Vehicle owner / driver left site PCN on Windscreeen

jeet_junior

Hi People

I was slapped with a £100 (£60 if paid early) fine for 'Vehicle owner / driver left site' parking offence. Please help me with suggestion on how to fight against this..

At around 10.03 am on 16th July, I parked my vehicle in the parking lot – near to The Range shop. I got out and walked towards the end of the shop where they keep heavy bags of compost. Yesterday, I had walked in from that side of the parking lot (coming in from Reading station) and had looked at compost for purchase. I had also visited ALDI and TGIF. While doing so, accidentally, I had dropped my Oyster card along with a £20 note. I did not realize this till I came home and by then it was too late to go back and look for it. Hence, today morning, I went to the Parking lot, parked my car and started looking at all the places I had been yesterday.

The first place was the edge of THE RANGE shop where large bags of compost is kept . This is the place from where I entered yesterday. I looked there for some time – below the tree, under the cars, near the compost bags etc. Then I went inside to ask Customer Service if they had found my access card. I spent some time in THE RANGE and then went to TGIF and ALDI to look for my access card.

For the next hour or so, I looked at the entrance of these shops in the hope of finding the card. I also walked through the parking lot hoping to see it lying somewhere on the ground.

Finally, I gave up and bought a packet of chips from ALDI. It is then I saw the Parking Notice stuck on the car. I have the ALDI bill with me also.

ALL the while my car was parked properly (as UKPC images also show) and I was in the shops which are located within the parking lot. I also made a purchase from the shops located within the Parking lot. Hence, I don’t believe I should be handed a fine with reasoning - # Vehicle Owner / driver left site.

I never left the site and I think the parking warden was in a haste to issue ticket. He would have seen me walking towards the edge of parking lot (from where people walk towards Reading station) and assumed I walked out. However, I never went out of it. I was in fact all the while within the parking lot and inside various shops.

kindly suggest - i have 14 days to pay early the reduced fine.

The_Slithy_Tove

Ignore the 14 days; it's an irrelevance considering you'll be paying zero.

Read the NEWBIES sticky thread at the top of this forum (it would have been staring you in the face when you hit the New Thread button), and follow its advice, starting with WAITING till you get the Notice to Keeper in the post (assuming it's your car).

Herzlos

Wait for the Notice to Keeper and reply in the usual manner (newbies thread) but add a point about failure to mitigate loss.

They aren't allowed to watch you break a contract and then ask for damages, the parking warden did exactly that. S/he should have come and told you that you weren't allowed to leave the site.

jeet_junior

Thanks for this. Somehow you guys look more convinced that I am that this would be cancelled

Would they use CCTV recording to prove i was in breach of some contract?

The new bee thread says I also need to complain to the store manager and get a receipt. What is this? Should I tell the store manager that I got a parking ticket even if I did not buy anything from there?

I am about to buy a house and dont want too many legal hassles at this time hence wondering if you guys are so confident this will be reversed, then why not submit the online appeal sooner rather than later.

please suggest.

Guys_Dad

PPCs create rules for using their car parks. Transgress, and they try to charge you. The only way you can be forced to pay is if you get taken to court and lose.

Normally this costs the PPC more than they get awarded and only a very few - predominantly Parking Eye - go that far. There is a very famous (to us) case of a PPC getting royally stuffed in court for exactly the "crime " you were accused of. Pleae read here http://nebula.wsimg.com/e3da92cb966c72de63ec1f98605c2954?AccessKeyId=4CB8F2392A09CF228A46&disposition=0&alloworigin=1

So, you appeal initially to the PPC and then to POPLA if the PPC turn you down and throw in that court case in the appeal.

You do NOT write "I did this" but write "The driver did this" all as in the Newbies thread and explain that you did not leave the car park area or what you believed was the area. You will, of course, demand a map of where the car park area was and where the warden said the driver left.

So, you are in with a very good chance of winning and you would only have real problems if you lost in court and didn't pay the charges. That is what gets you a CCJ.

But if you are looking for a mortgage and that implies moving, make sure you keep a Post Office redirect on for a few months so you don't miss any correspondence re this matter.

jeet_junior

Dear Guys Dad

Thanks but could you send the link again. it seems to be broken.

do you suggest that I change the wording to ' the driver did not leave...' and put an appeal NOW or still wait till i get the NTK in post and then after 20 days or so, put the appeal?

The_Deep

I never left the site

There you have it. Look the judge straight in the eye and say, "Sir, I did not come her to lie to you, I never left the site". Unless you are as totasl tow rag he/she will believe you. It works for me ebvery time, but then, I do wear mu uniform.

Guys_Dad

Link very strange. Google "Mcilwaine VCS" and it is on the first page.

MSE don't like S C U N T H O R P E (S!!!!horpe - see what I mean.)

Herzlos

They would need to provide evidence of you leaving the site, i.e. the statement from the parking 'agent'. To which you ask "If you watched the driver leave the site, why didn't you tell them not to, in order to mitigate your percieved loss?" And boom, done.

They might claim it's not a penalty, but a charge for a service, but that's easy to defeat because (a) it's insane and (b) the signage will no doubt only state something like "Parking for customers only." and not "Parking for non customers: £100" and they'd still have to prove you weren't a customer.

Go back into every store you visited and tell them that if they don't cancel this invoice you will not be back. Doesn't matter if you bought anything or not.

bazster

How did a parking lot turn up in Reading? They only have those in America, are you sure it wasn't a car park?

Half_way

maybe an auction for a space?