Motorway services parking fine issued - I wasn't there! Advice please!!

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Hi all

On a long trip a driver of my vehicle broke their journey at a friends house who lives one mile away from a service station.

All the locals use the services as a junction to come off at (via the no-entry/authorised vehicles only link to a local road - it's almost customer practice now - but technically illegal).

Anyway they came off at 11pm and on again at 6am, I've now had a fine stating I didn't pay for my 7 hours parking! I wasn't there!!

Can someone suggest what angle I go for ?

1) The truth - which I suppose can't be proved, and involves driving down a 'no-entry/authorised vehicles only' road.

or

2) Just write one of the letters stated in this section.

Just had second letter from CP parking asking for 140 quid!

Any advice appreciated - Thank-you! :beer:

Carthesis

Which services is this?

pappa_golf

there is obviously not a ANPR camera on the exit road so you have been clocked entering the site then leaving , do you have any documentation for your time that you were supposed to be their , please say you filled with petrol , or got stopped by the police etc etc etc in that period , case just happened here http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/excel-anpr-flawed-car-was-having-mot-at.html , the fact that you went down a no thru road is nothing to do with the PPC


tell them once what happened , repeat in your appeal , then take them at CC if you wish , inc a nice payment to you for obtaining your details unlawfully .


enjoy ,,,

pogofish

Please confirm if the Services were in England or Scotland - Advice will differ depending on where.

DoaM

I'm aware of people doing this at the Bothwell services (M74 southbound) ... I've done it myself before ... entering the services via a No Entry back gate/staff gate and then joining the motorway. Never had any PCNs from it though.

The_Deep

inc a nice payment to you for obtaining your details unlawfully

Hang on PG, how was the PPC to know OP used a non monitored rat run? .

Coupon-mad

Just had second letter from CP parking asking for 140 quid!

So you didn't appeal after the first Notice to Keeper? Do so now but DO NOT SAY who was driving!

Bottom line with CP Plus, they can't hold a keeper liable, only a driver, so don't appeal 'as driver'. I would not use a template and would write what happened but only mentioning the driver in the third person.

Have a look at Edna Basher's posts for one of his appeals that has the words 'you will be familiar with the strict requirements of the POFA...'. Use one of them as your base. CP Plus normally bail out when reminded of the POFA.

pappa_golf

The_Deep wrote: »

inc a nice payment to you for obtaining your details unlawfully

Hang on PG, how was the PPC to know OP used a non monitored rat run? .

why did the PPC not install cameras on every entrance/exit route that a vehicle could use?

Carthesis

pappa_golf wrote: »

why did the PPC not install cameras on every entrance/exit route that a vehicle could use?

Presumably because they will have signage up indicate no public use / staff use only / no through route / whatever that it isn't particularly unreasonable to expect drivers to abide by.

In this case, I would suspect that as there is a defined area that isn't open to the public, the worst they would be able to do is try a court claim for trespass? Which the PPC wouldn't be able to do, and would only be able to bring against the driver.

pogofish

The_Deep wrote: »

Hang on PG, how was the PPC to know OP used a non monitored rat run? .

It may not be a rat-run but it may well be an anomaly/grey area.

Many of these roads - known as "Rear Access" <snort..!> were actually built and adopted as normal public roads within the motorway system. This was back in the days where local workers/suppliers etc were regarded as yokels and not expected to have motor vehicles of their own or the need/ability to use the motorway itself and to allow maintenance and emergency access when the motorway might be out of use.

DOT required operators to discourage use by the general public as part of their licence conditions and the police would occasionally have words with people spotted using them without good reason but it remained a grey area (not least because of the absence of junction numbers and motorway regulation signs) with only a very few genuinely private "rears" protected by bollards or gates until around 2008 when the requirement to maintain rear access was finally dumped by the DOT - Since then, operator service roads are private and must not connect to the Motorway directly.

Castle

Here's a nice list of "rear access" service stations:-
http://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/Rear_Access