Parking Charge from Legion Group - how to appeal?

monogroover

Hi folks,

Would be grateful for some advice.

On Jul 14th this year I visited a hospital in Dudley on business, as a contractor. The member of staff whom I was visiting asked me to park in a space that was clearly marked "don't park here" or similar, saying that he had obtained permission for me from the hospital security to park there for the day.

As you'll have guessed by now, I returned to the car at the end of the day to find a parking charge notice affixed to it. I went to the security office with the guy from their staff. The hospital security confirmed that they had given permission and said they'd have the penalty cancelled. I thought no more of it.

Until I received an invoice from Legion Group on 18th August, asking me to pay £70. I replied to this promptly by email to the address printed on their letter - [EMAIL="traffic.office@legiongroup.co.uk"]traffic.office@legiongroup.co.uk[/EMAIL] - including the registration of my car and their reference, explained that I had had permission to park there, and asserted that I was not liable for their £70 charge.

Today I have had a letter from them claiming that I had "failed to respond", summarising the parking charge notice and threatening me with debt recovery and court action.

I have emailed them, asking for a POPLA appeal form, pointing out that I did respond promptly to their first communication.

My question is: if they ignore this email, how can I appeal? The POPLA appeal process requires a verification code, and I don't have one.

Furthermore - I don't have any hard evidence that I had permission to park in that space. I have emailed the contact at the hospital (no reply so far) asking him to talk to their security again, but I don't know what if anything they can do at this stage.

If it should go to court (is that likely?) then is my case that they simply ignored my email correspondence and didn't give me an opportunity to appeal likely to be successful (of course they may respond to my last email - I'm just guessing they won't).

What's the best way to handle this? Grateful for any advice.

Redx

see if they give you a popla code to your recent communication

if not post #6 of the NEWBIES sticky thread tells you exactly what to do

namely, to report them to the BPA for this omission and enclose copies of all paperwork, without that code you cannot make a popla appeal

in any case, popla are no longer accepting appeals so any future appeal will go to the Ombudsman Service, not popla (although you can register codes on popla for them to pass on)

small claims court is a lottery, there are no guarantees for either side

Barry Beavis has been to 3 different courts and is still awaiting his final decision, so dont expect supposition from members

Guys_Dad

You should ask the contact for a letter on headed paper stating that you were directed to the space in question with confirmation that Head of Security also advised what to do. Point out that it was at their direct instructions that you now have the problem.

Do it nicely, though, as you need their co-operation.

System

Gateshead, Hull or Wigan? At Wigan they've gone rogue.

monogroover

Quick update on this - they did in fact reply to my second email, saying that they would put the charge on hold while they considered my appeal (I pointed out the facts of the situation to them, firmly and clearly). This morning, I've received a PDF from them containing the text:

Further to your appeal received on 18/08/2015 regarding the above Parking Charge Notice.

The appeal has been reviewed. The parking attendants photographs and pocket notes have all been taken into account. Having considered the content of your correspondence we are prepared on this occasion to cancel this notice.

Please in future ensure you park correctly in order to ensure you do not receive any further Parking Charge Notices.

So, end of problem.

Fruitcake

monogroover wrote: »

Quick update on this - they did in fact reply to my second email, saying that they would put the charge on hold while they considered my appeal (I pointed out the facts of the situation to them, firmly and clearly). This morning, I've received a PDF from them containing the text:

Further to your appeal received on 18/08/2015 regarding the above Parking Charge Notice.

The appeal has been reviewed. The parking attendants photographs and pocket notes have all been taken into account. Having considered the content of your correspondence we are prepared on this occasion to cancel this notice.

Please in future ensure you park correctly in order to ensure you do not receive any further Parking Charge Notices.

So, end of problem.

Well done on getting it cancelled. It's up to you whether you want to tell them you did park correctly according to the organ grinder, not the monkey. (Hospital (the principle) staff member as opposed to the hospital's agent.)