Hattip for Daily Mail

The_Deep

OK, they may have made a few mistakes with the terminology, but 530+ people have commented already.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3779661/Pensioner-fined-100-mistyped-number-plate-car-park-payment-machine-two-digits-wasn-t-wearing-glasses.html


That is 530 people now aware of the scam.


Also, it paints PoPLA in a very bad light. If I did not know better, I would say that they are on the side of the PPC. Does anyone know how much a similar crime would cost in a Council car park?

Coupon-mad

£50 in a Council car park (discounted to £25) but Councils will very often cancel if an early informal challenge comes in, showing this sort of circumstance.

Councils have appeals policies that (if applied correctly, which can be hit and miss) allow discretion and will let off a 'first offender'. As we know, PPCs have no set 'appeal policy', it's all about the money and as PCM said when exposed on Watchdog, they make it up most of the time:

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/is-it-pcm-uk-who-make-up-stuff-all-time.html

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/pcm-uk-signage-does-not-create-contract.html

pappa_golf

Brian Hewlett, 69, of Yeovil, Somerset, was shocked to receive the penalty notice one month after paying £3 to park for two hours at the car park in Poole, Dorset.

Popla said that this was in part (see above) because the unmanned car park uses Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras.

At the site in question, automatic number plate recognition technology is in place, providing security

Coupon-mad

Just seen that the sign doesn't create a contract with any obligation to pay £100 'fine' for an error with the VRN. It states that a charge arises in 3 set circumstances. 'Wrong VRN' is not one of them...nice one POPLA, can Assessors not read signs?

beamerguy

Brian Parker, managing director of Britannia Parking will already know of the highly flawed ANPR SYSTEM but still try's it on.

I do wish that DRP stopped printing rubbish about Beavis, it's so boring.
I assume that James Hollins who signs for DRP actually knows that everyone is told to ignore DRP.
Collections Manager indeed ? More of pest

POPLA ..... starting to show how stupid they have become, the Daily Mail article makes them look even more stupid

fisherjim

Even official ANPR is fallible:

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1730953/driver-with-two-near-identical-personalised-number-plates-keeps-getting-fines-for-the-car-parked-in-his-garage/

peter_the_piper

Of course it was pure luck the numbers are almost identical.

pappa_golf

but they are NOT identical , they are similar, which proves ANPR is not 100% reliable

Guys_Dad

Wonder if I read this somewhere like the BPA Code of Practice? No - couldn't have, could I??

21 Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR)

21.2 Quality checks: before you issue a parking charge notice you must carry out a manual quality check of the ANPR images to reduce errors and make sure that it is appropriate to take action

peter_the_piper

most reg numbers are 7 digits, how come the system accepts 9 digits or more, surely not intentional.

Coupon-mad

Guys_Dad wrote: »

Wonder if I read this somewhere like the BPA Code of Practice? No - couldn't have, could I??

21 Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR)

21.2 Quality checks: before you issue a parking charge notice you must carry out a manual quality check of the ANPR images to reduce errors and make sure that it is appropriate to take action

Yep, and when I once complained to the BPA that a firm was ignoring that specific Code of Practice rule, the BPA had the brass neck to water it down and pretended that didn't mean what it clearly does mean. And they said they couldn't force members to cancel where there was a VRN typo situation.

Even though when a similar case came up on Watchdog, when Excel were in the BPA, apparently that rule DID mean that AOS members should cancel PCNs before issuing them, because 'we understand that drivers might make an error with a VRN'.