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NCP and Dash

Facts
Vehicle is leased.
Parking required at Greater Anglia railway station managed/operated by NCP.
Dash is payment partner of NCP.
Prior user of the same station with payments made via Dash.
Booking already exists for 21/11/17 (21/11/17 04:00:00 until 22/11/17 03:59:59).
Parking charge £2.40 per day.


20/11/2017
Booking made and paid for before parking through Dash for 1 day on 20/11/17.
Booking checked while on train and found to be erroneous (22/11/17 00:00:00 until 22/11/17 03:59:59 charged at £1.20).
Booking made for second time. Again selected 20/11/17 for 1 day; again booking is erroneous (22/11/17 00:00:00 until 22/11/17 03:59:59 charged at £1.20).
Dash emailed with details of problem.
PCN attached to vehicle on return to car park. Non-display of valid parking ticket. £75/£50 within 14 days.
£2.40 in total paid for erroneous bookings through Dash (i.e. the cost of one day's parking).


21/11/2017
Appealed 21/11/18. Identified myself as driver (didn't know any better unfortunately). Provided evidence of erroneous transactions and communications with Dash.
Dash refunded payments of erroneous bookings (their description)


6/12/17
Appeal rejected:

  • No display of parking ticket (duh!)
  • Must pay before leaving car in car park (I thought I had)
  • "You are unable to pay for a parking session that starts sooner than one that has already been booked/currently active..." (how am I supposed to know this?)
  • - "... This is to stop people paying for the same period of time as they have already paid for." (apparently it doesn't; I had 3 concurrent bookings).
- POPLA code given.


I couldn't believe they'd rejected my appeal so turned to the internet for some advice (wish I'd come here first; I wouldn't have fessed up to being the driver if I had).


So I now know what POPLA and POFA are, and I know that that NCP are money-grabbing thieves.


So, I've read the stickies, and FAQs, and hundreds of other posts about NCP, railway stations, cashless payments, leased cars etc. Nothing that matches my circumstances exactly but I was sure there'd be enough there to pull together a good POLA defence.


I then come across a lot of info about Railway Bye-Laws which I admit has thrown me... does this mean that NCP can't pursue me in civil court, and that Greater Anglia must take me to criminal court (within 6 months) if they want to pursue this? Or has my failure to keep to myself who the driver was thrown spanner in the works. In any case, how do I progress this. Can I still appeal to POPLA? Do I write to NCP? Or do I just ignore the debt letters and wait to see if NCP have the whatsits to take me to court?


Any help will be appreciated. One thing's for sure; I wont be handing over £75 without a fight.

Comments

  • Umkomaas
    Umkomaas Posts: 44,207 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    NCP can pursue you through the civil courts - unlikely they will, given the complexities of a railway byelaws case, they don’t even pursue through the courts in straightforward cases like those from the car parks they actually own/lease.

    If GA want to pursue through the Mags Court, they could within 6 months, but why would they be contracting NCP to sort out their parking arrangements, then take over their role for them (dog and barking yourself!), and for what purpose, because the workload to do so would be of no benefit because whatever fine is imposed by the Mags, the payment of it goes straight to the Exchequer - nothing of it comes GA’s way.

    As POPLA is available to you take the option. It’s been withdrawn in Indigo-managed railway sites. It maybe that POPLA will put your case as one involving byelaws into a holding state (possibly never to reappear). It does mean while the appeal is still ‘under consideration’ that NCP cannot proceed any further by instructing debt collectors, for example.

    Ignoring things on your part while POPLA is available would be a step in the wrong direction, because once your POPLA Code expires (28 days), then debt collector hassle will almost inevitably kick in.
    Please note, we are not a legal advice forum. I personally don't get involved in critiquing court case Defences/Witness Statements, so unable to help on that front. Please don't ask. .

    I provide only my personal opinion, it is not a legal opinion, it is simply a personal one. I am not a lawyer.

    Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

    #Private Parking Firms - Killing the High Street
  • Sounds like a fault in their system, you attempted to make payment by one of their approved methods and it was rejected through no fault of your own.

    When you contacted the PPC to explain the issue, they refunded both your payments and rejected your appeal instead of cancelling and keeping £1.20 for payment.
    Always remember to abide by Space Corps Directive 39436175880932/B:
    'All nations attending the conference are only allocated one parking space.'

    Genuine Independent 247 Advice: 247advice.uk "The Gold Standard for advice on parking matters."
  • If this was a Byelaw ticket then I understand that the Byelaws state that the OWNER of the vehicle is liable to pay the penalty. If it’s a lease car then this is definitely not you!
    If you were not the driver write to the parking firm and tell them who was so they CANNOT hold you liable. The person who was driving the car is responsible so let them deal with it. Not you! Don’t let people with an agenda tell you otherwise.
  • bergkamp
    bergkamp Posts: 356 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    You would be very unlucky ' if ' you lost

    at POPLA and NCP tried court;

    http://www.bmpa.eu/companydata/National_Car_Parks.html
  • Coupon-mad
    Coupon-mad Posts: 159,213 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 9 December 2017 at 1:03PM
    Nice posts recently, bergkamp. Glad you are here. :)

    Can I still appeal to POPLA?
    Yes of course - assuming your POPLA code is not more than 30 days old - and the templates are in post #3 of the NEWBIES thread. If you lose, so what? You still don't pay them.
    Do I write to NCP?
    No.
    PRIVATE 'PCN'? DON'T PAY BUT DON'T IGNORE IT (except N.Ireland).
    CLICK at the top or bottom of any page where it says:
    Home»Motoring»Parking Tickets Fines & Parking - read the NEWBIES THREAD
  • bergkamp
    bergkamp Posts: 356 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Coupon-mad wrote: »
    Nice posts recently, bergkamp. Glad you are here. :)



    :smiley: Kicking themselves with the foot they shot... :silenced:
  • Sent this to POPLA and my appeal was rejected. I can't really understand on what grounds as the assessor seems to accepted that I tried to pay, thought I had paid, and there was no fault on my side.


    Could it be that POPLA is just a puppet of the PPCs? Surely not!


    Anyway, I don't think I'll be taking POPLA's advice to pay the ticket. I'll await the pointless debt collection letters (to be ignored), and then take my chances in a proper court should they be stupid enough to take things that far.
  • beamerguy
    beamerguy Posts: 17,587 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 10 January 2018 at 5:47PM

    Could it be that POPLA is just a puppet of the PPCs? Surely not!

    A good question, to be sure the BPA is

    About an hour ago, there was an Army major on Radio LBC
    talking about the difficulty of recruiting to the forces.
    Turns out the Capita have beem given the task to recruit

    CAPITA HISTORY
    They operate the government payroll
    They work for the BBC chasing TV licence debts
    ...... and were blasted for their nasty ways
    Many irons in the fire and government approved

    CAPITA OWN PARKING EYE
    PARKING EYE HAS FINANCED THE BPA
    THE BPA INTRODUCED POPLA

    All the other BPA members hang out on a piece of string
    just like mussels with brains to suit

    You work it out ...... something/someone has stopped
    the government from closing down this parking scam ?

    Maybe you should ask the non transparent Theresa May
    ...... who actually pays the ferryman ?????
  • Umkomaas
    Umkomaas Posts: 44,207 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Here’s another motorist in the same position with a NCP-related payment app failure. I suggest you contact him her via PM and draw up a battle plan to ask the BPA to investigate this urgently.

    https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5771805

    Email Steve Clark at

    steve.c@britishparking.co.uk or

    aos@britishparking.co.uk Add FTAO Mr Steve Clark

    Copy in the DVLA so they are aware of this potential scam.

    david.dunford@dvla.gsi.gov.uk
    Please note, we are not a legal advice forum. I personally don't get involved in critiquing court case Defences/Witness Statements, so unable to help on that front. Please don't ask. .

    I provide only my personal opinion, it is not a legal opinion, it is simply a personal one. I am not a lawyer.

    Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; show him how to catch fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

    #Private Parking Firms - Killing the High Street
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