Review of POPLA Appeal Letter

Bristol_santa

I would be very grateful if one of the 'experts' around here could cast an eye over my proposed POPLA letter. Any feedback would be most welcome. I have received a PCN and two letters from the PPC.

Parking on Private Land Appeals
PO Box 70748
London
EC1P 1SN
Dear Sir,
POPLA Reference Number:
Vehicle Reg:
PPC: Civil Enforcement Ltd
PCN Ref:
Alleged Contravention Date: 2014
Date of PCN: 2014

I, as the registered keeper, received an invoice from Civil Enforcement Ltd. requiring payment of a charge of £100 for the alleged breach of contractual terms of maximum 4.5 hours free parking. The issue date on the invoice is 08/08/2014.

As the registered keeper, I would like to appeal this notice on the following grounds:
1. Charge not a genuine pre-estimate of loss
2. No authority to levy charges
3. No Creditor identified on the Notice to Appellant
4. Contract
5. Summary

1 Charge Not a Genuine Pre-Estimate of Loss
The demand for £100 is punitive, unreasonable, exceeds an appropriate amount, has no relationship to the loss that would have been suffered by the Landowner, and is therefore an unenforceable penalty. Furthermore, it exceeds the BPA Code of Practice which states:

“19.5 If the parking charge that the driver is being asked to pay is for a breach of contract or act of trespass, this charge must be based on the genuine pre-estimate of loss that you suffer. We would not expect this amount to be more than £100. If the charge is more than this, operators must be able to justify the amount in advance.
19.6 If the parking charge is based upon a contractually agreed sum, that charge cannot be punitive or unreasonable. If it is more than the recommended amount in 19.5 and is not justified in advance, it could lead to an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading.”

I require Civil Enforcement Ltd to provide a detailed breakdown of how the amount of the “charge” was calculated. I am aware from Court rulings and previous POPLA adjudications that the cost of running the business (such as the erection of signage, the provision of back office services, the maintenance of ANPR cameras, cost of membership of the BPA Ltd etc.) may not be included in this pre-estimate of loss.

I therefore respectfully request that my appeal is upheld and the charge dismissed.

2. No authority to levy charges
A parking management company will need to have the proper legal authorisation to contract with the consumer on the landowner’s behalf and enforce for breach of contract. Civil Enforcement Ltd must produce evidence to demonstrate that it is the landowner, or a contract that it has the authority of the landowner to issue charge notices at this location. I believe there is no contract with the landowner/occupier that entitles Civil Enforcement Ltd to levy these charges and to pursue these charges in their own name as creditor in the Courts and therefore has no authority to issue charge notices.

I request that Civil Enforcement Ltd provides strict proof to POPLA that they have the necessary legal authorisation at this location and I demand that Civil Enforcement Ltd produce to POPLA the contemporaneous and un-redacted contract between the landowner and Civil Enforcement Ltd.

I therefore respectfully request that my appeal is upheld and the charge dismissed.

3. No Creditor identified on the Notice to Keeper
Failing to include specific identification as to who ‘the Creditor’ may be is misleading and not compliant in regard to paragraph 8 of Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Whilst the Notice has indicated that the operator requires a payment to Civil Enforcement Ltd, there is no specific identification of the Creditor who may, in law, be Civil Enforcement Ltd or some other party. The Protection of Freedoms Act requires a Notice to Keeper to have words to the effect that ‘The Creditor is…’ and the Notice does not.

I therefore respectfully request that my appeal is upheld and the charge dismissed.

4. Contract
There is no contract between Civil Enforcement Ltd and the driver, but even if there was a contract then it is unfair as defined in the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. So the requirements of forming a contract such as a meeting of minds, agreement, certainty of terms, etc, were not satisfied.

5. Summary
On the basis of all the points I have raised, this “charge” fails to meet the standards set out in paragraph 19 of the BPA CoP and also fails to comply with basic contract law.

I therefore respectfully request that my appeal is upheld and the charge dismissed.

gertysingh

Looks fine to me. But am only a wanna-be. An expert will come along soon

Bristol_santa

Thanks for that. If I get no further feedback or comments, I will go with what I have. Fingers crossed I don't ruin your 100% success rate.

Coupon-mad

You will beat CEL as they won't be able to show the charge was a GPEOL. But as it's CEL it would be a shame to let them off the fact there is no keeper liability as they don't use a compliant Notice to Keeper letter. It's not just a missing 'creditor' on that letter, the entire wording & details as set out in paragraph 9 of Schedule 4 isn't included in CEL NTKs!

Find an example appeal section about that, in the CEL example in 'How to win at POPLA' (the link in post #3 of the NEWBIES sticky thread, in case you missed it?).

Also re this:

3. No Creditor identified on the Notice to Appellant

...there's no such thing as a 'Notice to Appellant' so change that whole section to be instead No Keeper liability - the NTK is not compliant with the requirements of POFA2012 and then copy that blurb from the CEL example POPLA appeal point 3.

Bristol_santa

Thanks for the feedback. I must be blind (or looking at the wrong thing) but post #3 seems to be about an IAS? appeal letter. I cannot find the CEL example you refer to. Can you help with a direct link?

Many thanks

Dee140157

We are winning About 2 posts away from this at the moment is a good current cel appeal that has been written by Snaefell. Have a look at that one.
We are winning at POPLA on keeper liability too, so are I clouding this more and more in appeals.

It is another good winning point for both appeals Services.

Also if we get people thinking about this too, it is easier to translate to IAS if necessary should you ever get an IPC ppc PCN.

Coupon-mad

Bristol_santa wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. I must be blind (or looking at the wrong thing) but post #3 seems to be about an IAS? appeal letter. I cannot find the CEL example you refer to. Can you help with a direct link?

Many thanks

Post #3 of the Newbies thread, hyperlink there says 'How to win at POPLA'.