Appealing windscreen ticket with shopping centre

succuba5

Hello all

I've had a read through the threads here and wanted to get your advice on my first step of trying to get my ticket cancelled.
I got a ticket on my windscreen from UKPC last Tuesday at the Eden Centre in High Wycombe for not parking in the bays correctly.

The markings on the floor where I parked have the greyed out bit then a good chunk of yellow and to the right of my car there was also a burgundy bit before the next chunk of yellow and the next bay. This burgundy bit wasn't on the left though (I hope that makes sense!)
I had parked over onto the yellow bit on the right hand side (to be honest I hadn't really noticed when I parked but as there was a huge amount of space to my right I figured I was parked ok).

So after reading the thread I believe my first port of call is to write to the shopping centre management.


Dear Sir / Madam
I am writing to you to appeal for your help in an unfair parking ticket received while shopping in the Eden Centre on Tuesday 24th November (receipts for purchases made during this time are attached).
The driver of the car had parked in a space which aside from the usual yellow markings surrounding the bay also had an additional burgundy marking to the right (and is clearly not a walk way) separating it from the next parking bay.

The driver was on their own with two five month old babies to get in and out of the car. They had parked with their wheels partially on the yellow markings to the right of the car to help facilitate the loading and unloading of the babies. The signage in the car park states that all cars must be parked within marked bays. Given that in this area it is; A) unclear exactly what constitutes the marked bay due to the multiple coloured markings on the floor and all surrounding bays were still very easily accessible for other drivers one should not be penalised for their parking.
The driver paid for their parking before returning to find the ticket on the car. Therefore no loss has been incurred by you or UKPC.

I would appreciate it if you would cancel the ticket based on the facts above. The driver is a regular customer at the Eden Centre however they will certainly be taking their custom elsewhere (and arranging their long lunches with friends elsewhere) if this unfair ticket is upheld.

Yours faithfully



Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Also should I post it in or email to them? I'm not sure who to address it to and the only email on their website is a generic customer services one.

Many thanks!

succuba5

I have a photo of my car in the bay (or not as the case may be) but can't figure out how to upload it!

Umkomaas

Sorry, but that appeal reveals far too much. You admit nothing to anyone in fighting this. If you want to send that type of appeal (mitigation) you do so to the landowner/centre managing agent - but NOTHING about wheels over lines - that's what they've employed the PPC to eliminate, so why would they want to help you?

You just tell them that you're a very good customer of the centre, send them copies of receipts or cc/bank statements to prove patronage on the day and previously. Lay it on about two young children, how difficult it is to manage them, that shopping on line would be much more convenient, yet you choose to support local business at the centre. This is NOT the way you expect to be treated by some third party who has no interest in supporting the centre, just self-interest in penalising the centre's customers, as that's their only source of income.

Turning to UKPC - you have to be very careful how you phrase your appeal - and certainly not like the one you've drafted. So careful that Coupon-mad (one of the country's foremost in private parking issues) has prepared a template for use with PPCs. It's in post #1 of the newbies sticky thread, use that with nothing added or left out and send it off around day 23. Do please read the newbies sticky.

Just to pre-warn you, ~99% of appeals to PPCs FAIL. What you are wanting from the PPC is a POPLA code, where, with our help, ~99% of appeals WIN.

Get it?

succuba5

Thank you Umkomaas. I was out all day yesterday so didn't get a chance to respond. So glad I asked for advice first! Do I send them a copy of the ticket I received from UKPC as well? If so then they'll see it was for over the lines but my point here is it isn't entirely clear in this bay which are the lines and which aren't. Should I explain that to them? I've re-written it without any explanation. I'd really appreciate it if you could take a look and let me know if that's any better?

Thank you!


Dear Sir / Madam
I am writing to you to appeal for your help in an unfair parking ticket received while shopping in the Eden Centre on Tuesday 24th November.

The driver was on their own with two five month old babies to get in and out of the car and had chosen to come into town to do some shopping at the centre that day. The driver is a regular customer to the Eden Centre, choosing to support the local town economy rather than shopping online, which is far easier and more convenient with two young babies and all the paraphernalia required to carry around when taking them out.
They also regularly meet friends for long lunches and eat at one of the many cafes in the centre, racking up a large parking bill to pay at the end.

This is not how a regular customer should be treated. One should not be penalised for parking while spending money at your shopping centre. The driver paid for their parking before returning to find the ticket on the car. Therefore no loss has been incurred by you or UKPC.

I would appreciate it if you would cancel the ticket based on the facts above. I have enclosed receipts for purchases made during this time as well as copies of bank statements to show previous patronage, not to mention the many times they have paid cash for parking. As stated, the driver is a regular customer at the Eden Centre however they will certainly be taking their custom elsewhere if this unfair ticket is upheld and UKPC gets away with penalising your customers.


Yours faithfully

Umkomaas

Much better.

If the lines are really bad, then I'd include a copy, but put in the appeal to the landowner that they cannot allow their PPC to be harassing genuine customers over such dodgy demarcation. You might want to say that on wet days they are even more indistinguishable.

Suggest that if the landowner wants their poodle PPC to harass their loyal customers on the basis of these lines, they should invest in a contractor to come in and repaint.

Otherwise, if they aren't so bad, don't send the photos, but provide the landowner with the PCN number, the date and your car's VRM so that if they are to take it up with the PPC there is a point of reference.

succuba5

Happy to report a successful outcome after emailing the shopping centre. Thank you for your help!

Coupon-mad

Nice one! Pathetic that they let the scumbags threaten their customers though.