UKPC notice - parking outside of restricted hours

rachelfoster02

Hello,

I received a parking ticket last night (Sunday) when parked behind a restaurant. The bay we were parking in had a sign stating:

Private Parking
[Name of Company]
8am to 6pm ONLY

I therefore took this to mean I could park outside of those hours.

However on my return, there was a UKPC issued parking charge attached to my windscreen - only then did I notice another sign nearby which stated that "parking charges apply at all times".

The parking charge references "reason to believe that the following breach of the terms and conditions of parking occurred on private land (details of which were clearly and prominently displayed and agreed by the driver by the act of parking the vehicle: parked in a permit area without displaying a valid permit"

It then goes on to say that a parking charge of £100 is outstanding and payable within 28 days of this parking ticket etc.

I have read the various threads on UKPC parking charges as being effectively invoices and that they do not have the authority to issue parking fines, but the blurb on the back of the ticket is a tad frightening and all sounds very "official".

Is my best bet to initiate a challenge on the basis of the conflicting signs and ask for the reduced fee to be put on hold? Is there any "official" website which advises on such things?

My other question is that the "reduced fee" quoted is not 50% of the "full charge" which I understood to be the norm, but is £60 instead of the full £100 - is this wrong?

Any advice gratefully received!

Coupon-mad

None of this detail matters and a £60 discounted charge on £100 is the norm for private PCNs. Your best bet is to read the sticky thread for newbies and wait for the Notice to Keeper before using the template to appeal. Nothing about who was driving. Use the template and put the appeal in online as keeper. Be careful because UKPC's webpage defaults to 'driver' and defaults back again to 'driver' if you try to put too many words in then refresh/take some out.

No need to appeal yet - no, really you mustn't unless you are not the keeper - and the discount means nowt as you won't be paying a penny.

Not sure you have read the Newbies thread yet - it reads as though you haven't yet noticed that all the answers and how to win at POPLA are there.

Forget that damn reduced charge, stop worrying about getting that waste of time drivel about a 'discount' put on hold!!

Herzlos

Don't contact them until they contact you via letter in about a month or so, and read the newbies thread in the mean time.

The_Deep

The sign could mean several things, and a judge would probably interpret it in the most favourable (to you) manner, However there is no need for this to get anywhere near a court, get it killed off at PoPLA on not a GPEOL, works every time..

rachelfoster02

Thank you for the advice. Another couple of questions if anyone can clarify:

1) Why is it that you should wait for the Notice to Keeper - because it gives you more ammunition if, say, they send it late?

2) What difference does it make if the car is leased (it is leased and only owned by me if i pay the balloon payment at the end of the lease term) - in this case does the NTK go to the lease company, and if so, presumably they will respond to say that I am the driver? Should I act any differently in this case?

SevenTowers

1) By responding to the NTD (ticket on the car) you will be admitting who was driving and saving UKPC £2.50 to get RK details from DVA, however:

2) If you are not the RK, you should appeal directly to UKPC to keep the lease company out of it. Lease companies sometimes pay the invoice and try to re-bill it to you, at the very least they will charge an admin fee, so cut them out by contacting UKPC directly.

Guys_Dad

Who is the registered keeper - you or leasing company? If leasing company, then beware that if they get the NtK, then they could pay it and back charge you.

So anticipate and either contact leasing company and advise that they should tell PPC that you were the keeper on the day in question or write to the PPC saying that you were the keeper on the day and please send the NtK to you.

But do not admit who was driving on the day.

bod1467

And that's the key ... the lease company will be the registered keeper, but that does NOT automatically make you the driver; you are merely the keeper. (It could easily have been someone else authorised that could have been driving). So 1) in post #6 above is not quite correct.

rachelfoster02

Just to report that I contacted the company who the parking space belonged to and they were extremely helpful - apparently the signs were new and were causing its own employees a lot of hassle. They were able to get the parking notice cancelled so a successful conclusion!

Thanks for all the advice received.