Help popla refused my appeal!

amz123786

Thanks will try write the letter this evening and post it on here before I send anything.

I have wrote on their Facebook page but they just tell you contact customer services and I have already tried that 😓

Ralph-y

have a read of ....

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/parking-signs-get-winter-jacket-at-asda.html

you might then want to speak to your local planing office ....

Ralph:cool:

amz123786

I have heard from BPA and they have said
Good morning

Thank you for your email below.

There is a grace period at the beginning when a car crosses onto private land, this is to allow the driver to read the signage and decide whether to stay in the car park or not. This is not added to the time if the motorist chooses to stay in the car park, there is only the end grace period for the motorist to exit the car park. Grace periods do not apply to some types of parking ie, permit holders only, no parking, loading bay etc.


Yours sincerely
Jan Wilkins
Operational Services Co-Ordinator
British Parking Association


So now I should just try writing to Aldi then ?

The_Deep

A loss at Popla does not cut a lot of ice in court. The adjudicators are often badly trained, many are I believe newly qualified law students seeking training positions. Furthermore, Popla refuses to accept mitigation, whereas judges will consider all the facts.

Of course you are not alone, this is a widespread scam which takes in far too many people.

Ralph-y

Please remember that the BPA is a members club for PPC's

and as such use untruths just the same ......

there reply was incorrect! so don't worry about it

Ralph:cool:

amz123786

Thanks I guess POPLA and BPA won't help me then.

Should I just write to Aldi then? I have done a draft letter but not sure if I should even mention grace periods now?

Ralph-y

Yes still write to Aldi and yes mention to them that PE are breaking BPA conditions ......

send copies of any receipts from that day and any others to show how much you spend

you can post up your draft if you feel you need to ....

good luck

Ralph:cool:

Coupon-mad

amz123786 wrote: »

I have heard from BPA and they have said
Good morning

Thank you for your email below.

There is a grace period at the beginning when a car crosses onto private land, this is to allow the driver to read the signage and decide whether to stay in the car park or not. This is not added to the time if the motorist chooses to stay in the car park, there is only the end grace period for the motorist to exit the car park. Grace periods do not apply to some types of parking ie, permit holders only, no parking, loading bay etc.


Yours sincerely
Jan Wilkins
Operational Services Co-Ordinator
British Parking Association


So now I should just try writing to Aldi then ?

Tell 'Jan':

That's not what the BPA Code of Practice actually says and their replies fobbing off consumers are not indicative of 'putting the motorist at the heart of their thinking'. Say you will complain to the DCLG about the BPA and about POPLA and this entire scam industry.

How exactly does the allowance of time to read signs suddenly get 'wiped out' and rewound, when a driver then decides to stay and buys a ticket? And how come that ticket does not use the ANPR records to start the time at the point of entry, if that's the time the driver will secretly and unfairly be bound by, later?

If a ticket says it expires at, say 11.15am then the offered and agreed time expires then, not earlier. And the BPA CoP allows a MINIMUM ten minutes (discussed at a DVLA/BPA meeting last year as needing to be changed to at least 11 minutes) after the expiry of paid-for time. An operator can't decide that a driver is at fault for the reasonable minutes taken at the start, to drive in, then park and read the signs.




I have no idea how these people at the BPA can dare to engage their typing fingers to spout such utter rubbish to the public. Seems like a bit of a free-for-all at the moment and the level of feeding frenzy in the current court cases is just ridiculous. Luckily almost all we see here on the forums are won because they are robustly defended and most cases have weaknesses.

Do they (at the BPA) not have any empathy with actual people?

What's wrong with this lot at Haywards Heath these days that they keep fobbing people off/making up the rules as they go along, with trashy answers not matching the BPA CoP and changing it to remove anything inconvenient (e.g. they removed the rule that a PCN couldn't be issued against a car with a Blue Badge and watered down other points like the requirement to make checks to ensure tickets are not issued inappropriately, such as when a VRN one-digit keypad error occurs).

amz123786

Thanks Ralph and Coupon-mad for your responses. I think you both need to work for these companies and show them how its done. God forbid any of the people working at these companies get a ticket!!

Also i finally have my laptop back so have had a go at drafting letter to Aldi. I do need to sort it out but its just a draft yet and im writing it as my husband as it was his car. I would be ever so grateful if you could have a read as its probably not great and I really do want them to action my email . Thanks

I write in reference to a Parking Charge Notice which I received by way of post in June 2016 after shopping at Aldi in Bearwood.

I am a regular customer at Aldi in [FONT=&quot]Bearwood and have previously always shopped there with my family and had no issues whilst shopping there. The last time I visited Aldi was on 28 May 2016, which is the date referred to on the Parking Charge Notice (copy enclosed). Since receiving the Parking Charge Notice I have not shopped at any Aldi stores.[/FONT]

On receiving the Parking Charge Notice I was very surprised to note that I was being pursued for the sum of £70.00 or a reduced sum of £40.00 if paid by 17/06/2016, for overstaying at the Aldi car park in Bearwood for 14 minutes on 28 May 2016. I was astounded to receive this as I had no knowledge of overstaying the maximum stay of the car park.

I have previously never been issued with a Parking Charge Notice and was very surprised to note that I was being pursued for overstaying 14 minutes, given the fact that I was a genuine customer at Aldi.

On 28 May 2016 I was shopping at Aldi with my 2 children (one of whom is in a pushchair) and my wife. We entered the car park at 14:54pm and I recall that the car park was very busy and it was very difficult to find a parking space. I believe it took approximately 6-7 minutes to find a safe parking space, get my children out of the car, leave the car park, get a trolley and enter the store.



As usual I browsed the store as I was not looking for anything in particular so I looked at different items which I might be interested in. My wife was looking after the children who usually run amok in the store. I did not intend to buy a lot however I brought 24 items from the store which amounted to £14.32(copy of receipt enclosed). There were queues when trying to pay for my items and I ended up waiting in line for a few minutes.
Once I had finished shopping and left the store I proceeded to place my children in the car, put the pushchair away, unloaded the shopping into the car and returned the trolley. I believe that the above took another 10 minutes and another few minutes where spent trying to exit the car park. I was parked in one of the middle lanes in the car park and was approximately 3-4 minutes away from the exit and trolleys. There were also a lot of other cars trying to leave the car park at the same time as me so I was not able to exit the car park straight away.

I tried to appeal the Parking Charge Notice with Parking Eye however I was unsuccessful and they advised that my only option was to appeal to POPLA. I then appealed to POPLA however this was also unsuccessful. I do not believe POPLA have taken any mitigating circumstances into account and have not correctly applied the grace periods as stated in the BPA guidelines.

The BPA guidelines state: “[FONT=&quot]You should allow the driver a reasonable ‘grace period’ in which to decide if they are going to stay or go. If the driver is on your land without permission you should still allow them a grace period to read your signs and leave before you take enforcement action” [/FONT][FONT=&quot]and “You should allow the driver a reasonable period to leave the private car park after the parking contract has ended, before you take enforcement action. If the location is one where parking is normally permitted, the Grace Period at the end of the parking period should be a minimum of 10 minutes.”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]POPLA have failed to consider any grace period on entering the car park. This should have been taken into account as any vehicle driver cannot be expected to find a parking space and enter the store rapidly. I believe this along with the 10 minute grace period applied on exiting the car park would have been more than sufficient to show that I have not broken the parking rules of Aldi car park, however this was not taken into account.[/FONT]

I believe that as a genuine customer at Aldi and as someone who regularly shops at Aldi that a fine in the sum of £70.00 is disproportionate for overstaying 14 minutes! I believe that Parking Restrictions are there to prevent non-customers from abusing the car park and not there to deter genuine customers such as myself!

ENC BANK STATEMENTS SHOWING AMOUNTS PREVIOUSLY SPENT.

Im very disappointed to note that I am not the only customer who has had this problem with Parking Eye in particular in Aldi stores. I have also warned other customers on Aldi’s social media account of this incident and I am shocked at the amount of customers who have complained regarding the poor system which is in place at Aldi.

I have a not returned to any other Aldi store as I feel that Aldi is punishing their own customers when they overstay by a nominal time. I feel that Aldi is responsible no matter who controls the parking, Aldi contract the company to do this and as such Aldi control the rules. I do not know why Aldi allows extortionate companies to demand payment, bully and intimidate its regular customers. How can a customer remain a loyal customer when Aldi allows their customers to be pursued by such companies in this way.

I am particularly angry at the fact that I usually always go to Aldi to buy my other 2 children items for their packed lunch or i usually allow my son to visit Aldi after school and allow him to spend £20 on any items. I live in Winson Green and there is a Lidl which is not far from my home however i would still take my family shopping in Aldi. Shopping at Aldi should be a happy and relaxing experience however on this occasion I am far from satisfied.



I am also currently unemployed yet I still spend my savings in Aldi and I am disgusted that Aldi has allowed Parking Eye to bully me into paying for their invoice. My short overstay did not cause any other customers problems and I have never overstayed before.

I am disappointed that I am no longer able to shop in Aldi and I am disappointed that a number of Aldi customers are treated in the same way.

I ask that Aldi consider the above circumstances I have stated and understand that a simple shopping trip to a store is not always as easy as leaving and entering as Parking Eye would have you believe. I ask that on this occasion discretion is exercised and that the Parking Charge Notice is cancelled forthwith.

Coupon-mad

Nice one. Make sure the PCN number is in the subject line with the word 'complaint'.