Help Greatly Received; Parking Ticket Issued At Milnrow Metrolink Station.

djt353t

Hi, I would be grateful if forum members would provide their advice over the following......

I parked my car on Milnrow Metrolink station (Greater Manchester) last Saturday morning. Parking is free.

On returning to my car on Sunday evening I found it had developed engine problems and was un drivable. I then took a taxi home with a view to recovering the vehicle next day when garages were open.

On returning at 9.50 I found that a ticket had been issued at 2.20am (earlier that morning). The ticket was issued for "Parking outside of tram service hours." The charge is for £100 (£60 if settled within 14 days.). The company that issued it are Care Parking.

Green Flag arrived later that morning and were unable to start the vehicle. They later sent for a recovery truck which transported to the garage. I have a record of this from the Green Flag technician.

Do I now pay the fine (very reluctant to), provide them with the circumstances outlined and appeal (that involves me providing them with my address) or ignore it and be prepared to go to court in the future.

I'm very unsure of what to do ?

Redx

first , its not a fine , its a parking charge

if this was a windscreen ticket , for parking (not a penalty charge) then appeal it around day 25 using the blue text template from the NEWBIES sticky thread

so appeal around the 22nd september ? (25 days after the incident)

do not admit to who was driving , appeal as KEEPER only (not as driver)

do not mention what happened on the day , nothing about what happened apart from the following

the vehicle was broken down at the time of the incident until the driver managed to get it recovered as soon as possible, evidence of this will be shown to the court if necessary

metrolink is railway land , so subject to byelaws , not "parking" , so the TOC (metrolink) have 6 months to prosecute at a magistrates court (not Care parking)

so one of your appeal points later down the line will be not relevant land , no keeper liability under POFA2012 , land subject to byelaws , not parking rules

put these search words into the forum search box

metrolink care parking

read the advice in those too

and INDIGO POPLA APPEAL , same advice as they do train station parking too

so do as I say and you will pay nothing , but it will take a while

good luck

djt353t

Thank you for your swift and detailed reply.

Could I ask a couple of extra things ?

Firstly, I did not notice the parking signs at the station, partly because it was dark, but they are reasonably visible ?

Secondly, you suggest I should include my address if they are a member of the professional body. How do I find out if they are ?

Thank you again.

Umkomaas

The point you raise with the visibility of the signage in the dark is not strong - the car was first parked during daylight, and that is the time when signage should have been read. But there may well be issues with the content of the signage - but this is for later in the process.

Care Parking (a trading name for Anchor Security Services - don't laugh at the acronym!) is a member of the British Parking Association - the 'professional' body to which Care Parking subscribe and through which they have access to your address details via the DVLA.

The advice to check if they are a member of a professional body is given as there are a number of non-member parking companies who slap tickets on windscreens, hoping for the recipient to pay or appeal to them handing their address on a plate to them. These outfits have no access to the DVLA database - hence in those cases the advice not to make any contact with them. Hope that makes sense?

Redx

1) your blue text appeal includes signage issues

this will be expanded upon at popla (keep your powder dry for popla)

so yes poor and inadequately lit signage will feature , plus it should mention bylaws seeing as they apply on railway land , not parking contract laws (their error , their problem)

I doubt that the signage was poorly lit in the morning when you arrived , hard to believe it was still dark , although I do believe the signage was poor and fails the BPA CoP

2) I never mentioned your address , but yes include the pcn reference , VRM , name and address of the keeper (not the driver , assume I was driving )

you find out by checking the BPA AOS website , and the IPC AOS website

hint - you will find CARE PARKING under Anchor on the BPA website , which is why you use the blue text appeal with the added blue text wording I gave you

djt353t

To update the situation I appealed using the suggested template and crucially referencing that the car was broken down and was removed later that day by Green Flag, documentary evidence of this is available should the court wish to see it.

The parking company pretty much rejected everything else and indicated I could take the appeal to POPLA.

Therefore, I would be grateful for help with the appeal, what to put in and leave out, chance of success etc etc.

Thank you,

David.

Redx

please read the last few pages of the POPLA DECISIONS thread where coupon mad placed suggested templates for various issues

also read what POPLA allow as appeal points on their website

read any 2016 CARE PARKING METROLINK appeals already placed with popla, plus any recent 2016 train station ones too (like INDIGO ones)

bear in mind that POPLA have currently placed popla appeals on hold for non-relevant land issues, which includes railway land , due to POFA2012 issues

appeal points will include the following

NOT RELEVANT LAND
POFA2012 does not apply, no keeper liability
NO CONTRACT
SIGNAGE ISSUES
BPA CoP failures
NTK failures
driver not identified so not liable
vehicle was broken down

and anything else

plus you have had almost 2 months to research this ready for this popla appeal, so you have up to 28 days to do so now

Coupon-mad

Was the PCN received within 14 days?

Does it reference the POFA 2012 and suggest that the keeper will be liable - if so please show us a picture, it's been a while since we saw a Care Parking one. I doubt it will be POFA compliant, not capable of holding a keeper liable.

Redx has summarised your POPLA appeal points, many of which are templates already written that you can copy (see post #3 of the NEWBIES thread, which now links to the template POPLA appeal points I wrote in September for anyone to use).

djt353t

Hi Coupon,

The PCN was stuck on my window so it was received within 14 days.

The PCN DOES NOT reference POFA 2012. However, their rejection of my appeal suggests they can invoke it ?

Thank you for your assistance.

Redx

no they cannot , because railway land is not relevant land so POFA2012 does not apply

these people tell lies , regularly , just to get joe public to cough up

Coupon-mad

And because they never served a Notice to keeper (and you didn't say who was driving!). You will find a template POPLA appeal point in the NEWBIES thread post #3 for that lack of NTK, and the fact that the appellant has not been shown to be the individual liable (driver) and unclear signs, and no landowner authority, etc.

You will have to search the forum to find other examples for 'not relevant land bylaws' and write your own version of the fact the car was broken down (embed the proof from Green Flag into the word document to break up the wall of words and 'make the appeal appealing').