Parking Eye PCN at Derby & Burton Services

AngelHarmony

I'm really hoping for some help please? I've been through lots of pages/posts including the Info for Newbies but I think I'm just tying myself in knots!

At the beginning of last month I stopped at Derby & Burton Services. I know this service area fairly well as I used to live just a few minutes away from it. It's a large site with a wonderful food pub at one end, in the middle there's a fuel station with a KFC restaurant & drive-through & 3 other units that have varied since it opened. At the other end there's an Ibis Budget Hotel.

I'm registered disabled, was tired & I just wanted a drink (from my flask), some fresh air & to let my dog out to stretch her legs. The first quiet area I spotted which also had grass was by the far end of the hotel so I parked there. With the exception of the food pub which has some shrubbery around it, the rest of the large car park is an open one. After half an hour I was back on my way home.

Imagine my shock when a fortnight later I received a Parking Charge Notice for £60!! (It includes photo's of me arriving & leaving) Apparently "the car park is private land, only for authorised hotel guests/patrons only along with other terms & conditions of the car park". I know I was parked by the far end of the hotel but I didn't see any signs & definitely no boundary areas to say I wasn't allowed to park where I was. As far as I'm concerned, disabled needing a rest or not, I always thought a service area is supposed to be a place to get rest, food, drink, fuel etc., after all there are signs everywhere to take a break & not drive tired!!

Although after receiving the PCN I looked on here as well as the motorway services online website to see who to contact about cancelling the PCN. I've then not been well over the last week so it was completely forgotten about until this morning when I received a second PCN telling me I now have 14 days to pay £100 & because I didn't appeal within 28 days of the date of the original PCN then I have no further right to appeal!!

I've spent the day going through the forum but really don't know;

a) exactly who to appeal to?
b) can I appeal with any part of the DDA? (I've seen some others on here have)
c) how to word my letter correctly? (I'm especially struggling with this)

I'd be so very very grateful for some help/advice please.

Many thanks in advance

Coupon-mad

I've spent the day going through the forum but really don't know;

a) exactly who to appeal to?
b) can I appeal with any part of the DDA? (I've seen some others on here have)
c) how to word my letter correctly? (I'm especially struggling with this)

The DDA isn't current law and hasn't been since 2010, when it became the Equality Act. There's also not been such a thing as 'registered disabled' for decades because there is no GPs' register of disabled people as existed ages ago.

But yes, you are disabled and should be allowed a reasonable adjustment so I would upload a scan of your Blue Badge to the PE appeal website and (do not mention the delay in appealing, nor the dog unless it's your assistance dog) and state:

I wish to appeal this parking charge. I am disabled, was tired and I just wanted a drink from my flask and some fresh air and a brief stop at the services. The first quiet area I spotted which also had grass was by the far end of the hotel so I parked there. With the exception of the food pub which has some shrubbery around it, the rest of the large car park is an open one. After half an hour I was back on my way home and saw no difference in signage so this is not well demarcated at all, in my view.

As far as I know, Services are there for drivers to rest for a couple of hours and I took mere minutes. I attach a copy of my Blue Badge and urge you to cancel the charge immediately. Take note that I have also sent a formal complaint to the Motorway Services Manager and the Hotel Manager, as I feel unfairly harassed by your demand.

To make a complaint about PE and to try to get a landowner cancellation, there's a phone number for the IBIS Hotel Manager here:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g1234748-d1229292-r282079699-Ibis_budget_Derby-Willington_Derbyshire_England.html

and a contact number for the services on the right here:

http://motorwayservicesonline.co.uk/Derby_and_Burton

Try that at the same time as the appeal. Come back if rejected, you should still get a POPLA code and most POPLA appeals are won here.

DO NOT use the same short appeal at POPLA stage - I wrote that deliberately briefly and it's NOT an appeal for POPLA state at all and would lose. Things are different at POPLA stage.

AngelHarmony

Thank you so much for your quick reply I'll send the emails & make the calls today. Fingers crossed for a positive outcome!!

AngelHarmony

I've finally had an email back from Parking Eye asking me to prove I was a patron of the service area!?! As I only had a 1/2 hr pit stop for fresh air & a drink in had in my car, the only evidence of my visit is the 2 photos they took of my car!! Why does common sense not prevail? Not everyone spends money at services (too expensive!)!!

Should I just put all that in another email? Many thanks in advance x

System

Go back to ParkingEye and tell them you were a customer of the facility by being there. There is no requirement to purchase anything and you wish to refer them to the Highway's Agency circular 01/2008 which says that such areas should provide at least:

Fuel
Hot drinks and hot food
Indoor seating
Two hours free parking
Free toilets and baby-changing facilities

Ask them again to cancel and come back with their reply

AngelHarmony

Thanks for that & I will

System

Why not send them a link too

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/1679/response/3572/attach/3/DfT%20circ%200108%20web.pdf

trisontana

One fly in the ointment. This service area is not located on a motorway, but at the junction of the A50 and and A38. Neither of which is a motorway. So whether this comes under the rules of proper MSAs I don't know.

I will probably be stopping there in a couple of week's time. So I would like to find out for myself.

System

They are not MSA's but "Signed service areas on all-purpose trunk roads"

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.8702524,-1.5866206,3a,75y,118h,72.18t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sg8yf2FuB-mnzLxSXxuBPzA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Convenient sign courtesy of Google. Lesser standards apply but PE seem to be trying in their normal way to be above the law. It seems to be a planning distinction where the Service Area can either use Circ 1/2008 or use submit the Service Area to local planning restrictions.

Do PE ask for planning permission usually?

AngelHarmony

Aaarrrrggghhh!!! I HATE Parking Eye!!

I've followed all the kind advice given on here in my appeal to PE but because of "insufficient evidence" they've rejected it!! As a gesture of goodwill they've reduced the PCN back to £60 for 14 days or I make a POPLA appeal!!

Why do I feel black mailed for stopping for a 1/2 hr rest stop at a services where I simply parked in the car park, had my own drink & some fresh air to keep me awake so that I didn't fall asleep at the wheel for the last 1/2 hr of my journey home?!?

Without any receipts (because I didn't buy anything!), how likely is it I can win a POPLA appeal if I've failed so far?? Due to other stress & poor health I don't know if I can keep fighting? (I'm having a relapse with my MS & my head can't think straight for basics let alone this!)

Any further help &/or advice will continue to be very gratefully received xx

Redx

I suggest you draft a popla appeal based on post #3 of the NEWBIES sticky thread and put it on here (redacted of course) for critique

POPLA is a lottery, like court , so who can say what will win , its like judge bingo only assessor bingo

let us hope you are successful, which is by putting in a strong appeal

also email your MP and complain to them as well, apply as much pressure as you can because the MP`s are responsible for all of this mess