HELP NEEDED - URGENT - PARKING EYE APPEAL VIA POPLA DEADLINE - Pay or Not to Pay???

KeithP

Here is a very recent PoPLA rebuttal on grace periods.
It secured a victory for the motorist.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/73250339#Comment_73250339

Perhaps you could use that as a basis for your response.

mbronco3006

Well, it has taken a long time to get my result, but looks like I have won!!

Decision
Successful

Assessor Name
Alexandra Roby

Assessor summary of operator case
The operator’s case is that the appellant did not make sufficient payment for his parking session.


Assessor summary of your case
The appellant’s case is that he did not spend two hours parked at the site. He states that he paid for a parking ticket as soon as he found a parking space and returned to his vehicle within the time paid for. The appellant states that the signage does not mention that motorists are allowed a grace period to leave the site and believes this to be unfair. The appellant has provided evidence to support his appeal.


Assessor supporting rational for decision
The terms and conditions of the site state: “Parking Tariffs Apply. Up to 2 hours…£3.00. Up to 3 hours…£4.00. Failure to comply with the terms & conditions will result in a Parking Charge of: £100”. The operator has issued the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) as the appellant did not make sufficient payment for his parking session. The appellant’s case is that he did not spend two hours parked at the site. He states that he paid for a parking ticket as soon as he found a parking space and returned to his vehicle within the time paid for. The appellant states that the signage does not mention that motorists are allowed a grace period to leave the site and believes this to be unfair. I refer to Section 13.2 of the British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice states: “You should allow the driver a reasonable ‘grace period’ in which to decide if they are going to stay or go.” The operator has provided images from the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system which show that the appellant’s vehicle entered the car park at 12:01 and exited at 14:13 on the day in question, staying for a total of two hours and 12 minutes. The operator’s payment system shows that the appellant made a payment at 12:10, nine minutes after entering the site, to entitle his vehicle to park at the site for two hours. Due to the size and capacity of the site during the day time I would consider nine minutes a reasonable amount of time to find a space and purchase a parking ticket. As the signage does not clearly state that parking time starts upon entry to the car park, in this instance, I consider the time the ticket has been purchased to be the start of the parking contract formed. Section 13.4 of the BPA Code of Practice proceeds to state: “You should allow the driver a reasonable period to leave the private car park after the parking contract has ended, before you take enforcement action. If the location is one where parking is normally permitted, the Grace Period at the end of the parking period should be a minimum of 10 minutes”. As the appellant purchased the parking ticket at 12:10, his parking contract would have ended at 14:10. The ANPR cameras captured the appellant’s vehicle exiting the site at 14:13, three minutes after the end of his parking contract. This is within the ten minutes provided by the BPA Code of Practice minimum requirements. As such, I conclude that the PCN was not issued correctly. Accordingly, I must allow this appeal.

mbronco3006

I thank you all for your help

nosferatu1001

well done

Complaint to the BPA that the operaor is NOT following the grace periods seems in order. Ask when the site was last audited for this topic.

mbronco3006

Thank you

Umkomaas

Good stuff! Follow nosferatu’s advice and give the BPA and the operator some reverse hassle to deal with.

Winning at POPLA is obviously important at micro level, but there is a much bigger macro picture, where literally millions of motorists every year are hounded by an out of control sector greedily sucking up millions of pounds of hard earned money.

Please do launch a complaint (an email will suffice) and you have POPLA’s decision backing you. The PPC knew you were well within the Grace Periods, yet chose to hound and harass you, hoping you’d crack and pay up.

Remember there are the ‘professionals’, yet allowed you (dealing with an entirely unfamiliar subject) to expose either the PPC’s lack of knowledge about what they’re dealing with, or their lack of professionalism, or something much more sinister. Ask the BPA to comment on which one of the 3 they think it is. Also copy your complaint into the DVLA. You could ask them the same question! Here’s your email addresses with which to communicate.

steve.c@britishparking.co.uk

david.dunford@dvla.gsi.gov.uk