HELP - UKPC parking charge notice

Grizla83

Hello this is my first ever thread and would greatly appreciate any advise.

In a nutshell I received a parking notice within 20 mins from UKPC yesterday 21/11/16 advising to pay £60 within 14 days, if not this will increase to £100 - reason for notice, driver left site (pinners brow retail park, Warrington).

Basically I visited two flooring shops on the retail park(there are only 3 shops), my partner left the site as there were no customer toilets which seems to have caused this ridiculous notice!! I was only able to reserve my purchase from Wickes so I have no evidence of receipt, well until today 22/11/16 when I returned to make payment for my laminate flooring.

It was only until we returned to the car we noticed a pile of garbage stuck to my windscreen!

Due to my frustration and rage I immediately logged onto their site to lodge an appeal naming myself as the driver. After reading a lot of threads today I understand that this is maybe the worst thing I have done and should've waited for the notice to keeper letter??? Am I correct in thinking they reject majority of appeals?

Please may I ask for some advise on the best way forward, a lot of older threads advise to ignore any correspondence, should this be the case or should I appeal to POPLA??

Your comments are greatly appreciated:)

pogofish

Start by reading the Newbies Sticky at the top of this forum, carefully - it will update you on the current situation and lay-out your options for proceeding.

Grizla83

Hi pogofish thanks for your reply, had a read through newbies sticky but advises to wait until day 26 to appeal...feels like I have dropped a right clanger already. Does appealing on first day mean my chances of getting this charge reversed are slim....also any thoughts on ignoring correspondence? Regards

pogofish

No, your chances of getting a positive result on a PPC appeal at any time are vanishingly small at best. The real purpose of a PPC appeal is to get you a chance to appeal upline and cost them some money.

All this really means is that you have offered-up your personal details for free and let them off with one of the first hurdles that a surprising number of tickets fall at - namely not issued within POFA-compliant time limits.

Now you are going to need to work on getting a strong appeal together and/or pursue a landowner cancellation.

Coupon-mad

Grizla83 wrote: »

Hi pogofish thanks for your reply, had a read through newbies sticky but advises to wait until day 26 to appeal...feels like I have dropped a right clanger already. Does appealing on first day mean my chances of getting this charge reversed are slim....also any thoughts on ignoring correspondence? Regards

I would not ignore UKPC as they do sometimes sue.

You will need to put in a good, strong POPLA appeal that is from you as the driver. UKPC often throw in the towel when they see the forum style long POPLA appeals, as shown in various threads every day. People use the template appeal points from post #3 of the NEWBIES thread and build a case around them.

But first what happened when you complained to Wickes? The first piece of advice in the NEWBIES thread is to complain to the retailers! Works like a treat in so many cases and makes them notice how bad the aggressive parking enforcement actually is. Shoppers should never keep quiet.

I am surprised you didn't simply take the PCN in with you today and threaten to cancel your flooring order unless the Manager cancelled the PCN. I would be putting a comment/complaint on Wickes' Facebook page/Twitter feed, and also emailing a complaint with a copy of the laminate flooring receipt to Wickes Head office, demanding that they cancel this ridiculous charge.

Grizla83

Coupon-mad, thanks for your response. Had a feeling this looks like it'll need to be a strong POPLA appeal. I will check newbies thread again in the morning.

Customer service member in Wickes didn't really say much just said you will need to take it up with UKPC, very unhelpful! Seems like they are always dishing out PCN'S as there were 2 more cars issued today in space of 15 mins!

Such an annoyance as the ticket inspector assumed I left the retail park site when in fact it was my partner, who was the passenger!

I think you are right I will write complaint to Wickes head office supplying them with receipts etc. One question though; are Wickes able to contact UKPC to retract or do they contact the landowner??

Regards

Coupon-mad

Yes - they can - and you will see that in the 'Successful complaints about PPCs' link near the top of the NEWBIES thread first post. I've been keeping a record of such complaints for years. Sometimes they can contact UKPC direct and sometimes they might have to liaise with - and lean on - the retail park managing agent.

Grizla83

Managed to get formal complaint written off to Wickes this morning, they have 2 day turnaround so will keep this thread updated on outcome, fingers crossed.

Fruitcake

If Wickes don't cancel this you will need to construct a PoPLA appeal and show it here for checking before submission. Point 1 of your appeal of course will be to state categorically that you did not leave the site, and you want proof from UKPC that you did.
Point 2 will be that UKPC failed to mitigate their loss by not telling your passenger not to leave the site.
Signage will be a major appeal point because there will be nothing about passengers leaving the site, so no breach of contract which can of course only apply to the driver.

Other appeal points are available but your main thrust will be to complain to Wickes. Don't however miss the appeal deadline.
In future, never bother with customer services of any shop. Always speak to a manager or contact the CEO or landowner. Some retailers have a clause that shop managers can get tickets cancelled.

Guys_Dad

Your appeal should be a winner - if you actually tell the whole story.

As you have lost the "Keeper Liability" protection by admitting to being driver, you should go with what actually happened.

You say your passenger left site. You also add that Wickes cs won't help. But you also state that you reserved your purchase on the day in question. Not quite sure what that actually means, but do Wickes have a record of that and can they give you a copy confirming when you made this? They should be prepared to do this to help the customer.

Also, you will need a witness statement from your passenger and if pushed, they should be willing to go to court.

Lastly, please read this and glean the relevant points.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=16231

Grizla83

Thanks for advise. Think if Wickes don't cancel I feel like returning my laminate flooring, for a geniune customer they should have some sort of authority. My complaint was sent to their complaints team, if I have no joy I already have reply ready for CEO.