CP Plus - Unexpected reply. What next?

Emperors_Teeth

Hi,
Many thanks for the helpful newbies thread. I read through most of that and some other pages in order to begin the challenge below, and used the sample appeal letter with one addition to the bullet points.

The situation:
'The driver of my car' stayed over as an unnamed +1 in a twin room at the Travelodge at the Trowell Moto Services on the M1. The car was parked around 2.30am and left at 8.30am. The Travelodge page says there are 35 free parking spaces so the car was parked close by. There is no clear delineation of which spaces these are, though I doubt that matters anyway. No staff were on reception and no signs were clearly visible stating you had to log in car registrations.

A week later I, the keeper, received this:

***New user can't post link! It's a standard charge notice with images of the car in the dark from presumably the services entrance & exit***

So I came here, fond your fantastic information and sent this back:

Dear Sirs

Re: PCN No. XXXXXX

I challenge this 'Parking Charge Notice' as keeper of the car, on these main grounds:

a). The sum does not represent a genuine pre-estimate of loss, nor is it a core price term. It is a disguised penalty and not commercially justified.
b). As keeper I believe that the signs were not seen, the wording is ambiguous and the predominant purpose of your business model is intended to be a deterrent.
c). There is no evidence that you have any proprietary interest in the land.
d). There is no evidence that the vehicle was parked during the period the ‘Notice’ stipulates.
e). Your 'Notice' fails to comply with the POFA 2012 and breaches various consumer contract/unfair terms Regulations.
f). There was no consideration, nor acceptance flowing from both parties and any contract with myself, or the driver, is denied.

Your clients should be thoroughly ashamed of the shoddy way you treat consumers visiting their premises. The landowner will be made fully aware of this matter and your response, which I will forward to their CEO when I complain in writing and via social media, as appropriate. Parking firms like yours fail to demonstrate even a basic understanding of customer service. The reputation of your business model appears to be more akin to a protection racket than 'parking management'. Your ATA may offer sound-bites about driving up standards or fight for motorists' rights but in reality they are not a regulator; they merely exist to represent the interests of paying members, in order to gain access to DVLA data. The public have no faith in the private parking industry and, as far as I have seen, your firm has not shown itself to be any different than the ex-clampers with whom you share a membership.

The purpose of this communication is:

1. Formal challenge
There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. As such, you must either rely on the POFA 2012 or cancel the charge. I suggest you uphold this challenge now or alternatively, send a rejection letter - subject to accepting my claim for costs as clearly stated below, since you have no case.

2. ''Drop hands'' offer
The extravagant 'parking charge' is baseless but I realise that you may have incurred nominal postage costs. Equally, I have incurred costs to date, for researching the law and responding to your junk mail dressed up to impersonate a parking ticket. It is clear that my costs and yours, at this point, do not exceed £15. Therefore, this is a formal “drop hands” offer. I remind you of the duty to mitigate any loss, so withdraw the spurious charge within 35 days without further expense and I will not pursue you for my costs. If you persist then I will charge in full for my time at £18 per hour plus my out-of-pocket expenses and damages for harassment.

3. Notice of cancellation of contract
I hereby give notice of withdrawal from this alleged 'contract' which was never properly offered by you and certainly was not expressly agreed. This 'contract' is hereby cancelled and any obligations now end. If you offer - and if I decide to use - IAS or POPLA, then the contract ends immediately on the date of their decision (whatever the outcome) so my notice of cancellation still applies. The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation & Additional Payments) Regulations apply now to every consumer contract, save for a few exemptions, which parking contracts are not. It is the will of Parliament following the EU Consumer Rights Directive, that express consent is obtained for consumer contracts now - not implied consent - and that information is provided in a durable medium in advance.

You have failed to meet these requirements. The foisting of unexpected contracts like this on consumers, by stealth, is a thing of the past.

By replying to the challenge you are acknowledging receipt and acceptance of points 2 and 3 above. If you decide to persist with this unwarranted threat, I will be put to unnecessary expense and hours of time in appealing or defending this matter. As such, you will be liable for my costs and a pre-estimate of my loss - and in contrast with yours, mine is genuine - is that this sum will be likely to exceed £100.

I have kept proof of submission of this challenge. I look forward to your considered reply within 35 days.

Yours faithfully,

I added an extra line in the challenge list as I noticed that the images of the vehicle were taken entering and leaving the facility, not showing where the car was inside. It might not be relevant, but I figured it's another round in the chamber.

A little while later I got this back (dated 24th Feb):

***New user can't post link! It reads:
"Thank you for your correspondence concerning the above stated Charge Notice.

The representations stated in your correspondence have been noted and considered.

In order to correctly transfer this notice we will require the full name and address of the driver at the time this charge was incurred so that we may give them the opportunity to appeal.

We will continue to hold this Notice at the current rate for an additional 14 days from the date of this correspondence, after which point this Notice will be processed accordingly should no further details or correspondence be recieved.

Yours faithfully

CP Plus Limited [M]"

I've been super-stressed at work and let this one slip by a bit. However, this is also partly down to not being sure what to do next. As I interpret this, they've ignored my request for a POPLA code, and seem to have admitted there's no point pursuing me, the Keeper for this charge.

Can anyone offer me advice on how to handle this? I'm writing to Travelodge and Moto, also. I should have long since, but again... stress and distractions.

bazster

Complain to the BPA and DVLA that CP Plus has failed to issue a PoPLA code and instead is demanding the driver be named.

There is every chance Moto will get this cancelled, they often do.

karen_4444

Hi, I have had exactly the same letter and no popla code either....I called the BPA and they have asked for copies of my appeal letter and the 2nd letter I sent after a month of waiting and a new bill that cp plus sent me for £100!!!! I am still waiting for a reply.....please keep in touch and let me know how you get on and I will let you know when I hear from them too.
Thanks
Karen.

HO87

By all means complain to the BPA but I would not rely on anything they may or may not do and I certainly would not be waiting for them to move.

CP+'s letter could well amount to a breach of the CoP in that it appears to suggest that in order to consider the OP's appeal further they require the driver's details. Craftily their letter does not reject the OP's appeal either.

Might I suggest a response to CP+ along the following lines:

Dear Sirs,

PCN No XZXZXZXZ

I refer to your letter of <date> and my appeal dated <date>.

In order to consider my appeal as the keeper of the vehicle you neither require nor do you have any power to demand the details of the driver of the vehicle at the time.

Furthermore, it will be my case that your notice and correspondence fail to comply with the Act, as previously outlined, and any application you may make to invoke the keeper liability provisions will be vigorously defended.

I therefore invite you to either accept my appeal and cancel the PCN forthwith or reject it and supply me with a valid POPLA code so that I might take the matter up with them direct. If I do not hear from you within 14 days I will consider the matter closed.

Yours faithfully

Emperor's Teeth

Emperors_Teeth

I am drafting my letter to Moto services at this moment in time, and am glad I checked back here. Thanks for the suggested text, HO87, I'll use something like that to reply to CPPlus.

Here is my letter to MOTO (which I am emailing & posting with evidence of 'free parking' at the Travelodge and booking information:

Re: Parking Charge Notice No. XXXXX

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing regarding a Parking Charge Notice I received for my vehicle ‘overstaying’ during the early-hours of 08/02/2015 (specifically 02:26am – 08:37am) at the M1 Trowell services. My vehicle ‘overstayed’, because the driver was a customer, asleep, in the Travelodge at your services! I have an image of the VAT invoice for this booking as evidence.

The driver of this vehicle was an unnamed +1 guest staying with

---

, who had booked a Twin room for the night in question. The Travelodge website states there are 35 free spaces at their Trowell venue. However, these are not clearly marked in any way from any other space in the car park. There was no also member of staff on the desk at 2.30am, nor any notice visible to say that you would need to log a car registration number.

I have written to Moto’s parking management company, CP Plus, who have not been particularly helpful, ignoring my request to appeal completely and who also appear to be breaching the BPA (British Parking Association) Code of Practice by failing to provide a POPLA appeal code and asking for information about the driver not pertinent to the appeal request.

Whilst waiting for their next response, I write to you in the hope that you can help resolve this matter more quickly and decisively. This Services is ideally located for an annual trip to a local convention, but an annual fight over parking charges will soon resolve any difficulty in choosing to stay at the event venue itself, or the better value Travelodge at your site. I believe customers are usually valued, not punished.

Yours faithfully,

I was careful not to identify the driver in any way in case the email or physical letter 'somehow' finds its way to CPPlus. Not that I suspect any dodgy (e)mail-redirection or anything...

Mike172

Dirty f****** b******'s (CPP)

TBH I wouldnt bother with the BPA - they don't give a !!!!

Emperors_Teeth

Moto Have cancelled the ticket. I fired off the above letter to them via mail and email (parking.queries@moto-way.co.uk). I received an email response within a day:

Dear Mr

---

Your details have been received at Moto Customer Services concerning Parking Charge Notice number XXXXXX.

Travelodge should have entered your vehicle registration into the terminal at reception to avoid a notice being issued therefore i can confirm that the notice has been cancelled. CP-Plus will send confirmation of the cancellation to you in the post.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.


yours sincerely

CP Plus won't have received my letter telling them to screw their driver details request yet, lol. I will probably still write to DVLA regarding their request.

Castle

Congrats on your win; perhaps you should send Travelodge an invoice for a £15 admin fee.