TPS owned car park PCN with evidence

parkingchargesucker

Hi there,

I've read through and begun to follow the newbie advice but still need some help.

£40/£70 PCN received for 'driver seen leaving the site' from Total Parking Solutions at a B&Q site.

I complained to the store manager & customer service to no avail. As I have a large online following I used this to contact B&Q's PR company who seemingly got very worried about potential negative PR and put me straight in touch with someone in the 'chief executive's office' who was clearly trying to help as much as possible but explained that B&Q did not own this site so could not get it cancelled, and that apparently TPS have strong evidence of the driver leaving the site and coming back after the max 2 hrs (there are cameras so I strongly assume they went as far as looking this up).

The one thing that could be in my favour is that some of their signage is broken (and the charge amount is tiny lettering, not prominient), as below:
imgur.com/ntul7nF
imgur.com/1xE3G0G

If TPS received a copy of my email to b&q PR (probably not), they may try and say that I'm admitting to being the driver, though I did my best to keep it vague enough with no 'I'/'my' statements... "having received a pcn for supposedly 'leaving the site'" etc.

I'm not much of a gambler so I'm now tempted to pay the reduced £40 if my chances are only so so... please could you offer opinions?!

thanks
parkingchargesucker

Redx

I doubt that TPS "own" the car park despite your thread title , they are likely to be contractors working on the parking aspect

I sugegst you find out who "owns" the site and/or who "manages" the site , to get them to cancel it (it may not be B and Q but they should know who they rent from if they are a tenant)

signage is ALWAYS one of many legal arguments for your appeal or defence

parkingchargesucker

The B&Q higherup seemed to think they did own it, but she may have been mistaken. The sign (as per photo) states TPS "manage" the car park, and if they don't own it I would strongly imagine that whomever the investor/big corp that owns the land would have no interest in spending time trying to help in some random person trying to save £40. (also have no idea how to find out who owns it)

Redx

google or the LAND REGISTRY will tell you who "owns" it

very , very few car parks are "owned" or "pharmed" by private parking companies , most are British Land or some pension fund or big organisation , like Peel Holdings etc

if its a retail park , you want the managing agent ( MA )

the LR charge a few pounds for landowner details

B and Q should have known who they rent from , if they dont "own" the land

if you had told us the location then forum members might have been able to tell you , but your posts have lacked crucial details like this

The_Deep

They have almost no chance of making this stick in court. The parking weasel who saw you leave is required by law to tell you to park else where, it is called mitigation of loss.

parkingchargesucker

It is B&Q Wandsworth (on smugglers way), I can't seem to find a result from google - please do let me any other crucial details I've missed? It's not a retail park, only B&Q are there.

Is it a POPLA appeal likely to be rejected? What about the broken signage with small lettering? As I'm not sure the hassle of attending small claims court is worth saving the £40 if POPLA are likely to reject.

Coupon-mad

B&Q cancel these all the time.

Is a POPLA appeal likely to be rejected?

Not one of ours, almost all win if written by a keeper who has followed the NEWBIES FAQS thread advice and appealed without saying who was driving, then uses the POPLA templates already written (in post #3 of the NEWBIES thread).

Redx

seems to be on Delta Business Park so try and find out who manages or owns the whole site , it wont be B and Q nor will it be TPS either

Fruitcake

http://imgur.com/ntul7nF
http://imgur.com/1xE3G0G

Crap signs that do not comply with the BPA CoP.

Too high up to be read.
Font size too small to read from a vehicle.
Core terms including charge buried in the tiny script and not saved by the Beavis signs.

Seen leaving site? Who was? The driver, the keeper, a passenger? Why didn't the observer stop them and mitigate the parking scammers' loss. What data/proof do they have? If photo/video evidence, does it comply with ICO requirements?

Yes it is definitely worth appealing to PoPLA on these points and any others available, then telling B & Q they were wrong not to cancel when you win.

The_Deep

Have you done a Companies House Beta search on them?


https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/05676135


They claim to be Britain's largest parking operator, but they are exempt from filing accounts under the small companies provision. I very much doubt they they own any car parks.

fisherjim

"...apparently TPS have strong evidence of the driver leaving the site and coming back after the max 2 hrs (there are cameras so I strongly assume they went as far as looking this up)."

Their "strong evidence" will be some Muppet sitting in his car or hiding behind the tea wagon, no one will have trawled through any cctv footage, the first rule of running a PPC is learn how to tell porkies.

If leaving site is so costly to the business the attendant should have stopped you and told you not to leave to mitigate that loss, but of course he didn't that would cost him his bonus.

The site seems woefully lacking in signage on Google streetview B&Q do engage TPS to do their car park management.

B&Q are just like others that employ scammers they try to head off your complaint by saying it's not their problem.