Parking ticket in our own parking space, appeal, pay or ignore?

Emmazom

Hello, me and my partner have lived in a rented flat for just over 3 years, we have our own designated parking spot, around 6 months ago the management company signed up with a car parking management company that basically said we had to display permits on our cars to park in our own spot!

They only supplied one permit per residence and as my car it used the least we put the permit on the back and my partner parks out the front on the road with other residents.

Yesterday my partner had some work equipment in the back of his car so parked his car in our spot instead of on the road, lo and behold 10 minutes later he had a parking ticket.

It's from Uk CPM http://www.uk-carparkmanagement.co.uk/ for £60 if paid within 14 days and all the usual rubbish..

Should we ignore it, appeal it, or pay it? He didn't have a permit on display but it's our parking spot! If it's likely to cause any credit issues we'd rather pay as we will be buying a hosue in the next few months, but if not we'd rather ignore them.

Thanks for your help

Half_way

As you have been living there and using the/your assigned car parking spaces before the PPC scum came along this is almost certainly a variation that you didnt agree to.
Question time:
1: what does your lease/rental agreement say with regards to parking? is there any mention of the requirement to display a permit?
2: is there any mention of a so called catch all clause where the management company may take reasonable measure s to ensure the smooth running of the land/estate/area? note: a PPc is anything but reasonable

Emmazom

I'm pretty sure it doesn't mention displaying a permit and I don't think it even mentions the management company at all in the lease but I will have to double check

Half_way

Should we ignore it, appeal it, or pay it? He didn't have a permit on display but it's our parking spot!

You seem to have got the general idea of this, paying it is completely out of the question, and Ignoring it can cause issues as well.
A simple appeal/challenge stating that this is your allocated space as laid out in your lease/rental agreement and you do not agree, or consent to a private parking company using it to run a profitable business on, and as such you are now formally giving notice that you are withdrawing any implied right of access, if the Parking company continues to issue tickets to any vehicle which you authorise to be there then you will have no other option than to consider charging the Parking company at £19 per hour for dealing with their mail.
You should also say that you consider this to be a breach of your rights to peaceful enjoyment of the property.
You shold also state that as a gesture of goodwill you will forgo any charges that the PPC/management company may be dues to you as long as receive a full apology from the parking company/management company together with a full re-assurance that this will not happen again

Coupon-mad

If it's likely to cause any credit issues we'd rather pay as we will be buying a hosue in the next few months, but if not we'd rather ignore them.

Ignore them then (but check every letter in case of ignoring court papers - very rare from UKCPM).

A CCJ can only occur if a defendant ignores court papers/misses deadlines/court directions, or if the case goes to a defended hearing but you lose and then refuse to pay after the Judge tells you to!

BTW to any Newbies reading this, we are only saying 'you can ignore/do not appeal' because this is not a BPA member parking firm. Where it is a BPA AOS member the advice remains to appeal and then research & get help here, with a winning POPLA appeal.

Marktheshark

Did you sign anything when they gave you the permit, things you "sign" are usually contracts.

The_Deep

Hang on Half way, the OP is a tenant, surely she should not be contacting the MA thusly, that is the job of the landlord.

Half_way

The_Deep wrote: »

Hang on Half way, the OP is a tenant, surely she should not be contacting the MA thusly, that is the job of the landlord.

good point, alhtough this depends on how hands on the landlord is, or isnt.
By all means factor in the landlord, but there shouldn't be anything amiss in contacting the management company, especialy if it gets things done.

Another point to think about would be any perceived acceptance of the parking company, if by displaying a permit it could eb said that you are agreeing by the actions of displaying a permit.
However if its made clear that you dont agree to the PPc and as a consequence have no obligation to display a permit you should be clear.

BiscuitMuncher

The_Deep wrote: »

Hang on Half way, the OP is a tenant, surely she should not be contacting the MA thusly, that is the job of the landlord.

Not wishing to hijack a thread but in my case the landlord did contact the MA on my behalf but the MA were not interested. He even paid for a new permit and chased it up while in the meantime I got another two PCNs.

Emmazom

Thank you for the responses everyone.

I don't recall signing anything when getting the permit for my car, I'm pretty sure they just gave each property one.

I don't feel it necassary to bother the landlord yet although I'm sure he would help if he could, he doesn't own all of the properties so choice of management company isn't entirely down to him.

I think my best bet is to appeal using the advice above and just hope that they shut up, I check all mail so we should be okay. Most annoying thing is I think this is the first time they've been out, my neighbours car has constantly been in their spot without a permit until a couple of weeks ago and never received a ticket.

Nothing we can do now is right a letter and hope they leave it be

Guys_Dad

You may not win at POPLA if you base your appeal on your lease etc. A very recent case is here http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?-t=4488337&page=102 Post #2021

So the regulars need to be very cautious about what they advise here remembering it is other people's money that is at risk.

My own view is that you may very well lose at a POPLA, given recent evidence. But POPLA is not court! I see they are also IPC members, so they probably will use the IPC kangaroo court (IAS) where you have even less chance.

So you need to catch them out on technical reasons, such as non-approved signage and defective NtKs. I am willing to be my shirt (one of the older ones, of course) that the landlord's lease has a catch all clause that trumps the fact that the lease doesn't mention parking charges.

There is a good current thread on here that is pretty clued up on technical appeal points and I am sure it will develop further. It doesn't mirror your case exactly, but is good at highlighting COP deficiencies and other failures by the PPC, http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5429942