Indigo Station Car Park Fine

Handbags-at-dawn

Indigo's windscreen tickets are an attempt to impose their own, home-made penalties.They are based on fake law.

The standard Indigo signs at railway stations say nothing about parking charges for breach of contract. The usual wording is like this:
RAILWAY BYELAWS: CAR PARK TERMS OF USE.
Then underneath it sets out the instructions, one of which is usually (tho not always) "You must purchase (and display) a valid ticket or permit and/or purchase a valid cashless session covering the duration of your stay".

So failing to display is a breach of the instructions - which in turn IS a breach of Byelaw 14 (2)(ii), for which the driver (and only the driver - not the owner/keeper/anybody else) can be prosecuted.

However the notice then says:
"A Penalty Notice may be issued for any breach of the instructions above and, in accordance with Railway Byelaw 14(4)(I) the penalty for such breach is £100."

Thus they give the impression the "penalty" is fixed by statute and must be paid. This is false. The Dept for Transport, DVLA and even the BPA have agreed that only the Court can impose a penalty - and your guilt has to be proved first.

They all try to slide around it by saying it's an offer to avoid prosecution, along the lines of the fixed penalty you can get for speeding. The trouble is, there is no statutory authority for this arrangement either, so in reality it's a case of "bung us £100 and we'll forget all about it". We've been complaining about it for years but the powers that be aren't interested.

Until three weeks ago, at least people with enough determination could get their Byelaws tickets thrown out by POPLA (last year 90% of appeals against Indigo Solutions' tickets were successful). But now, the BPA in its infinite wisdom has decided to withdraw the requirement for its members to offer POPLA where Byelaws are concerned. So really there's nothing you can do apart from a) not let on who was driving; b) wait for 6 months - when the chance of prosecution has timed out; and c) then demand your personal data is deleted from their records.

GTR have recently been suggesting they will clamp cars where penalties have not been paid. It is highly questionable whether they or persons authorised by them have the requisite lawful authority, But even if they have, a demand to pay an unenforceable penalty is wholly unwarranted, and so forcing people to pay it by threatening to clamp would be an interesting form of blackmail. The same goes for any release fee over and above the clamping costs incurred that are demanded before release.

pappa_golf

GTR have recently been suggesting they will clamp cars where penalties have not been paid. It is highly questionable whether they or persons authorised by them have the requisite lawful authority, But even if they have, a demand to pay an unenforceable penalty is wholly unwarranted, and so forcing people to pay it by threatening to clamp would be an interesting form of blackmail. The same goes for any release fee over and above the clamping costs incurred that are demanded before release.

gtr clamp or indigo clamp , interesting to see an indigo employee who still has a sia clamping licence

GTS4

Sadly I was unaware that it is not a good idea to confirm who was driving (a lesson for another time). I have not speciifcally confirmed that I was but I have confirmed the penalty notice was issued to me (it was stuck on the car and I took it off) and that I am the holder of the parking permit...so there is a strong implication I was the driver.

GTS4

Interstingly I see that Indigo have started to install clamping signs in the car park. That is a difficulty I could well do without whether it is right or wrong.

waamo

GTS4 wrote: »

Sadly I was unaware that it is not a good idea to confirm who was driving (a lesson for another time). I have not speciifcally confirmed that I was but I have confirmed the penalty notice was issued to me (it was stuck on the car and I took it off) and that I am the holder of the parking permit...so there is a strong implication I was the driver.

You could have been a passenger. Do not admit being the driver.

GTS4

As Indigo have refused to issue me with a POPLA reference I have contacted POPLA who inform me that the British Parking Association (which is hardly an independent body) have decided not to use the POPLA service for penalties issued on railway land. It therefore seems that in those cases, like mine, there is no independent right of appeal. I am surprised the parking operators are able to get away with that. Looks like the first time I will get an independent review is in court if it gets that far.

Redx

read the latest nov 2017 parking prankster blogsite blog where it is discussed in detail

as bylaws apply , there isnt any independent appeal process available , not unless the government does something about it

you should complein to your local MP about it