Parking Charge whilst in a disabled bay.......

bluepatchworkcat

Has anyone any advice please? I parked today in a disabled bay at a shopping centre and returned to find a parking charge on my car. I had displayed my blue parking permit and it took me ages to work out why I had got this ticket, after all, I had displayed my permit. I then realised that it had in fact expired on 14th september. It seems harsh to ticket me, I have never had to renew my permit before so never gave it a thought, and after all, it expired only 3 weeks ago. The ticket is from UKPC and states "Parked in a disabled person's space without clearly displaying a valid disabled person's badge". Technically I suppose my permit wasn't valid, but this was an honest mistake and this seems so harsh. Parking is free at the shopping centre. Any help please?

pogofish

The Newbies Sticky should be your first port of call - The procedure and your various options for seeing them off is all detailed there.

Your first action should be a strong complaint to the landowner - reminding them of their obligations under the Equality Act, which is what applies here.

Half_way

And if the landowner refuses to get the ppc who are acting as their agents to cancel then you have a potential EA breach there and then.
you will probably get a nothing to do with us type response from the landowner contact the ppc, if that happens remind them that they employ /allow the ppc to operate on their land and they are responsible for the actions of the ppc.

bluepatchworkcat

Thank you both. I did read through the newbies sticky but didn't see anything about disabled drivers/bays. I suppose I'm worried because technically they're right, my permit is no longer valid. But I didn't just stop being disabled on 14th sept! So, if technically they're right, does it mean I don't have a leg to stand on (pun intended!)?

Umkomaas

So they think that your disability expires at the same time as the expiry date on your BB - crazy PPC-world logic? They've got no chance if you work through the advice in the NEWBIES sticky.

Whilst their signage may state something to the effect 'no parking in a disabled bay without a BB', I'd bet there's nothing to state an 'in-date BB'.

You probably won't need this, but if you're at the venue check out the signage, take a photo.

bluepatchworkcat

Umkomaas wrote: »

So they think that your disability expires at the same time as the expiry date on your BB - crazy PPC-world logic? They've got no chance if you work through the advice in the NEWBIES sticky.

Whilst their signage may state something to the effect 'no parking in a disabled bay without a BB', I'd bet there's nothing to state an 'in-date BB'.

You probably won't need this, but if you're at the venue check out the signage, take a photo.

The signage reads "Failure to display a valid disabled badge......." This is what's worrying me.

Iceweasel

You will not be paying anyone anything, BluePatchWorkCat - nice name by the way.

Look at it this way.

Any person with or without a blue badge could park in a disabled bay and beat them on the legal grounds that they are not entitled to 'charge' you what is not a GPEOL (Genuine Pre-Estimate of Loss)

Blue Badges have no legal standing in a private park anyway.

It was a free car park, wasn't it - so where's their loss?

But you're not just Any person you are a Genuine Blue-Badge Holder - the fact that it was expired by a few days matters not.

You can make the whole lot of them - PPC and the Shopping Centre managers look like a right load of numpties for not following the EA rules.

Please do that - all you need to do is follow the advice of the regulars on here and you are home and dry.

They (and I if I can) will help and support you (pun intended) at every step of the way (2nd pun intended too) - but you will need to do some reading up on the subject just so you understand what we are talking about.

Good luck.

ps refreshing to have a newbie with a good sense of humour.

pogofish

There is no such thing as a "valid disabled badge" as far as private parking is concerned - despite all the PPCs protestations otherwise, the Blue Badge legislation only applies to on-street/publicly regulated parking. EHRC have already spoken on this and the landowner/shop operator are the ones who will be held jointly and severally liable with the PPC for their negligent actions. So its usually most straightforward to get them to have the ticket canceled first.

Umkomaas

bluepatchworkcat wrote: »

The signage reads "Failure to display a valid disabled badge......." This is what's worrying me.

Please be assured there is absolutely nothing to worry about, needless stress.

Of course it's a valid BB, it confirms you are disabled, covered by and entitled to a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010. I bet there's no definition of 'valid' on their signage, and as they purport their signage to be a 'contract', then definitions (even if they applied) need to be clearly stated.

Initial appeal it as per the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, with an added final paragraph to make it clear to them that you will be counter-suing both them and the landowner under the EA 2010.

Fight fire with fire, see what they come back with. We will help you through this.

Half_way

The shopping centre are the ones who realy need to be kicked up the rear end on this, they employed/allowed the ppc to operate.
if the shopping cewntre will not instruct its PPC to cancel imedialty then you need to educate them on their responsibilities they are responsible for the actions of their agents and if their agents breach the equalities act etc then the principle can be held liable.

if you have to then you may need to go to POPLA however if it does get that far then the shopping centre should be made to refund your expenses as well as ( the shopping centre ) looking at a possible equalities act breach as a result of the actions of their agents.

Coupon-mad

bluepatchworkcat wrote: »

Thank you both. I did read through the newbies sticky but didn't see anything about disabled drivers/bays. I suppose I'm worried because technically they're right, my permit is no longer valid. But I didn't just stop being disabled on 14th sept! So, if technically they're right, does it mean I don't have a leg to stand on (pun intended!)?

Of course not - because these are won at appeal on the grounds of what the PPC has done wrong, not what a driver 'allegedly' has done wrong by the flawed made-up rules of a private scum firm. And as others have said, despite the signs demanding a Council badge, in fact that Blue badge doesn't even apply on private land (not as the only indicator of disability need anyway).

While you are waiting for the Notice to keeper DO NOT write to the PPC and DO NOT PANIC about the silly amount apparently being 'discounted' for early payment because you will not have to pay a penny.

Take the offending fake parking ticket and your Blue badge (and any receipts/proof of purchases to show you were a genuine customer) to the Store Manager of the shop(s) and ask them to cancel the fake PCN right this minute or you are minded to start a claim for disability discrimination. If they are particularly stupid and say 'but your Badge has expired' retort that clearly your disability hasn't gone away, and the Equality Act is clear that you can use those bays unharassed (even if you had NO Blue badge you could use the bay).

Don't ask for the section of the Equality Act which talks about Blue Badges because there isn't one - OF COURSE. Think about it!

Don't say you can't complain to a retailer as you didn't make a purchase (you are allowed to browse!).

Don't say you can't complain to one store as there are lots (so Google the name of the Retail Park and complain instead to the Management).

If the Store Manager doesn't cancel it, escalate the retail complaint to the CEO by email (ask for his/her email or Google it).

And if the retailers won't budge you just follow the Newbies thread 'first appeal' but ONLY in a month's time when you get the first letter.