IAS Appeal

Aysheab

Hi all!
We received a stupid parking ticket from a G24 run car park where the limit was 180mins .
We went over by 23mins unintentionally because we were sure we had been under the 3 hours.
We were shopping but mainly window shopping and it is a retail park with about 10 shops in. £70 fine is way too much money for 23 mins in my opinion .
I have appealed using the IPC template found on the newbie thread but of course my appeal was dismissed and I have been told to appeal to the IAS if I want to or pay the blasted fine.
Now when I am starting the appeal it asks about the driver of the vehicle , in my letter to G24 I did not mention the driver so should I on appeal?
I am confused as to what I write on the ias appeal and have not seen a template on the newbie thread (may have missed it !)
I will be mentioning the grace Period because it could easily take that much time to read the terms and conditions etc and park .
I have attached a pic of the signage . And also have copied the email they sent me .
Thanks in advance


Dear :::;:

Thank you for your email.

The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 ("the Act), (Schedule 4), which governs parking on private land, provides a definition for "parking charge" and "adequate notice" of such private parking charges. The relevant sections of Schedule 4 to the Act state :

“parking charge”

(a) in the case of a relevant obligation arising under the terms of a relevant contract, means a sum in the nature of a fee or charge, and

(b) in the case of a relevant obligation arising as a result of a trespass or other tort, means a sum in the nature of damages ...

... “relevant obligation” means
(a) an obligation arising under the terms of a relevant contract; or
(b) an obligation arising, in any circumstances where there is no relevant contract, as a result of a trespass or other tort committed by parking the vehicle on the relevant land; ...

... The reference in the definition of “parking charge” to a sum in the nature of damages is to a sum of which adequate notice was given to drivers of vehicles

(when the vehicle was parked on the relevant land).
For the purposes of sub-paragraph (2) “adequate notice” means notice given by:
... (b) ... the display of one or more notices which
(i) specify the sum as the charge for unauthorised parking; and
(ii) are adequate to bring the charge to the notice of drivers who park vehicles on the relevant land".

In this instance a parking charge has been issued based on the fact that the driver of your vehicle entered into a contract with us (by the act of parking the vehicle) and our signage (which states the terms and conditions of parking) having been clearly displayed in the car park.

The Act permits parking charges to be rendered on private land, and the case of Parking Eye Limited v Somerfield Stores Limited [2012] EWCA Civ 1338 (Court of Appeal) held that (taking into account inflation) the parking company was entitled to claim a parking charge of a similar amount to that which we have charged, and therefore your reference to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 is not of any relevance in the context of this parking charge.

You should also be aware that the amount of our parking charges accords within recommendations by our Trade Associations.

The nature of our contract with our client is confidential but will be supplied during any Court proceedings.

We can confirm that parking management at this site has been contracted to us. As a member of the Independent Parking Committee, we are constantly audited to ensure that we have all relevant contracts in place. We will provide the Court with a copy of this in full if they require it.

There are sufficient signs at the entrance to and in prominent locations throughout the car park displaying the terms and conditions. Your are welcome to revisit the site to view the signage, we advise you to adhere to the terms and conditions of parking when visit the site.
Our signage complies with the Independent Parking Committee's Approved Operator Scheme.

A copy of our signage will be provided in any Court proceedings and a copy of our terms and conditions is clearly stated on the Notice to Keeper you have received.

The photographs provide evidence of the parking event that occurred which show that the driver breached the terms and conditions of parking which were clearly displayed on the signage in the car park. If you wish to receive further documentation, these will be supplied once you make a proper request under the Data Protection Act. The fact that such documentation might be used in any Court proceedings is not a legitimate way to circumvent the Data Protection Act.

G24 Ltd are approved by the DVLA (via the Independent Parking Committee) to receive your personal information. Furthermore, we are registered as a Data Controller with the Information Commissioner's Office. Accordingly, your personal data has been lawfully obtained and is handled by us in the strictest confidence. G24 Ltd are approved by the DVLA (via the Independent Parking Committee) to receive your personal information. We act completely in accordance with the relevant Regulations and although we appreciate that no-one ever wishes to receive a Contractual Parking Charge Notice, we regret to say that in this instance it is clear that a breach of contractual term has occurred and payment is still required from you.

You have stated that you were not the driver of the vehicle at the date and time of the breach of the contractual terms of the car park, however you have failed to inform us who was.

Judge Ackroyd, 2008, Oldham Court, Combined Parking Solutions versus Mr Stephen Thomas, in the case where Mr Thomas claimed not to be the driver, but did not state who was, ruled that on the balance of probability he was the driver and ordered the Charge to be paid plus additional court costs.

If, at the end of the period of 28 days (beginning with the day after the date on which this correspondence is issued), you have not complied with the above, then we have the right to take recovery action against you.

As we have extensively investigated this Contractual Parking Charge Notice and provided you with the results of our investigation, no further investigation will be undertaken. Any further correspondence will not receive a response, the options below are still open to you.

You now have one of the following options available to you:

1. Pay the outstanding Parking Charge. Payment of your Contractual Parking Charge Notice can be made via the payment line: 0333 733 3000 or by sending a cheque or postal order to G24 Limited, PO Box 3320, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, SL9 8WT.

2. If you believe this decision is incorrect, you are entitled to appeal to The Independent Appeals Service (https://www.theIAS.org), The Independent Appeals Service provides an Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme for disputes of this type. As you have complied with our internal appeals procedure you may use, and we will engage with, the The Independent Appeals Service Standard Appeals Service providing you lodge an appeal to them within 21 days of this rejection.

3. If you choose to do nothing, we will seek to recover the monies owed to us via our debt recovery procedures and may proceed with Court action against you.

Customer Services
G24 Ltd

To Pay your Parking Charge visit http://www.payyourcharge.co.uk or call our payment line on 0845 452 7777.

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL, if you wish to continue your appeal visit our appeals website at http://www.appealyourcharge.co.uk.

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

Registered in England. Company Registration number: 5457196. Registered Company address: Batchworth House, Batchworth Place, Church Street, Rickmansworth, Herts, WD3 1JE.



Thanks guys !

catfunt

General consensus is don't appeal to IAS, as their process is bent and totally biased towards the operators.

Instead, go into ignore mode - you will get debt collector letters but they are powerless and can't take you to court. So ignore everything except a Letter Before Claim from Gladstones, or actual court papers.

Do a search for G24 cases on here.

Fruitcake

An appeal to the IAS is a waste of time as it virtually guarantees its members they will reject 80% of appeals.
This is explained in the NEWBIES sticky thread.

The advice now is to ignore everything you get unless you receive real court papers.

Again, this is explained in the NEWBIES thread as well as explaining why it is safe to ignore debt collectors.

Oh, it is not a fine and no, you shouldn't reveal the driver's identity.

Coupon-mad

I am confused as to what I write on the ias appeal and have not seen a template on the newbie thread (may have missed it !)

DO NOT TRY AN IAS APPEAL. Reasons are fully explained in post #3 of the NEWBIES FAQS thread, hence NO template. DO NOT GO THERE!

G24 are tame and never sue (would not have a clue) but get the retailer Store Managers or Head Offices to cancel it by being really assertive about your complaint. No more 'appeals'. COMPLAINTS.