Parkign Eye - Newquay

SamboJambo

I got a ticket from them while we were on holiday at the end of June, the first letter I appealed straight way, but heard nothing until 3rd October when I got a letter saying that I had a certain amount of time to pay the full fine or they will take me to court. I contacted them immediately to say I hadn't received anything to tell me my appeal had been rejected so why are they suddenly threatening court action but again I heard nothing until yesterday. I got another letter telling me that as I had not appealed to POPLA within 14 days of the appeal rejection letter I had to pay the full fine or be taken to court. I never received a rejection letter, which apparently also had an opportunity to pay a reduced fee or details for appealing to POPLA.
What can I do? I emailed them again yesterday repeating everything I had previously stated but I feel I am going around in a circle, and as they wont let you speak to an actual person it is proving to be almost impossible to resolve this without paying a ridiculous charge (which I feel was completely unfair in the first place as they time it from the moment you enter the carpark to the moment you leave despite you having timed tickets, so none of the queueing etc is accounted for) or have them take me to court... neither of which I can afford to do. HELP!

Carthesis

Don't panic.

First step - give us actual dates and actual details. It seems you're being done for an overstay? Have they properly accounted for grace periods etc.?

CRITICAL QUESTION: WHEN YOU APPEALED, DID YOU NAME THE DRIVER??

Second step - you need to write to both the DVLA and the BPA and inform them that ParkingEye are in breach of the CoP by not offering you a POPLA code and by not replying to you in the appropriate timescale.

Redx

similar to this one then , where complaints were made to the BPA etc

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5513291

SamboJambo

I'll grab the times and dates later as they are at home. We did struggle to get back into the car as a van had parked so close we couldn't open the doors on one side which makes it very difficult to get a 3 year old and 6 month old into the car. But my query was more that their clock was wrong as we had got back to the carpark very early and our baby was asleep so we decided to pop into the cafe over the road for a drink to give him a bit more of a nap before waking him up to put him in the car (and hoping the lovely Van driver would return so we could get in)
No, I didn't mention who was driving, I just confirmed that I was the owner.

Redx

what happened on the day is largely irrelevant and wont be taken into consideration

just make sure that any popla appeal is as keeper and follows the usual arguments, as found in the popla decisions thread at the top of this forum

DO NOT SPEAK TO ANYBODY , DO NOT PHONE THEM

you wont get anything sorted out over the telephone and there is no paper trail with phone callsl

if you havent been given a popla code, complain to the BPA like Ilovenorfolk did, by email, in writing

Carthesis

Redx wrote: »

what ahppened on the day is largely irrelevant and wont be taken into consideration

Largely, but in this particular case, not entirely.

Having a six-month old (presumably the mother was there with said infant?) means that you have a Protected Characteristic under the Equalities Act - both pregnancy and maternity are so. The 'maternity' period is ill-defined, but it would be reasonable to assume that it lasts whilever you qualify for statutory maternity pay from work. This requires them to make "reasonable adjustments" for those protected characteristics, in the same way they would have to were you in a wheelchair or mentally disabled in some way.

In this case - it would be reasonable of them to increase the allowed grace periods once they are notified of the presence of your protected characteristic (obviously they can't know about it beforehand).

Make sure to point this out to them in the appeal letter you send to POPLA.

Redx

agreed, but POPLA have never ruled on the EA2010 under London Councils nor under The Obudsman Service either , nor have the IAS at the IPC for that matter

so although it might feature in any counter claim by the OP, popla wont rule on it (or have not done so thus far)

the OP will win this on the usual legal arguments, not the EA2010 (even though I agree with what was said above about the EA2010)

dont take my word for it, ask CM who is the authority on it

if it gets to court, then I agree that the EA2010 may feature in the defence

Carthesis

Agree re: the usual legal arguments, particularly grace periods etc.

But it can't hurt to throw that into the mix early doors either, as it might just incentivise them to FRO if someone that apparently knows their onions points it out to them.

I notice the OP also mentions the "clock being wrong" - please elaborate?

SamboJambo

Sorry, I didn't respond last night. I have just checked the times, according to the PCN and our ticket we entered the car park 10 minutes before purchasing a ticket and left 15 minutes after the ticket expired.
The reasons I think the times may be wrong are because as stated above we arrived back at the car so early we popped over the road for a drink in a cafe, also the PCN states we had left at 2.51 pm but we went on to Perranporth afterwards which took approx. 30 minutes because of traffic, we then had to park, looked around the shops and still managed to be set up on the beach with time to play before my little one was due his 4pm feed... but we have no way of proving any of that so I guess it is irrelevant.

Carthesis

Right - the important parts from that point relate to grace periods.

You need to have a read of the BPA Code of Practice relating to that term, but basically companies are obliged to provide you a period after entry but before parking to read the T&Cs, get a ticket etc. They are also obliged to provide you a similar period after vacating the space. In this case it sounds like they haven't, and the non-generous parking space allocation (i.e. the van being parked too close) hasn't helped.

Because of your infant child, they should make the reasonable adjustment because of the extra time taken to perhaps feed them briefly before the journey; to secure them in the child seat and the like.

THE *RECOMMENDED* GRACE PERIOD IS 10 MINS BEFORE AND 10 MINS AFTER!

By that measure, you've only exceeded the parked time by 5 minutes, and because of the placement of the cameras at the entrance / exit of the car park, you could quite easily have been waiting in a queue to get out. Effectively they've measured the total time spent "beyond" their ANPR cameras, not the total time parked.

This is very winnable at POPLA.

SamboJambo

Thank you for your help. Am I still able to go to POPLA even though they never sent the letter telling me I could? I am unsure of time limits, etc.