paid for my ticket ( in fact i paid 10p more as I didnt have the correct change!) I have tried to look for info on appealing to POPLA but I am so confused and I dont know what basis to appeal. I very naively thought just saying I made an error would be enough, because I had paid and displayed a ticket but apparently this wont work as it is in their terms and conditions that you enter your car registration number in ( not for the car that is parked at home!) Please please can anyone help with what to put in my appeal, as mentioned I have spent ages looking through pages of stuff and forums but can't seem to see one for incorrectly entering the wrong reg. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have never done any thing like this before.

Dee140157

The appeal will be based on legal points not the circumstances which are largely irrelevant, although I did see a similar post recently.

Look at Post 3 of the Newbies thread and click on the words How to win at POPLA for lots if good examples of appeals.

Guys_Dad

POPLA will not be interested in your reason, however valid. As recommended, go for a generic appeal ignoring the circumstances.

The NEWBIES sticky thread is at the head of this forum

Coupon-mad

dearn21 wrote: »

Hello. Firstly I am really sorry if i have posted this is the wrong place, it is my first time so please be gentle with me!

We parked in a Excel parking ANPR carpark last month. I bought a ticket entered my reg and away I went. A couple of weeks later I received a parking charge notice for £60 if paid within 28 days or £100 after this time. I knew I had definitely paid and luckily I still had a copy of the ticket and that is when I realised what I had done wrong. I had entered my car reg number in ( we were in my husbands car) I sent a letter straight back explaining the situation. genuine error etc, I received a letter back saying if I paid a £10 pcn charge and proved that the car of other vehicle reg that I entered belonged to me, that would be it.

I was so angry because as far as I was concerned I had paid the car parking charge displayed my ticket. my husband said just pay it but i felt that it was unfair, so upon reading forums about popla etc I wrote back and said that I would not pay the £10 as I felt that they had not lost out financially.

I had a copy of the ticket and I quoted all the details to them and said that if they looked at their system they would see that no car with the incorrect reg number that I entered had gone into that car park that day and I had ticket to prove the actual incorrect reg number that inputted. I asked that if they turned down my appeal would they send me a POPLA code.

They replied saying that they now wanted £60 and gave me a POPLA code. I now think should I have just paid the £10 but deep down I know that I have to stick up for mine and other peoples rights and it just is not fair when a genuine mistake is made and I paid for my ticket ( in fact i paid 10p more as I didnt have the correct change!) I have tried to look for info on appealing to POPLA but I am so confused and I dont know what basis to appeal. I very naively thought just saying I made an error would be enough, because I had paid and displayed a ticket but apparently this wont work as it is in their terms and conditions that you enter your car registration number in ( not for the car that is parked at home!).

Please please can anyone help with what to put in my appeal, as mentioned I have spent ages looking through pages of stuff and forums but can't seem to see one for incorrectly entering the wrong reg. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I have never done any thing like this before.

Hope you have found the LOADS of examples of 'How to win at POPLA' in post #3 of the NEWBIES thread which was at the top of the forum all along? Also searching the forum for Excel as a keyword would find hundreds of threads, many with their POPLA appeals for you to copy from (only read 2014 versions).

bod1467

There have been several threads regarding incorrect registration being entered.

Wasn't IverPECheque's win against Parking Eye at Fistral Beach essentially the same?

The_Deep

Does anyone else here think that the PPC's offer of £10 to settle was not unreasonable?

Redx

The_Deep wrote: »

Does anyone else here think that the PPC's offer of £10 to settle was not unreasonable?

my opinion is that £10 is not unreasonable if the driver has not paid for parking

if they have paid for parking and no loss was incurred then I think its unreasonable to have these rules that penalise those who park , pay and display and are being penalised due to a minor error on their part, or suffer memory loss or have alzheimers or some other mitigating issue

if I go in a pub and pay for a pint and the barman hasnt registered the payment or some other minor infringement has taken place, I believe if no loss was suffered the landlord should accept that the matter is settled, even if the glass is dropped and broken which they often do in order to preserve the customers future custom

if I go into asda and buy something and use and pay at the self service checkout and a problem occurs afterwards whereby a security guard and/or manager was involved , then maybe the police were called, then it was shown that no loss occurred to the shop as the item was bought and paid for , I dont get an invoice for £85 or £100 in the post charging me for the security guards time + managers time + police time and any tracking down of my home address !

if you pay for something , its yours , you should not have to prove it to all and sundry , and if the accuser is incorrect in pursuing you then the costs are borne by them and not by you

if Excel (or PE for that matter) actually used a warden who knew you had paid even if the reg was wrong, this wouldnt happen , if they used pay on exit barriers , it wouldnt happen

EXCEL have even stated on TV and in the press that they check for these errors and will cancel such charges where its a genuine mistake (which we can all make)

but if no payment was made on a p & d car park, then £10 is not unreasonable to settle the matter , IMHO of course

so in this case if no loss was suffered only their petty system that doesnt allow for the error, then Excel should shoulder the subsequent losses as part of their "warden" or supervisory duties because the less rules they impose or the better the supervison the less problems they get

but they use anpr and user entry at a p&d machine and assume the driver is guilty until proven innocent, even when innocent of any wrongdoing apart from putting in the wrong reg number they still want their pound of flesh, which doesnt sit right with me

they are unlikely to be the landowner , so if the landowner wasnt bothered about chasing this up , then they should shoulder the loss as part of their business costs of running the car park and only pursue if its clear non-payment

Umkomaas

The_Deep wrote: »

Does anyone else here think that the PPC's offer of £10 to settle was not unreasonable?

They would have certainly had to go to some expense in accessing RK details from the DVLA and writing to the RK, so perhaps not an unreasonable request for the recovery of costs.

This is a 'first' - from my recollection - of Excel acting in a relatively reasonable manner.

Faced with the alternative of the time and effort to get rid of the full charge now, a tenner might have been an inexpensive option. Even KIFL/4CR can't do it that cheaply! :rotfl:

But then my instinct kicks in and causes me to fight because of the fundamental nature of the PPC business model; the OP also seems to be of similar instinct.

Umkomaas

Pssst - Redx, it's Excel! :doh:

dearn21

Hi again thanks for your responses.I have looked through lots of info on popla cases and all the newbie stuff but I'm still feelinfg confused can anyone point me in the direction of popla appeals regarding wrong registration number entered like I did. Any help would be much appreciated , as I need to do the appeal in the next coupe if days. I can see why people just give up and pay but I really want to make a stand and fight but I am scared!

hoohoo

The_Deep wrote: »

Does anyone else here think that the PPC's offer of £10 to settle was not unreasonable?

If this was a one off, then yes. However, let us not forget that the parking company know all the registrations of cars already in the car park and have the technology to only accept a valid registration.

The Prankster blogged about one such car park where an FoI request showed no tickets for overstays in 3 months.

Implementing a fair system like this would obviously hit PPC's hard.

On balance then, £10 would be a fair charge in other circumstances, but as this is entirely self-inflicted by the PPC and they have the means to prevent this and have had for some time, then I personally do not agree it is a fair charge.

However, I would also take a practical view and decide whether it was worth time and effort to fight if I could make the problem disappear by paying £10.