PCN for breastfeeding - Appeal lost with Premier Parking

damargil

Morning all,

As typical as it might sound we were issued a PCN at the Royal Gatehouse Car Park in Tenby for overstaying 23 minutes to breastfeed our baby.

Long story-short, we went on a long weekend holiday near Tenby, on our last day went to Tenby’s beach with our two little boys. Accessed the car park paid for two hours. We came back on time but overstayed probably from 5 to 10 min to breastfeed our baby. We thought, if the guard/officer comes along, he or she should understand why we are overstaying. Nobody turn up and we left. About 10 days later a PCN was delivered to us saying we had spent 2:23 hrs in the carp park and that the price for it would be £100. Note that after accessing the car park we spent some time trying to park and paying for the parking.

I naively appealed with an informal text admitting that according to the images, we had overstayed, and I thought they would understand the reasons why, no they didn’t.

I have been through the section “**NEWBIES!! PRIVATE PARKING TICKET? OLD OR NEW?....” and found a post on how to proceed but I don’t really know if that applies to us as it looks like it is more related to disable people, right? I am not allowed to post links but I found it in the section "Successful complaints about private parking tickets - how to get them cancelled!" in a post about:

IF THERE WAS AN EQUALITY ACT BREACH (disabled or elderly, or pregnant/breastfeeding driver or passenger) use this as a basis for a complaint to the PPC/retailer/landowner:

We would like to know if we have any chances of getting this PCN cancelled or reduced to a logical amount after losing the appeal and admitting that we were in the car and overstayed to breastfeed our boy.

Thanks for your help and time…!!!

Much appreciated.

Umkomaas

Could you please confirm the exact name of the parking company. There are 3 'Premiers' on the scene. Advice will vary depending on which one you're entangled with.

1. Premier Park Ltd
2. Premier Parking Logistics
3. Premier Parking Solutions Ltd.

In terms of the 'breastfeeding' angle, you need to pursue the car park owners. They are required to provide certain 'adjustments', and a little extra time for breastfeeding would appear to be the most basic of providable adjustments.

Write to them to put them on notice that should they not get the parking company to drop this charge, you will be taking legal action to sue them (the car park owner) where the minimum damages award would be £500, and given the stress and harassment the parking company is putting you through, you will be seeking much more than basic damages. Quote at them chapter and verse from the Act.

So that is one strategy to pursue right now. Come back and tell us which of the Premiers.

Fruitcake

Breastfeeding mothers have protected characteristics in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, so putting both the car park owner and the parking scammers on notice as mentioned above is your first move in all this.

Did you reveal the driver's identity in your initial appeal?

damargil

Umkomaas wrote: »

Could you please confirm the exact name of the parking company. There are 3 'Premiers' on the scene. Advice will vary depending on which one you're entangled with.

1. Premier Park Ltd
2. Premier Parking Logistics
3. Premier Parking Solutions Ltd.

In terms of the 'breastfeeding' angle, you need to pursue the car park owners. They are required to provide certain 'adjustments', and a little extra time for breastfeeding would appear to be the most basic of providable adjustments.

Write to them to put them on notice that should they not get the parking company to drop this charge, you will be taking legal action to sue them (the car park owner) where the minimum damages award would be £500, and given the stress and harassment the parking company is putting you through, you will be seeking much more than basic damages. Quote at them chapter and verse from the Act.

So that is one strategy to pursue right now. Come back and tell us which of the Premiers.

Hi Umkomaas,

It is Premier Park Ltd.

I tried to find the car park owners on Internet but I couldn't. It is the Royal Gatehouse Car Park in Tenby as I mention in my post, any ideas on how to find them?

Thanks for your help.

damargil

Fruitcake wrote: »

Breastfeeding mothers have protected characteristics in accordance with the Equality Act 2010, so putting both the car park owner and the parking scammers on notice as mentioned above is your first move in all this.

Did you reveal the driver's identity in your initial appeal?

Hi Fruitcake,

Yes, I did. I didn't know that I could have used that.....I didn't come to the Forum before I appealed to Premier Park Ltd. I thought they would understand but I was wrong....

Umkomaas

PPL are BPA members, so they should have supplied you with a POPLA code (10-digit numeric) when they rejected your initial appeal.

Is the vehicle registered in yours our your other half's name?

If an internet search has drawn a blank, how about calling the planning department at Tenby council (or whichever local authority covers it), or the Valuation Office for the Tenby area (you can do searches on their website). Check if there's a Tenby Facebook Group page - ask on there if any local knows. Ultimately you can pay for the details from the Land Registry (£3-£4 last time I looked). Hope these suggestions help.

damargil

Umkomaas wrote: »

PPL are BPA members, so they should have supplied you with a POPLA code (10-digit numeric) when they rejected your initial appeal.

Is the vehicle registered in yours our your other half's name?

If an internet search has drawn a blank, how about calling the planning department at Tenby council (or whichever local authority covers it), or the Valuation Office for the Tenby area (you can do searches on their website). Check if there's a Tenby Facebook Group page - ask on there if any local knows. Ultimately you can pay for the details from the Land Registry (£3-£4 last time I looked). Hope these suggestions help.

Yes, they gave me a code. The vehicle is registered in my name. I will try to find the car park owner in the next couple of days and come back with any updates.

In the meantime, I have no clue about laws and the Act that I mention in my first post, is there any benefit in my trying to understand it or do I only need to quote it as such?

Can I find that the chapter and verse from the Act somewhere in the web?

I take from our messages that it is worth fighting the PCN and that I should not accept the reduction to £60, right?

Thanks

Half_way

get in touch with the parting company again, and demands they cancel the ticket, quote the equality act to them.
You shouldn't have to jump through the POPLA his to get this cancelled, if they refuse then it opens them and the landowner up to an equality act issue.
post anything you may send on here first, so it can be checked.

damargil

Half_way wrote: »

get in touch with the parting company again, and demands they cancel the ticket, quote the equality act to them.
You shouldn't have to jump through the POPLA his to get this cancelled, if they refuse then it opens them and the landowner up to an equality act issue.
post anything you may send on here first, so it can be checked.

I will do, thanks.

I will post it here first for comments.

The_Deep

If they persist, you can always get heavy with them. A letter before action alleging discrimination in failing to accord you your EA 2010 right to enhanced consideration may bring them to their senses. You do not have to follow it through, the mere threat of a court case may get them to think twice about pursuing their claim. Read this

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?73382-Letter-Before-Action-Discrimination,

Guys_Dad

The_Deep wrote: »

If they persist, you can always get heavy with them. A letter before action alleging discrimination in failing to accord you your EA 2010 right to enhanced consideration may bring them to their senses. You do not have to follow it through, the mere threat of a court case may get them to think twice about pursuing their claim. Read this

http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/showthread.php?73382-Letter-Before-Action-Discrimination,

I have read many, many posts advising using the EA 2010 defence in parking cases but have yet to see one case in which this was a winning argument. I may have overlooked one but I don't think so.

What The Deep has outlined is the actual process. You would need to initiate your own claim where instead of being the defendant, you would become the claimant against the PPC and land holder. Yes, the treat may cause them to cancel, but I would not hold out too much hope. So you might have to go all the way. But if you did,and won, your payout would dwarf the parking penalty.