Strange POPLA appeal decision

garythehutch

Update. MP has emailed simply asking for my address so I provided this. However, today ParkingEye have replied to the email my Dad sent.

Dear Mr X

Thank you for your correspondence received in relation to the above referenced Parking Charge, which was issued following a parking event that took place on 4th January 2017 at Sunderland Royal Hospital (Surgical Day Case Unit) car park.

Please be advised POPLA are an independent service to ParkingEye and any questions/comments you have relating to a decision POPLA have made will need to be directed to them. Their contact number is 03301596126 or their postal address is POPLA, PO Box 1270, Warrington, WA4 9RL.

We can confirm that £70 remains outstanding and full payment is required to prevent further action.

Payment can be made by telephoning our offices on 0330 555 4444, by visiting https://www.parkingeye.co.uk, or by posting a cheque/postal order to the below address. Please note that you must quote the above Parking Charge reference on the reverse of the cheque or postal order.

Yours Sincerely,

Half_way

looks like a generic reply for an I dont agree with popla complaint directed back at the PPC

garythehutch

I'd like to give everyone a very positive update.

A lady from the NHS have contacted me today by telephone and have confirmed that the parking charge has been cancelled. RESULT! ParkingEye are going to send a letter to my Dad confirming this.

I thanked her for this, but also asked that I wanted to know why this happened. The lady confirmed to me that the sign SHOULD still be there and she doesn't know who has taken the sign down. She said it could be ParkingEye or it could be hospital staff - she needs to investigate fully and she will get back to me.

I will let you know what the outcome of the investigation is, but if the hopsital don't know who is taken their own signs down, it sets a dangerous precident. I wonder if anyone else has been caught in the mean time.

Gary

Umkomaas

Good result - finally. Interesting point about a frustration of the PPC's contract by the removal of signs by the landowner.

garythehutch

Well lets see what the investigation finds. Was it the landowner who took the signs down or was it ParkingEye? My gut feeling is it was ParkingEye, based purely on my appeal... which I'm pretty sure is illegal.

Once this is all done. I am contemplating complaining to the BPA about this. Is this advisable, what can I expect out of it?

Fruitcake

garythehutch wrote: »

Well lets see what the investigation finds. Was it the landowner who took the signs down or was it ParkingEye? My gut feeling is it was ParkingEye, based purely on my appeal... which I'm pretty sure is illegal.

Once this is all done. I am contemplating complaining to the BPA about this. Is this advisable, what can I expect out of it?

I would complain to the BPA anyway, and anyone who you haven't already contacted as well.

How can parking lie have known there was no sign if they were not party to its removal? They should have had stock photos or some form of audit of the site including signage from this location, so if they were looking at an appeal, you would expect them to look at their database, not go and look at the site itself.
Did someone really decide to go and take a look at the wall and found, Oh, there is no sign, I'll reject that appeal then? Do parking lie really go to every site to revue signage for each and every one of the 30 000 odd tickets they produce each year?

The fact that they cancelled the PCN makes me think they knew they had been caught out.

I smell a dirty rotten stinking rat.

DoaM

Fruitcake wrote: »

The fact that they cancelled the PCN makes me think they knew they had been caught out.

They cancelled the PCN (to be confirmed once OP actually receives their letter) because their principal instructed them to.

garythehutch

Fruitcake wrote: »

I would complain to the BPA anyway, and anyone who you haven't already contacted as well.

How can parking lie have known there was no sign if they were not party to its removal? They should have had stock photos or some form of audit of the site including signage from this location, so if they were looking at an appeal, you would expect them to look at their database, not go and look at the site itself.
Did someone really decide to go and take a look at the wall and found, Oh, there is no sign, I'll reject that appeal then? Do parking lie really go to every site to revue signage for each and every one of the 30 000 odd tickets they produce each year?

The fact that they cancelled the PCN makes me think they knew they had been caught out.

I smell a dirty rotten stinking rat.

ParkingEye reviewed their signage database when I called them (before appeal), and again during the appeal and simply said the sign I took a photo of does not exist... the list and database of signage that they provided as evidence was consistent with this claim.

They basically said the picture I took was a lie because it wasn't part of their database. POPLA took their word over mine.

I then went to prove it again and the sign was conveniently gone. NHS have confirmed it should be there and don't know what has happened to it.

I feel like I want to take these !!!!s to court, if I'm totally honest.

DoaM wrote: »

They cancelled the PCN (to be confirmed once OP actually receives their letter) because their principal instructed them to.

Correct, although I imagine the letter we get will be a standard template and won't acknowledge the particulars of this case.