PCM - Are they an Approved Operator???

Bazza1975

I'm going to try and put something together this afternoon in response to the Council's email to me, and also a letter of complaint to the Local Councillors. I would appreciate some guidance as to what I should actually put in these two emails.

I was thinking of including mitigation to the Councillors...

Limited parking.
Driver of the vehicle working in the school opposite.
Parked in the same place numerous times before.
No road markings to determine where these restrictions actually start.
Not physically blocking any residential property or in any way affecting/causing any problems whatsoever to any local residents parking or traffic flow.
Not actually parking in or anywhere near the Housing Estate at all!

Is there anything else you think I should include?

As for the reply to the Council, should I just explain that as a PPC, they are not permitted legally to enforce Penalty Charge Notices (only Council Traffic Wardens can), and therefore I will be complaining to the Local Councillors about this "set up" to investigate further? Or something else?

Any help or advice would be very gratefully received. :-)

Bazza1975

Ok so this is what I have drafted in my email response to the Council...

"Dear ** *****,

Thank you for your response, although I have to say I am rather disappointed that as the Tenancy Management Team Manager you are going to distance yourself from this issue (that can quite easily arise again!) rather than trying to help resolve it and stop it from happening again to some other unfortunate person going about their daily routine.

It ISN'T clear where these parking restrictions start or begin because there is NO signage at the very ENTRANCE to this road/estate (where the vehicle was parked), and there are NO road markings whatsoever until you are actually INSIDE the Estate where there are markings everywhere! The vehicle was not parked in front of or in any way blocking anyone's Property, which has apparently been an issue for the residents in ******* Road as per *** ****** comments to me... "I assume it relates to the amount of vehicles parked on the driveways on ******* Road". So how does parking at the entrance to ***** ***** become an issue for Residents in ******* ***??

It is absolutely ludicrous to suggest that anyone in there right mind would risk a £100 "invoice" if they genuinely didn't believe they had parked on a "Private" road - especially when the driver is not going to be returning to the vehicle for 3hrs! That's a massive gamble don't you think? Certainly not a gamble any right minded person would take. Also, as mentioned earlier, the driver had parked there on 5 previous occasions without any problem for the same amount of time - where were PCM then? I fail to see that if the vehicle was parked 5 metres back around the corner in ***** ***** that there are no restrictions, yet as soon as your tyre touches ***** *****, it will cost you £100 to park there!! How can the ***** Council or PCM justify that??

I therefore strongly believe the points I have made are extremely fair and legitimate, and as the Tenancy Management Team Manager for the Green Man Estate, I believe you have a duty to address and resolve these issues.

I would also like to bring to your attention about the fact that as a Private Parking Company, it is illegal for PCM to issue "Penalty" Charge Notices. It is unenforceable at law. Therefore I would like to ask you why you are sanctioning "Penalty" Charge Notices by a Private Parking Company? Is it a legal contract between ***** Council and PCM if it has the word Penalty on it? Can I quote this breach in court if it came to that, as an official source?

I have no other option but to bring this to the attention of the Local Councillors for the *** *** ***** to investigate further. Not only how completely unjust this Invoice/Penalty Charge Notice is, but also the legality of the Contract between **** Council and PCM.


Kind regards,
*** ****"

Redx

good one

might also be worth throwing a query on planning permission for these signs (and lack of signs) in the mix, hit them with all kinds of queries

otherwise, looks good to go to me, I would love to see her face, never mind her answer, lol

Bazza1975

Redx wrote: »

good one

might also be worth throwing a query on planning permission for these signs (and lack of signs) in the mix, hit them with all kinds of queries

otherwise, looks good to go to me, I would love to see her face, never mind her answer, lol

Blimey! Thanks Red. I was fully expecting to be told to remove a whole load of the original "mitigation" stuff! lol.

So I've worded everything correctly then?

Redx

no idea if its worded correctly, but as I said it looks good to me

hit them with everything you have got, doesnt matter about the mitigation as its not the IAS (or popla)

It either stirs it up, OR NOT, but no harm in trying as they may lean on the PPC to cancel if they are wary about planning permission or signage or no clearly defined demarcation between public and private roads

Bazza1975

Redx wrote: »

no idea if its worded correctly, but as I said it looks good to me

hit them with everything you have got, doesnt matter about the mitigation as its not the IAS (or popla)

It either stirs it up, OR NOT, but no harm in trying as they may lean on the PPC to cancel if they are wary about planning permission or signage or no clearly defined demarcation between public and private roads

Ok. So with regards to this Planning Permission of the Signage and Road Markings, what exactly am I requesting from her about this? I am unsure what I need to be asking her/finding out.

Bazza1975

I emailed the Council back last night, so it would have only been received sometime this morning.

Should I wait for the Council to reply before emailing the local Councillors? Or should I just send something off to them anyway?

What should I put in my email to the local Councillors? And shall I forward all the previous conversations between the Council and myself?

Bazza1975

Ok, so I've had no response as of yet from the email I sent to the Council yesterday. So I just thought I'd push things along by sending something to the Local Councillors, and this is what I've put together so far. Let me know if there is anything you think I should add, remove or amend...

"Dear Councillors,

I am contacting you with regard to the "over zealous" (if not illegal!) Private Parking Company that is being used to "control" parking on the ****** Estate.

Early in July, a relative of mine who works 3 hours a day in **** **** School had an "Invoice" of £100 slapped on their windscreen by PCM. This is extortionate amount of money which FAR outweighs what would have been earned in those 3 hours working! The vehicle was parked at the very entrance to **** **** (at the junction of **** Road), where the driver has parked in the exact same unrestricted spot on at least half a dozen previous occasions. ***** Road is right next to **** **** School. There are no parking bays, nor was it parked in front of, or obstructing anyone's property.

The restrictions are only signed beyond that area (signage starts halfway up the Road on the entrance to a Housing Estate Car Park) and not before. Also there are no road markings on this Road at all to state specifically where the restrictions are or start. There is also nothing to delineate where Council Highway changes to (presumably) private land - either that or PCM are issuing tickets where they should not.

It is only once you are beyond the signage and inside the Housing Estate Car Park that you can see clearly visible road markings and parking bays for local residents.

To the driver's knowledge, the car was parked on a public "Council" road that had nothing to do with driveways, residents parking or parking permits - hence why the driver had parked in the same spot numerous times before without any problems.

So I looked in to who the landowner is and it is (I believe) still under **** Council, although there may some contract with *******, who are redeveloping the ***** Estate. I raised the issue **** **** (Housing Regeneration Manager) initially, who came back and told me all about parking issues in ****** Road where non residents had been parking on driveways and in front of property's etc... Now this may well be an issue for residents in ****** Road which is much further in to the ****** Estate, but the vehicle was parked no where near this road or even anywhere inside this Housing Estate!

Mr **** forwarded my email to *** **** (Tenancy Management Team Manager), who rather than try to help, basically distanced herself from the whole situation and said we need to appeal to PCM directly. I found this to be incredibly disappointing as a servant to the Borough where I live and there is a potential ongoing problem where other unfortunate drivers going about there daily routine will undoubtedly get stung like this. To simply ignore this issue is quite shocking actually!

Ms ***** also said in her email to me "Our car parks are for resident and visitor parking only and PCM enforce this." The car wasn't parked in a "car park", it wasn't even in the Housing Estate!

It is absolutely ludicrous to suggest that anyone in there right mind would risk a £100 "invoice" if they genuinely didn't believe they had parked on a "Private" road - especially when the driver is not going to be returning to the vehicle for 3hrs! That's a massive gamble don't you think? Certainly not a gamble any right minded person would take. Also as mentioned earlier, the driver had parked there on numerous occasions before without any problem for the same amount of time, 100% believing the Restrictions were BEYOND the signage - where were PCM then? I fail to see that if the vehicle was parked just 5 metres back around the corner in ***** Road that there are no restrictions, yet as soon as your tyre touches *** ****, it will cost you £100 to park there!! How can **** Council, ****** or PCM justify that??

But something else she mentioned in her email to me which did raise alarm bells, and that you should be made aware of are the following statements she made...

"PCM keep all monies received from the Penalty Charge Notices they issue."

"The Council does not get involved with disputes over PCNs issued and you will need to follow the appeals process with PCM if you wish to appeal against the penalty charge notice."

As I'm sure you are aware, it is illegal for PCM to issue "Penalty" Charge Notices. It is unenforceable at law. Therefore I would like to ask you why ***** Council are sanctioning "Penalty" Charge Notices by a Private Parking Company? Is it a legal contract between ***** Council and PCM if it has the word "Penalty" on it? Can I quote this breach in court if it came to that, as an official source?

Just one final note. On the home page of ********.co.uk, there is the following statement:

"Our aim is to work closely with ***** Council and residents to create a neighbourhood where people are proud to live and work"

This is all very well, but if you have insufficient parking spaces for people that do work in the area and invite in a firm of notorious ex-clampers (with a terrible online reputation, easily Googled) to issue such exorbitant "fines" so freely, then I'm afraid your "aim" will never be achieved! This is not a shining example of your stated intention to put in place a strategy to improve parking conditions.

The simple fact of the matter is, the driver 100% genuinely believed she had parked in a spot that had no restrictions, otherwise she would NEVER have parked there.

With the above in mind, I would therefore respectfully request that you contact the Landowners or PCM directly and have this highly inflated and unjustified "invoice" cancelled.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course."

Bazza1975

Morning all...

Can someone please have a read through my email to the Local Councillors and advise if there's anything I should add, change or remove? Have I gone in too hard? Or not hard enough?

Appreciate any comments or feedback. Thanks.

Bazza1975

Anyone???

Please???

I desperately want to send this email off to the Local Councillors to get them involved in this. So would really appreciated some constructive comments, good or bad. :-)

Thanks.