Indigo / Sevenoaks

Spacesimian2016

Hi there

I am about to submit an appeal against Indigo for a PCN applied at their Sevenoaks rail car park.

The PCN was applied based on the following from Indigo:

On the date above, you chose to park your vehicle in breach of the Terms and Conditions of parking, which are displayed at the entrance to the car park:
Breach Code 14: Parking in an area restricted for the use of permit holders without displaying a valid permit before 08:30'.

Needless to say I had displayed a valid parking ticket in the form of a paid for weekly ticket.

Not sure how much detail I need to pass on your your thoughts but a particular situation has arisen at this car park - whereby they/Indigo suddenly partitioned a significant part of it for parking permit holders, not regular ticket holders. They've put up some inconsistent signs and applied some yellow lines and wording to the parking surface and initially they had two men advising where to park. On one occasion they told me I could park in the permit area as there were plenty of spaces there after the regular parking was full - when this happened again I of course got a PCN.

I would like to know how much of this I should reference as a part of my appeal which will be going for the following:-
1. No Owner Liability (fails PoFa 2012 requirements)
2. Provision of unredacted landowner contract for Indigo to:
- manage the car park
- issue charges
- take court action in their own name
3. No proprietory interest in the land
4. Signage
5. Imposition of penalties for breach of byelaws
6. No breach of byelaw

They have thrown up a number of signs which lack consistency of meaning as well as visibility - at the main car park entrance there is a sign saying 'This car park is for rail users only'. Then at the border of the permit only zone where I parked there is another sign saying 'This car park will temporarily become a permit holders only car park before 08:30am Mon-Fri as of 24/10/2016'. Based on 'This car park' being used at the main entrance as well it could be construed as being applicable to the whole car park - but then why are there other signs elsewhere in the car park saying the following - 'This area of the car park is for permit holders Mon-Fri before 08:30'. I will be adding this to the Signage part of my appeal.

They have not added any of this new arrangement to the regular Terms and Conditions notice-I am assuming they think it just falls under what they have already have ie. we can do what we want to do.

However - in the letter they sent to me they also state:
The Conditions clearly state that "daily and weekly ticket holders are not permitted to park in areas reserved for permit holders as permits are classed as monthly or longer tickets".
They also state that "if any area of this car park is designed exclusively for the use of season permit holders during specified hours a notice to this effect will be displayed. Failure to observe this notice and adhere to this will result in a Penalty Notice being fixed to your vehicle or handed to you".

I cannot see any of this in a sign with their Terms and Conditions on it so linking an image of it for confirmation that I have not missed anything to the contrary:
http://imgur.com/cakkuHX

Ideally this is becomes a key point exposing how they have shoddily tried to impose some even more nonsensical rules on to users.

If anyone could come back as soon as they can it would be much appreciated as I am mid-process on the online form with today being my deadline, as per the much advised only submit when you have to line re; time-scale.

Many thanks as always

twhitehousescat

you seem to have most of your ducks in a row

but just have a read at those 2 articles

BPA
05 December 2016
Government must find solution to Railway Byelaws to prevent PCN backlog

The British Parking Association (BPA) is in talks with the Department of Communities and Local Government and DVLA regarding PCN’s issued on railway land.

The Lead Adjudicator of POPLA has concerns that as railway land is managed under Statutory Byelaws, any parking tickets issued may be outside the scope of POPLA and he has taken appropriate action of adjourning such cases while he considers how best to proceed.

Railway Byelaws contain provision for clamping and for cases to be taken to a Magistrates Court where the fine may be up to £1,000 and could result in the motorist getting a criminal record.

The train operating company has a right to manage their land and the BPA is working with Government and other stakeholders to provide clarity and consistency so that an acceptable and more proportionate solution can be identified and when the adjourned cases will be decided.

The BPA believes in ensuring that all recipients of PCNs should have access to independent redress if they feel the Notice issued to them is unfair. Without clarification of this issue there is a danger that motorists will be worse off by not having access to an appeals service for Notices issued on railway land.

Patrick Troy, BPA CEO said: “POPLA offers motorists a simple, free appeals service for parking tickets issued on private land. We want to make absolutely certain that POPLA is available when motorists park at railway stations as in most cases management is undertaken by a private parking company who must offer an independent appeals service.”


POPLA
5 January 2017,
POPLA has taken the decision to consider the cases previously adjourned due to Byelaws. We initially placed these appeals on hold after receiving complaints that we did not have the remit to consider if a Byelaw had been breached. After considering our position, we feel it is important to offer an appeal service to motorists so that they can have an independent assessment made. As such, we will look at the appeals we have placed on hold since September 2016. As of 5 January 2017, we had approximately 1,300 appeals on hold. If you have an appeal on hold for this issue, we would ask for your patience while we work through these. We would remind you that while an appeal is with POPLA, the parking operator is unable to pursue payment.


POPLA seem to have taken "a" decision on their own , unless the "serious" talks between the BPA and Department of Communities and Local Government and DVLA were concluded in less than a month (xmas / new year) ?


POPLa were asked if they had authority to adjudicate on bylaw land , however they have come back with an answer to a completly different question and seem to think the question was " that we did not have the remit to consider if a Byelaw had been breached. "

nice on POPLa , you are stating on your website that YOU now feel that YOU have the remit to consider if a Byelaw had been breached.

ok , adjudicate away , has a bylaw been breached or not? (failure to display ticket is NOT a bylaw offence?

yes you have breached a bylaw , ok what now? the PPC cannot start court action , YOU have said its a bylaw!


take your time , send appeal as late as possible , then send POPLa appeal as late as possible , Indigo will back down , however if it gets to POPLa , lets see their stance now ,

after the appeal , plus waiting time then popla plus waiting time , 6 mths will have gone