Help with Highview Parking Charge Notice

carcuscrae

Hi

Can some please advise what my next course of action should be.

I received a letter from Highview Parking about my vehicle overstaying by 14 minutes at Riverside Norwich. I appealed to Highview with the details below

Dear Sir/Madam, Please can you freeze action in relation to this car parking notice until you have investigated the claim I am making in relation to this parking charge which I believe has been incorrectly issued for the following reasons: The driver of the car visited the Riverside shopping centre and it's various outlets on the day of the 24th October 2016. In each of three car parks in that area there is a notice that says "If you you intend to leave the shopping vicinity you should not leave your car parked there". They followed this instruction to the letter and when they left the car park that serves the Matalan retail outlet and Poundland (amongst others) to shop at the Boots outlet (In the Riverside retail area) that has a different adjacent car park they took the car with them. Later they returned to the parking area that serves the Matalan and Poundland retail outlets to continue shopping there. They also parked in Morrisons car park where they ate some lunch and bought some groceries. In this respect they followed the parking instructions exactly and when they changed car parks it was clear that a new period of free parking would be initiated as there is nothing on the parking signage that says "no return" within a given period or which states that the three separate car parks are one car park. The fact that you identify the car park as "Riverside Retail Park A" clearly indicates that there must be a car park B and so it is separate and different. They made purchases at some of the retail outlets ie Matalan, B&M, Morrisons and later that day went to the cinema in the Riverside retail centre - although they parked elsewhere in the multistorey which serves the cinema complex. I have attached a screen shot of some receipts from the day & I can provide a PDF of these transactions if necessary sometime after 20th November when that months statement is ready if required. I am not able to tell you who was driving at the time and I am not required to do so by law. If you continue to pursue me in relation to this charge I will contest it to the full extent that I am able to using a formal written letter as I feel it to be both incorrect and also grossly unfair and not a true reflection of the loss to the landowners as the adjacent multistorey car park charges around one pound an hour and the "reduced" rate you plan to charge is fourteen times that rate. I don't mind paying reasonable parking charges when the car parking facility requires me to do so at the time of parking. In view of these circumstances and the proof of shopping that I have attached I would respectfully request that you cancel the charge notice issued in this instance. Many Thanks

I received a rejected appeal email today from them with a POPLA number but their reason for rejection was as follows:

Thank you for your correspondence concerning the above stated Parking Charge Notice. The PCN was issued and the signage is displayed in compliance with The British Parking Association’s Approved Operator Scheme Code of Practice and all relevant laws and regulations.

Please note that our client’s property is for the use of the shops on the site and not for the use of the surrounding area. As such, Morrison’s is not part of our client’s property.

The fact that you may have been unaware of the restrictions that are in place is not considered a mitigating circumstance for appeal. In light of this, on this occasion, your representations have been carefully considered and rejected. We can confirm that we will hold the charge at the current rate of £42 for a further 14 days from the date of this correspondence.

You have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure.

Although we have now rejected your appeal, you may still have recourse to appeal to Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA), an independent appeals service. An appeal to POPLA must be made within 28 days of the date of this letter. POPLA will only consider cases on the grounds that the Parking Charge exceeded the appropriate amount, that the vehicle was not improperly parked or had been stolen, or that you were otherwise not liable for the Parking Charge. To appeal to POPLA, please go to their website http://www.popla.co.uk and follow the instructions. If you would rather deal with this matter by post, please contact our Appeals Office and we will send you the necessary paperwork. Your POPLA reference number is: xxxxxxxxxx

Please note that if your appeal does not relate to the above criteria or is rejected by POPLA for any reason, you may be requested to pay the charge at the full amount and will no longer qualify for payment at the reduced rate.

By law we are also required to inform you that Ombudsman Services (www.ombudsman-services.org/) provides an alternative dispute resolution service that would be competent to deal with your appeal. However, we have not chosen to participate in their alternative dispute resolution service. As such should you wish to appeal then you must do so to POPLA, as explained above.

They clearly haven't read my appeal email as I stated that the vehicle was moved between car parks but their rejection is on the basis that Morrisons is not part of their clients property.

Can anyone advise what information I should enclose in my appeal to POPLA, obviously Highway not even reading my initial appeal will be in there, but what other defence should I use?

If there is anything else needed please let me know.

Many Thanks for you anticipated help.

Umkomaas

I wouldn't get too hung up on car parks A, B or C, just work your POPLA appeal around the template appeal points contained/linked in post #3 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky.

POPLA will be even less interested in mitigating points than the PPC. You must win this on technical and legal argument (contained in the templates).

Do you have photographs of the signage on site? The signage contains the contract you purportedly entered. Seeing what that says can be important. Link a copy of any such photos for us to view. Use a free hosting site like tinypic or photobucket, copy the URL and paste it into the reply box, changing http to read hxxp. Newbies don't have live linking privileges, but a regular will convert for you.

Important - let us see a copy of your draft POPLA appeal before you submit it.

carcuscrae

Hi

Thanks for the fast response.

Here is a link to the signage onsite (http changed to hxxp as requested)

hxxps://1drv.ms/i/s!AjoFn10WiehohL9eSaiznC8SR_gnHQ

I understand what you are saying about mitigating points but surely the fact the car wasn't parked in the one car park for the time they are stating must have a huge influence on the appeal? The make up of the Riverside shopping complex in Norwich is 3 car parks, 2 seem to be controlled by Highway and the 3rd is solely for Morrisons, which according to Highway they don't control. All 3 carparks are accessed from seperate exits from the same roundabout. As the car was moved to the Morrisons car park at some point during this window of time, therefore leaving the Highway controlled car park, would that not make this PCN totally invalid anyway? Which was what I was trying to point out in my appeal to Highway but they seem to have ignored that fact.

Thanks

DollyDee_2

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AjoFn10WiehohL9eSaiznC8SR_gnHQ

Highview Parking not Highway Parking

carcuscrae

DollyDee wrote: »

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AjoFn10WiehohL9eSaiznC8SR_gnHQ

Highview Parking not Highway Parking

Sorry...thanks for correcting my typo...

Umkomaas

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AjoFn10WiehohL9eSaiznC8SR_gnHQ

It might have helped to have given the correct name of the PPC. You need to amend your post and thread title (use the Advanced Edit facility, via the Edit button).

Highview are easy to beat; they often capitulate on receipt of the initial appeal template from the NEWBIES sticky - but you're past that point, so time to concentrate on getting your POPLA appeal right.

Whilst you might be frustrated in the context of which car park you used/didn't use, how do you propose proving this to your advantage in a paper submission to a faceless Assessor based in Warrington?

Carthesis

Is this not similar to a double-dip?

If Highview don't have sufficient cameras to capture all possible exits - including an "internal" one into a car park they don't control - then the correct movement of the vehicles hasn't been picked up. Alternatively, they could quite easily have the appropriate cameras in the appropriate places, but just be "choosing" to disregard the vehicle movement which damages their case.

carcuscrae

Umkomaas wrote: »

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AjoFn10WiehohL9eSaiznC8SR_gnHQ

It might have helped to have given the correct name of the PPC. You need to amend your post and thread title (use the Advanced Edit facility, via the Edit button).

Highview are easy to beat; they often capitulate on receipt of the initial appeal template from the NEWBIES sticky - but you're past that point, so time to concentrate on getting your POPLA appeal right.

Whilst you might be frustrated in the context of which car park you used/didn't use, how do you propose proving this to your advantage in a paper submission to a faceless Assessor based in Warrington?

Fair point! So what would you suggest is the best way forward to appeal this to POPLA? What is my best legal or technical arguement to put forward?

Or can I even go back to Highview and say to them that their response actually proves my original appeal by them admitting they don't control Morrisons car park?

Thanks

Umkomaas

carcuscrae wrote: »

Fair point! So what would you suggest is the best way forward to appeal this to POPLA? What is my best legal or technical arguement to put forward?

Did you miss this bit?

....... just work your POPLA appeal around the template appeal points contained/linked in post #3 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky

carcuscrae

Hi

No i didn't miss it but what I was asking is that in my circumstances what would be the best technical answer to use or are you saying just do the whole lot, even if some don't apply, and let POPLA deal? I was just asking as I wanted to make sure i didn't include any irrelevant information.

Thanks

Carthesis

There is a thread I started which deals with double-dip cases which may be of use to you, and can be found by clicking on my username.

Sounds like that could be one pillar of your argument.