What to do next?

The_Deep

A recent Supreme Court ruling (ParkingEye -v- Beavis) has confirmed that a Parking Charge issued on private land:
is enforceable; and

Only in certain circumstances

the Parking Charge does not breach the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

Act no longer law, now Consumer Rights Act

I would complain to the SRA that their letter is misleading.

https://www.sra.org.uk/home/home.page

Paul-T951

Hi all, so after referring this to the BPA I have now had a response and it's not great. Gemma at the BPA has basically stated that the appeal has been rejected and if we want to continue the appeal we would need to move to POPLA. The response from ZZPS is as follows:

Thank you for your appeal against the above Parking Charge Notice (!!!8220;PCN!!!8221;). We have carefully considered your appeal however on this occasion; the appeal has been rejected for the following reason: The vehicle was parked in an area of the car park where a valid permit must be displayed with no valid permit on display. This is a breach of the Terms and Conditions of the site which are clearly displayed on the signage. It is the motorist!!!8217;s responsibility to adhere to the Terms and Conditions of the site when using the car park. Our client has confirmed this PCN has been issued correctly.



For your further information, in the case of ParkingEye Limited !!!8211;v- Beavis the court of appeal unambiguously clarified the common law's position on both the nature and enforceability of parking charges. It is now clear that a parking charge having the predominant purpose or intention to deter is not sufficient in itself to invalidate the charge so long as it is not extravagant and unconscionable; thus this parking charge is fully enforceable under the rules about contractual penalties. The Court made reference to indirect losses that parking contraventions can cause to operators, the need for large charges to deter breaches, the benefit to the community that such deterrence can create and the intention of Parliament for such charges to be enforceable. Following the ruling in Beavis, it is without doubt that your parking charge is wholly valid and fully enforceable. You have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure and therefore you now have various options: You can pay the total amount due as shown above within the next 14 days from the date of this letter. !!!9642; Call us on 01932 918098 !!!9642; Pay securely online at https://www.ipaymypcn.net !!!9642; Send a payment to the address noted above (please quote the PCN Number on all payments) You can appeal to an Independent Appeals Service: POPLA (Parking on Private Land Appeals) !!!9642; IMPORTANT NOTE: Should you decide to appeal to POPLA and your appeal is subsequently rejected, the option to pay a discounted amount will no longer be available and the full amount of the PCN will become due.


If you decide to appeal to POPLA, you will need to visit their website, https://www.popla.co.uk; how to appeal (either online or by downloading the relevant forms) can be located via the website. If you are unable to access their website, please call us for further information on how to obtain the forms. Please ensure that your unique number as noted above is quoted on all correspondence to POPLA. You have 28 days from the date of this letter to exercise this option. Before making your appeal, you should read the guidance notes on the website. If you appeal to POPLA we will suspend recovery activity on the Parking Charge Notice until the appeal has been determined. By law we are also required to inform you that Ombudsman Services (https://www.ombudsman-services.org) 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. If you do not make payment or appeal, the outstanding PCN will be passed to our appointed debt collection agency for further action and all costs associated with this process will be added to the amount outstanding.


So we could go to POPLA, but are now seriously contemplating just paying the £75 and getting it out of the way. What's the worst case scenario of appealing through POPLA? The case is basically that the NTK was received outside the specified 56 day time period, and that the correct information for POPLA appeal was not included from the start.


Gemma at BPA has stated:



Firstly, please accept my apologies for the delay in our response. We were waiting for further information from ZZPS in order to close the complaint.

There appears to have been an error when dealing with your appeal and a formal rejection was not sent out. ZZPS have now confirmed the appeal will be rejected and a rejection letter will be sent to you. This will have the appropriate details for you to progress your appeal to POPLA !!!8211; the independent appeals service if you choose to. Please note you only have 28 days to appeal to POPLA from the date your appeal is rejected.

I note from your email this morning, the rejection letter has already been received. The Notice to Keeper only has to be sent within the timeframes in the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 if they intend to rely on the legislation.

In view of the corrective action taken, I have closed the investigation. If you want to contest the charge further, we recommend you appeal to POPLA.

Apologies for the long message!

Thanks in advance

Coupon-mad

So we could go to POPLA, but are now seriously contemplating just paying the £75 and getting it out of the way.

Don't be daft.

issued by the hospital, Leeds teaching hospitals.

And perfectly winnable at POPLA, certainly don't drag defeat from the jaws of victory!

What's the worst case scenario of appealing through POPLA?

Nothing, they will ask for the £75 again! And you still wouldn't have to pay.

The case is basically that the NTK was received outside the specified 56 day time period

Yes, and that WINS AT POPLA as long as the driver was never admitted.

and that the correct information for POPLA appeal was not included from the start.

Not really an appeal point.

Please see the NEWBIES thread post #3 for the POPLA template points, there for you to use.

Nearly won it now!! Final hurdle, and we've already given you a step up...

Paul-T951

Thanks, that's put our minds at ease, will let you know how it goes!

Paul-T951

So we took it to POPLA and have just received the decision, the appeal was upheld on all counts, we won! Thank you so much for your help, especially Coupon-mad, buying you all virtual drinks as we speak!

Cheers!

Umkomaas

Paul-T951 wrote: »

So we took it to POPLA and have just received the decision, the appeal was upheld on all counts, we won! Thank you so much for your help, especially Coupon-mad, buying you all virtual drinks as we speak!

Cheers!

Can we see the POPLA Assessor decision transcript, please?

Coupon-mad

Well done, never in doubt! Please show the decision in the POPLA DECISIONS thread.