Parking charge notice, ticket purchased but reg no entry faulty

Lucy_Richards

We, along with several others, have received Parking Charge Notices from Parking Eye claiming we have to pay £100 for either 'not purchasing the appropriate parking time or by remaining at the car park for longer than permitted'. There are no technicalities I can see with the wording and there are clear time stamped images included.


The time stamps show we paid within 5 minutes of arrival and left within 3 minutes of expiry of the ticket we purchased. The issue is that the company operates an ANPR technology which requires you to enter your reg number on the parking ticket machine which on that day was faulty and not recognising what was being punched in resulting in an incorrect reg no on the ticket (after several attempts).


We don't intend to pay the charge and will appeal initially through the company's system as they are a BPA member. Before submitting I wanted to check the key point to base the claim on was that the alleged contravention did not occur. There are probably points relating to signage and proportionality of the charge to the damage incurred by them but I don't have photos of the signs and these seem surplus to requirements in our case.


It seems PE have regular issues with notices issues for this particular car park so we may contact the local press and the landowner too.


Any advice appreciated.

Umkomaas

There is a blue text template initial appeal in the newbies FAQ sticky which you need to use. Use it as is, don't try to alter things, but you might want to add a final point about the machine not working (especially if others were similarly ticketed for the same issue). But do be careful not to identify who was driving! That's why the initial appeal template was carefully crafted.

The more detailed stuff should be kept up your sleeve for your POPLA appeal.

Definitely complain vociferously to the retailer/hotel/gym/hospital/landholder (you've not been specific about the type of car park) about this absurd situation that you're now having to deal with as a result of their agent's machinery malfunction. They can get this cancelled for you.

But don't wait for a response from them before sending your initial appeal to PE - do it in parallel. PE are a nasty outfit and sue those who miss their deadlines.

Coupon-mad

Lucy_Richards wrote: »

Before submitting I wanted to check the key point to base the claim on was that the alleged contravention did not occur.

Nope, because that phrase is only for real fines from Local Authorities. sounds like you might have been reading the awful 'Private Parking Tickets Appeal Guide' on MSE as an article (it's out of date and shoots appellants directly in the foot by blabbing abut who was driving).

You could add this (below) to the blue writing template in the NEWBIES thread - which already mentions signage etc., you don't need photos of signs to mention unclear terms:

The issue is that the company operates an ANPR technology which requires you to enter your reg number on the parking ticket machine which on that day was faulty and not recognising what was being punched in resulting in an incorrect reg no on the ticket (after several attempts).

And attach a scan or pic of the p&d ticket as proof, not saying who the DRIVER was!

IMHO PE might cancel purely because you are proving 'we' paid and displayed. saying 'we' is OK. Not 'I'.

If not then this is possibly winnable at POPLA. Come back to this thread if rejected.