UKPC POPLA Appeal - awaiting response

Diego_Francis

I received a PCN on the fourth visit to hospital. My partner had given birth to our son four days prior. She was still recovering from the birth and getting help with breastfeeding etc. I barely had any sleep with getting jobs done at home and being at the hospital as long as possible during visiting times.

As with the other days I had a pre-paid parking ticket placed on my car dashboard. During this day in particular the ticket must've blown over from the dashboard as I left the car and when I returned to find the PCN on my windshield I seen my Pre-paid ticket upside-down on the passenger chair.

Having been so busy with getting used to parenthood I almost missed the deadline to pay. I ended up appealing attaching a paicture image of the ticket as proof. I have all four tickets on me as proof too.

I received a letter via email recently from UKPS rejecting my appeal and offering me to pay back half what I was initially supposed to owe them - £35 down to £15.

Seems reasonable - but I disagree. I paid £5 per ticket for 24 hours. I was covered. Why should I have to pay more if I have proof that I had paid for my ticket?

If I had the right frame of mind I'd have probably double checked that the ticket was on display.

In this circumstance what are my rights and what would you advise?

I've tried reading the NEWBIE thread but I can't find the time at the moment to go through all the links etc just want to ask before I consider taking this further then I'll try and do the research required.

Thanks for your time.

Redx

you should be doing 2 things

the first should have been done already which is to complain to PALS and get the parking ticket cancelled, this was and still is your top priority

these are their guidelines for england and wales

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles

if it is not cancelled within 25 days of any popla code issue date, appeal to popla by reading and following post #3 of that NEWBIES sticky thread

if UKPS are an IPC member there is nothing else you can do except complain to PALS and the trust themselves, because at the moment it is stalemate and popla will not have been on offer

there is more than one UKPS, hence the confusion about the appeals process (or not)

Diego_Francis

Thanks for your reply. I've been so busy lately I haven't found time until now to look further into all this.

I made a typo in my first post. This is UKPC not UKPS.

I've read most of the NEWBIES thread now.

I sent an appeal, which I didn't get a copy of and therefore can't remember precisely what details were in it. But it certainly wasn't anything like the professional looking template that's available here.

Is there a way I can get a copy of it now or am I too late?

I've looked on their website, ukpcappeals dot co dot uk and found a 'View Photos' where I've clicked into it, entered my ref and reference number and found seven pictures of my car.

None of them show the ticket on the passenger seat. Just the dashboard and the outside of the car.

I took photos of all four tickets on my phone. I've currently misplaced the tickets themselves with the joys of Christmas and New Years presents and food creating a mess in the house. I know I have them in the house somewhere but have yet to find them.

Would the pictures suffice as evidence of this went further?


Lastly and more importantly:

Below is a copy of the response letter to my first appeal. It came with a Popla reference number and a request to send recipet to the emailer that I had received the email - which I haven't clicked on so they don't know yet.


Thank you for your recent communication regarding the above parking charge.
Please rest assured that our Appeals Manager has personally reviewed your case and carefully considered the various points you raised. Their view, however, is that the parking charge has been correctly issued so it will not be waived.
This is our final decision. However, in consideration of the information you provided, and on the basis payment is received by us within thirty-five days of the date of this letter, we will accept the sum of £15 in full settlement of the parking charge as a gesture of goodwill.
In light of the contents of this letter you now have a number of options:
1) Pay the parking charge detailed above at the reduced rate of £15 to UK Parking Control Ltd. PLEASE REFER OVERLEAF FOR PAYMENT OPTIONS AND ADDRESS DETAILS.
2) Make an appeal to the independent adjudicator POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals) using the verification code provided above. Please note that if you wish to appeal to POPLA, you will lose the right to pay the discounted rate of £15, and should POPLA reject your appeal you will be required to pay the full amount of £70. If you opt to pay the parking charge you will be unable to appeal with POPLA. Appeals to POPLA must be made within twenty- eight days from the date of this letter. To appeal with POPLA, please visit their website. If you are unable to access the internet, you may appeal by post – this must be done using a POPLA postal form which may be obtained by contacting POPLA by phone (0330 159 6126) or post (PO Box 1270, Warrington, WA4 9RL).
By law we are also required to inform you that Ombudsman Services provides an alternative dispute resolution service that would be competent to deal with your appeal. However, we have not chosen to participate in their alternative dispute resolution service. As such should you wish to appeal then you must do so to POPLA, as explained above.
3) If you choose to do nothing the parking charge will automatically increase after thirty-five days from the date of this letter to £70 and the matter will be passed to our debt recovery agent, at which point you will be liable to pay an additional charge of £60, in accordance with the terms and conditions of parking, and further charges will be claimed if court action is taken against you. Any unpaid court judgement may adversely affect your credit rating.
PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS LETTER. UKPC REGULARLY TAKES MOTORISTS TO COURT WHO IGNORE THEIR PARKING CHARGES. PLEASE SEE: ukparkingcontrol/legalities(website link taken out) FURTHER INFORMATION.
Yours faithfully,

End of letter.


Final bits of info:

This was sent to me on the 22nd December, it is now 10th January. Initial PCN was issued 10th November and I still haven't received any post - no NTK in sight.

Will this help my case?

Sorry for the late reply and I appreciate your swift response even though I didn't notice you had replied until the beginning of the month.

Coupon-mad

Would the pictures suffice as evidence of this went further?

Not for POPLA, as they will say the PDT was not properly displayed. So that's not what to say at POPLA appeal - it would lose anyway.

Have a look at post #3 of the NEWBIES thread for POPLA templates.

Diego_Francis

Right I'm a bit more wise to what is going on now. Apologise for the wall of text. Realise now most of that info is mitigating circumstances and doesn't apply to POPLA at all which I find infuriating. Imagine if you rushed to hospital as a relation was dying or whatever!? Anyways back on track:

I'm hunting down the PALS at the hospital tomorrow to dig up whatever dirt I can get. I doubt they'll cancel the PCN after two months. I know I have no excuses as I could've gone at anytime but didn't originally think to do so but it's never too late as the threads say on here so hopefully I get some positive news.

Meanwhile I'll be writing up a POPLA appeal template. Do I post it in here?

I appreciate your advice. Is there anything I could add to the POPLA stating that a ticket was purchased or should I avoid that alltogther seeing as UKPC has pictures showing no ticket on the dashboard?

Diego_Francis

I can't edit posts for some reason....

It's been 66 days since PCN issue and still no NTK received in post. :beer: I assume this is winning news regardless of all the above.

Coupon-mad

Meanwhile I'll be writing up a POPLA appeal template. Do I post it in here?

Yes, and we should recognise the templates from the NEWBIES thread post #3.


I think PALS should be VERY ashamed if they do not cancel this PCN in full under the circs:

My partner had given birth to our son four days prior. She was still recovering from the birth and getting help with breastfeeding etc. I barely had any sleep with getting jobs done at home and being at the hospital as long as possible during visiting times. As with the other days I had a pre-paid parking ticket placed on my car dashboard. During this day in particular the ticket must've blown over from the dashboard as I left the car and when I returned to find the PCN on my windshield I seen my Pre-paid ticket upside-down on the passenger chair.

Yes you can add your photos of the paid tickets, no reason why not to have that proof. Embed the pictures into an extra (non template) appeal point, saying that you did pay and display:

found seven pictures of my car.

None of them show the ticket on the passenger seat. Just the dashboard and the outside of the car.

Use the worst one or two kindly provided by UKPC, to say that the whole dashboard was not shown (unless you actually blew your toes off in the first appeal and handed in the information that 'the ticket was on the seat...' ? please say NO...).

Diego_Francis wrote: »

I can't edit posts for some reason....

It's been 66 days since PCN issue and still no NTK received in post. :beer: I assume this is winning news regardless of all the above.

Only if you appealed as keeper of course, not saying who was driving...please say YES...? I fear not, in which case the NTK issue is down the drain.

Redx

no NTK is certainly one of many legal arguments you should use

as for editing posts , use a laptop , not a phone

and ensure you are LOGGED IN so you have a recent cookie , or logout and login again to get a new cookie

Diego_Francis

Went to the hospital today. We had an appointment so been there most of the day. I made five separate visits to the PALS office and no one was there. They also didn't have any information on their door stating what times they'd be in or where they'd be or how to contact them.

After to talking to a receptionist and reading the information on the NHS website I've been left with the decision to email them.

Should I explain the situation with them here or do I book an appointment to meet them st the hospital?

The POPLA appeal will have been 28days on 18th. I do t know if this is the official deadline or not.

I would like to know what I'd write in the email if I was complaining about the unfair ticket. Can you exceptional experts advise?

Thanks.

Redx

I would email them with a complaint about this as an OCCUPIER of the vehicle in question , add the VRM and pcn ref etc , plus remind them with this link

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles/nhs-patient-visitor-and-staff-car-parking-principles

about their responsibilities and what Jeremy Hunt has stated about these matters

also add a complaint that you have visited their office numerous times and it is not manned , so if they require your presence they need to give you a mutually agreeable time and date

also talk about complaining to your MP and to Sir Greg Knight who is putting forward a private parliamentary bill on this within the next few weeks

make them prefer to get it cancelled

Diego_Francis

This message has been deleted as it was irrelevant.