Motorist Should Have Appealed to POPLA: Instead Loses Court Case, £800 Awarded

The_Deep

And one fact is that if everyone ignored them all the PPC's would be out of business within a week.

But they are not going to, are they? They are going to continue to pay £130 for a pair of trainers costing £5 to make in Thailand, drink their Blue Nun, buy their scratch cards, go on their all inclusive package holidays, eat their processed food, buy knock offs on eBay, max out their credit cards, and appeal to Popla using righteous indignation.

The people who come to us for advice are often naive, sometimes dodgy, but rarely pig ignorant. We cannot reach the riff raff unless we take out full page adverts in the Daily Sport.

esmerobbo

It looks like the defendant hoped to prove a point in court, his problem was he probably picked the worst PPC to try it on.

I believe Napier were one of the first to win at POPLA on GPEOL were they not?

bargepole

Guys_Dad wrote: »

On a repetitive situation such as PPCs invading private dwelling areas where POPLA are notoriously supportive of PPCs right to issue charges to leaseholders parking in their own spaces, I agree that getting a result in court is often necessary.

I would agree with that, in principle.


The problem is, that most of the OPs who come here for advice, are completely clueless about the Court process, and will either be too scared to enter a courtroom, or will go and make a complete hash of their defence, and lose.


As one person I helped said to me afterwards "It was like being on stage in a play, where everyone else had read the script, and I hadn't".


There is a small group of us who are prepared to go to court with defendants and help them as Lay Representatives. Far more often than not, this results in a win for the defendant.


But we need more people to come out from behind their keyboards and help with this - particularly in the North West, the North East, the South West, and North and South Wales. Any volunteers?

4consumerrights

There are far to many people who will make up lame excuses on here about why they are unable to do anything that does not involve their keyboard.

I.e "I am far to busy" yet they spend hours on here, i wouldn't know what i was doing , yet you give advice on here like Perry Mason.

Its a bit like being a keyboard warrior. Easy to type something on here but then not able to back it up in the flesh.

Hot_Bring

4consumerrights wrote: »

There are far to many people who will make up lame excuses on here about why they are unable to do anything that does not involve their keyboard.

I.e "I am far to busy" yet they spend hours on here, i wouldn't know what i was doing , yet you give advice on here like Perry Mason.

Its a bit like being a keyboard warrior. Easy to type something on here but then not able to back it up in the flesh.

Whoooh - that's very harsh ! Surely any convert to the cause is a good one even if they can't assist with court cases ?

For me, I'm more than happy to give advice on here ( and often assist people off board to win at POPLA ) but with little experience of court I'd be putting the defendant at possible greater risk if I went to court as a lay representative. If that makes me a keyboard warrior then so be it but I didn't expect to see such a sweeping generalisation from someone like you 4CR.

Is there something I've missed that has suddenly made you and Bargepole look so bitter ?

bazster

The_Deep wrote: »

And one fact is that if everyone ignored them all the PPC's would be out of business within a week.

But they are not going to, are they? They are going to continue to pay £130 for a pair of trainers costing £5 to make in Thailand, drink their Blue Nun, buy their scratch cards, go on their all inclusive package holidays, eat their processed food, buy knock offs on eBay, max out their credit cards, and appeal to Popla using righteous indignation.

The people who come to us for advice are often naive, sometimes dodgy, but rarely pig ignorant. We cannot reach the riff raff unless we take out full page adverts in the Daily Sport.

That is sadly true.

bargepole

Hot_Bring wrote: »

... Is there something I've missed that has suddenly made you and Bargepole look so bitter ?

Not bitter at all, but we can and do get a bit peed off when people say "you should fight them all the way to court", or when a defendant loses a case there is a chorus of "Appeal!".


We appreciate that you and many others do help people, on and off forum, to succeed with POPLA appeals, and that in my view remains (for the moment) the best strategy for swatting the PPCs.


But if anyone is going to start giving advice about what people should or shouldn't do regarding a court case, it would be helpful if that advice came from someone who had direct experience and knowledge of how such cases are conducted, and even better if they were able to help in a practical way.

Hot_Bring

bargepole wrote: »

Not bitter at all, but we can and do get a bit peed off when people say "you should fight them all the way to court", or when a defendant loses a case there is a chorus of "Appeal!".


We appreciate that you and many others do help people, on and off forum, to succeed with POPLA appeals, and that in my view remains (for the moment) the best strategy for swatting the PPCs.


But if anyone is going to start giving advice about what people should or shouldn't do regarding a court case, it would be helpful if that advice came from someone who had direct experience and knowledge of how such cases are conducted, and even better if they were able to help in a practical way.

Agreed, there are some that are all too willing to suggest going to court when in fact the safest way of winning at court is to avoid court entirely with POPLA.

It was the implication in 4CR's post that anyone who couldn't help with court cases was a keyboard warrior - and this was implied but less so in your post.

I agree entirely that only those with the expert knowledge should provide advice on court cases - hence why I stay out of those discussions.

The_Deep

I should be happy to lend moral support to anyone fighting an "own space" case in Reading CC if I am in the UK.

I am not sure that I am sufficiently up to speed on the Law to act as a MacKenzie Friend or lay advisor, but I am no fool, and have won four cases in the SCC.

bazster

Being London-based I can't help in any of those regions you list, and although I've won a couple of small claims in my time on both occasions the defendant caved in before a hearing so I can hardly claim to be experienced.

But that doesn't stop me driving round the countryside trying to pick up tickets with which to make a nuisance of myself, writing to my MP and ministers (most recently just last week) and frequently prodding the local media (had a long chat with a journo on the local paper just last week about a new infestation of PPC's in our area).

Being in court and being behind a keyboard aren't the only ways to fight the fight.

P.S. I also have a lot of experience of the planning system which I used to get ParkingEye kicked out of a car park about 15 miles away, thereby saving goodness knows how many people from having to do battle through PoPLA or court, or indeed simply paying up.