UKPC Parking Charge for parking in disabled bay

zmr1

Hi,

Initially, apologies for posting a new thread. read the NEWBIES thread and subsequent threads linking to this topic and just wanted some clarity before go ahead and send letters/emails.

Background info:
NOT have a BB but have a condition called Ulcerative Colitis, collectively known as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). This is a lifelong condition developed in teens. In IBD, the intestines become swollen, inflamed and ulcerated. Symptoms include frequent diarrhoea (sometimes with blood and mucus), acute abdominal pain, tenesmus (the constant urge to have a bowel movement), weight loss, and profound fatigue. Symptoms vary and flare up or improve unpredictably.

Situation:
On this particular day (16/07/16) driver with family to a shopping centre and had an IBD flare up, meaning needed to go to the toilet... and URGENTLY! found the closest parking spot to the entrance which happened to be a disabled bay. continued with shopping and returned to the car later on and found the UKPC parking charge stuck on the windscreen. In addition to this, paid for parking as this is a pay on foot car park as per the guidelines.

The reason for the charge as per the window ticket is:
Parked in disabled parking space without clearly displaying a valid disabled person's badge

From reading the forum established that not legally obliged to display a disabled badge on private parking establishments under EA2010. And have the following courses of action to take:

1. e-mail to centre management with the following letter copied from another thread:

LETTER TO CENTRE MANAGER:

visiting your retail complex on ……………….., driver is very angry in the manner they were treated when parking on the site.

The driver visited your retail complex who has a severe lifelong condition Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) only to receive a parking charge notice for parking in as disabled bay, allegedly without displaying a blue badge.

As you are aware under the Equality Act 2010, providers of goods and services are legally bound to make reasonable adjustments for disabled users of their facilities with no charge imposed on the user whatsoever. The provision of disabled parking spaces is provided under this legal remit.

However, the blue badge scheme has no legal relevance on private land and only has a legal standing for on-street parking, where in fact inspection to its validity and correct use can only be carried out by certain personnel, namely police officers and council civil enforcement officers (formerly called traffic wardens). Even these personnel have no powers of inspection and enforcement under current legislation on private land, so in essence your car parking management agents have no legal powers of inspection.

By using various descriptors of different scenarios of parking at your Shopping complex, the parking company is beaching the Equality Act by discriminating directly, indirectly and discrimination by connection of a disability (using a blue badge is connected to disability).

The centre as principal landowner are jointly responsible with any sub-contracted agent to ensure that legal obligations are fully met.

As a valued and genuine customer of the centre, the driver therefore demand that you instruct the car parking agents to cancel this charge and look forward to your written confirmation by return.

2. e-mail to UKPC (do this before receiving the NTK?)

Date

Dear Sirs

Re: PCN No. ....................

I challenge this 'PCN' as keeper of the car and I will complain to the landowner about the matter if it is not cancelled.

I believe that your signs fail the test of 'large lettering' and prominence, as established in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis. Your unremarkable and obscure signs were not seen by the driver, are in very small print and the terms are not readable to drivers before they park.

Further, I understand you do not own the car park and you have given me no information about your policy with the landowner or on site businesses, to cancel such a charge. So please supply that policy as required under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. I believe the driver may well be eligible for cancellation and you have omitted clear information about the process for complaints including a geographical address of the landowner.

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. You must either rely on the POFA 2012 and offer me a POPLA code, or cancel the charge.

I have kept proof of submission of this appeal and look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully,


Please can anyone confirm this course of action is correct and/or provide any further advice ??


Regards,

Coupon-mad

[STRIKE]e-mail[/STRIKE] to UKPC (do I do this before receiving the NTK?)

Yes that is the plan, to stop them sending a NTK at all!

You could add 'an occupant of the car has (explain medical condition without saying 'driver' or who parked).

It's not an email, it's an online appeal to UKPC and you can also click to view the photos of the nearest sign...have a think about whether that sign was actually near the disabled bay or readable from the bay.

That will feature in your POPLA appeal because 'unclear signs' are always one of several points, including 'no keeper liability due to the absence of any NTK' and (a new one, mentioned on some POPLA threads now): 'the PPC has failed to evidence that the individual they are pursuing is the person liable for the charge (driver only, yet the appellant is the keeper).'

zmr1

Hi Coupon-mad, I was hoping you would reply!:j

thanks for the quick response.

So should I simultaneously send to centre management AND UKPC (via their online appeal)?

In regards to signage, I do not remember, however I could probably go back and check again, are you saying that I should do this for the POPLA appeal or include this information in my original appeal (above)?

In the case the centre management agrees to quash the charge, won't it have gone too far with UKPC for them to influence this decision?

Regards.

Coupon-mad

So should I simultaneously send to centre management AND UKPC (via their online appeal)?

Yes.

In regards to signage, I do not remember, however I could probably go back and check again, are you saying that I should do this for the POPLA appeal or include this information in my original appeal (above)?

No need; when I handle UKPC appeals for people I just look at their evidence photo which is always very helpful for an appellant's case, being blurred, high up and unreadable. On UKPC's webpage, before you appeal, just click to view the photos of the nearest sign, have a look to see if they have shown a pic with the car and a sign in the same photo. Have a chuckle at how unreadable UKPC's sign is!

zmr1

sorry, one more question regarding the email to centre management, shall I provide them with the PCN ref number and registration?? or is it not wise to do so until they have replied and are willing to assist?

zmr1

Thanks,

All submitted so will wait and see what happens.

Can anyone tell me how long the process usually takes now, and when I am required to respond again? I am going on holiday tomorrow for 1 week... so I'm hoping that I wont have to do anything until I'm back.

Regards.

Guys_Dad

Wish I had seen this earlier. When you write "As a customer visiting your retail complex on ……………….., I am very angry in the manner I was treated when parking on the site."

That would really have got up my nose if I was the site manager. If you had left a notice saying a shortened version of what you write in your opening paragraph "The driver has a condition called Ulcerative Colitis, collectively known as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). This is a lifelong condition developed in my teens. In IBD, the intestines become swollen, inflamed and ulcerated. Symptoms include frequent diarrhoea (sometimes with blood and mucus), acute abdominal pain, tenesmus (the constant urge to have a bowel movement), weight loss, and profound fatigue. Symptoms vary and flare up or improve unpredictably." on your car and you then had a ticket issued, then you had a right to be angry. However, just what evidence was there for the warden to know that the driver of the car was not 100% fit and healthy?

You are right to contact the site manager, but the whole tone of your letter stinks, if I may say so. And the site manager can easily argue that he was meeting EA2010 requirements by ensuring that a PPC was monitoring misuse of disabled bays by ticketing vehicles that were occupying these spaces without any evidence of the driver being disabled.

I addition, he could say that your life long condition which your GP knew about did not seem to warrant a BB and that he challenged that you needed to park in that place. Should you be allowed the same latitude if parking on a public road in a disabled space?

In fact, I am of an age where some of my friends have prostrate problems that means they get taken short too, but does that mean that they should use disabled bays too?

Add to that the possibility of him passing your letter on to the PPC to consider leniency (not instructing that the ticket be cancelled, just considered) the PPC has evidence of who was driving.

I am not saying that you don't have a case and I hope that you get it cancelled, but am being critical of your letter tone and strategy.

zmr1

Hey Guys Dad,

Thanks for the reply.

Of course the person issuing the charge could not have known what the condition is, agree with you.

removed from that letter to centre management any liability i.e. replaced it with 'the driver'. Trust me, I did not want to send that harshly written letter, but looking at the forums everyone's advice was to write a strong worded letter to management to drive the point home. It's definitely not in my nature to send a letter like that.

This condition about 5+ years ago did warrant a BB, my father in law who has the condition had it revoked due to some changes, and looking online, looks as though there is a lot of support on the Crones support website lobbying for people that suffer with this condition to be reinstated with BB's to avoid this exact situation. also written to my local MP regarding this and allowance for a BB due to these extenuating circumstances and waiting to hear back.

Thanks again for your input and advice.

Guys_Dad

Sometimes a strong letter is needed but I always find that if you are asking for help from a landowner, then an initial letter should ask for help with a hint of an iron fist if needed.

But initial impression should be to get the reader sympathetic to your case rather than put their back up.

Good luck anyway.

pappa_golf

agreed with guys dad


unless there was a "diarrhoea (sometimes with blood and mucus)" trail running from the car door to the nearest Loo , how would the attendant know of any difficulties?

Coupon-mad

urgh!!

The car would have got a PCN anyway of course because the goon only looks for a Blue Badge and doesn't understand the Equality Act even if he pushes a driver with a zimmer frame out of the way to get to the car quick enough to slap a PCN down.