Invalid ticket!

HondaVFR

Please help. My wife was issued with a Parking Charge Notice by Britannia for 'Failed to make a valid payment'. She did pay, and didn't over stay. She parked in a proper bay and displayed the ticket (although this wasn't a requirement). We were then told that she hadn't entered the registration of the car correctly. Only later after POPLA were involved did they provide a list of registrations. Indeed my wife appears to have only entered an 'A' (the first letter of her registration). They did provide photographic evidence of the car arriving and departing (based on the registration). I provided a copy of the ticket to prove she had paid and not overstayed. POPLA have declined my appeal. They say 'although an 'attempt' was made to purchase a ticket the ticket she purchased was invalid.' and we should pay the fine in full. There is no mention of the money Britannia have received that my wife put in the ticket machine.
Am I in the wrong to feel aggrieved or should a just pay up?
Please help.
Thank you.

pogofish

Are you trying to suggest there is such a thing as a valid private parking ticket..?

If you have been through POPLA, making the mistake of submitting a fact-based appeal and identified the driver to them, then you still don't need to pay - just need to sit tight for the next six years to see if they chance a court action. Someone else should be along soon with an idea of how likely that is.

In the meantime, you should inform yourself properly and get the bones of a potential defence together by reading the Newbies Sticky and the prepping for court threads.

HondaVFR

Thank you for your reply. I'm afraid I don't understand my 'mistake' of making a fact based appeal.
I think I've read in this forum somewhere that Britannia would only be entitled to the payment for the parking used, which they were so I'm just baffled and worried by the whole thing. Sorry for being thick.

pogofish

HondaVFR wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. I'm afraid I don't understand my 'mistake' of making a fact based appeal.
I think I've read in this forum somewhere that Britannia would only be entitled to the payment for the parking used, which they were so I'm just baffled and worried by the whole thing. Sorry for being thick.

PPCs and POPLA are basically a coalition of cowboys who don't really do fact to any great degree - You need to rely on the sort of stronger and proven arguments outlined in the Newbies Sticky - which is kept up to date with the most current effective information. Also, appealing as the keeper, without identifying the driver will limit their options at later stages

Reading recent posts/threads can be a useful way of getting the bones of a challenge together but if they are more than a few months old, things may well have changed and you need to keep it current.

The_Deep

POPLA have declined my appeal.


Nincompoops. I doubt that a judge would be as stupid. If POPLA are going to make such decisions as this, is it not time to treat them as an irrelevance?

HondaVFR

Thanks again for your help. POPLA say I cannot challenge their decision but can I?

pogofish

HondaVFR wrote: »

Thanks again for your help. POPLA say I cannot challenge their decision but can I?

No - your only option is to sit it out and see if the PPC chances it in court. Where TBH, your chances are far better if you do your homework on here.

Raising hell with the landowner/shop/shopping centre for them to cancel it on your behalf etc might be a possibility but that is usually best done at the earliest possible stage of the process.

But the more likely outcome is that you will now suffer a prolonged onslaught of scary but utterly meaningless debt collector letters that can be safely ignored - but do not ignore an LBCC or properly issued court papers. Come back here for help before replying or submitting any defence if that happens.

HondaVFR

Thanks again for all the help. I'd be no good as a card player, sitting and bluffing it out. They scare the pants off of me. But I'll do what you say and see what transpires. Thanks again.

pappa_golf

in an ideal world , the ANPR (camera) would have taken the VRN of the vehicle , and simply refused to issue a ticket because a vehicle with the VRN of "a" had never entered the car park

in an ideal world

now think for a moment , so did your wife enter "a" or indeed the whole VRN , which the machine did not except ?

Geoff1963

a vehicle with the VRN of "a" had never entered the car park

Or even existed.

pappa_golf

Geoff1963 wrote: »

Or even existed.

so why was payment accepted?