Parking Ticket in My Spot - Appeal Rejected - P4Parking

MercilessKiller

Hi All

Response from the Management Company:

Hi Josh,



I wrote to P4Parking yesterday requesting they cancel the ticket, to which I am waiting for their response.



The ball is now in their court and should they not respond before the 21 day deadline, this should not jeopardise the position as they are now on notice.



I shall come back to you once I have their response.



Kind regards

nosferatu1001

I hate the term "request"
It suggests the agent has a choice
It should be "require"

Loadsofchildren123

Fingers crossed, but it does look like you've succeeded here. But only because you spent hours of your time researching this and going at it like a terrier, and not being fobbed off by front office staff who not only told you the wrong thing, but didn't even refer you further up the chain. Disgraceful. They're supposed to be managing the estate for the residents, not pursuing any other agenda.


Now for letting other residents know about their right to insist on cancellation of charges.

MercilessKiller

Loadsofchildren123 wrote: »

Fingers crossed, but it does look like you've succeeded here. But only because you spent hours of your time researching this and going at it like a terrier, and not being fobbed off by front office staff who not only told you the wrong thing, but didn't even refer you further up the chain. Disgraceful. They're supposed to be managing the estate for the residents, not pursuing any other agenda.


Now for letting other residents know about their right to insist on cancellation of charges.

Once I have confirmation it's been cancelled, I'll send a more damning email to them asking them to explain their own mistakes in dismissing me when it's clear multiple legal rights were broken. But while they're on my side, I figured it's worth waiting in case P4Parking push back on them too!

MercilessKiller

Hi All

An interesting few days. Firstly - a couple of days ago, P4Parking responded to my POPLA appeal with their evidence. There was a lot - it was clear they planned on pursuing this. I replied to that with my arguments as detailed in this thread (some of it repetition from the original appeal but in relation to their evidence).

I then emailed HML Group once more, saying it's clear that their instruction to rescind the parking ticket was ignored. HML Group instantly replied saying they had no response and will chase P4Parking with urgency.

Then today, I received this:

Dear MercilessKiller



Thank you for submitting your parking charge Appeal to POPLA.



An Appeal has been opened with the reference [redacted].



P4 Parking have told us they do not wish to contest the Appeal. This means that your Appeal is successful and you do not need to pay the parking charge.



Yours sincerely



POPLA Team

HML Group also emailed me confirming that P4Parking had responded to them with the below:

Hi Merciless,



Following correspondence with P4Parking today, I!!!8217;m pleased to advise they have rescinded the ticket; their response was as follows:



The parking charge notice for vehicle registration number [Numberplate], PCN reference number: [pcnnumber] has been rescinded and POPLA has been instructed to close the matter therefore no further actions will be taken against the ticket.



I trust this now concludes the matter and you are happy with the outcome.



Kind regards

WE WON!!!!

Hurrah.

I'm doing 2 things now:
1) Replying to HML Group to find out why 3 members of staff fobbed me off when clearly I abided by all the rules. And what they're going to do to stop this from escalating in the future

2) Considering whether I have any right to take further action AGAINST P4Parking for trespass/damages of giving me a ticket when they shouldn't have done, and then failing to accept my appeals causing me a lot of time and effort to respond/fight. Could I take them to small claims court for damages of time defending myself potentially?

Either way - Thank you to everyone for your advice here. I absolutely could not have done this without you all.

Loadsofchildren123

You could sue them for damages for trespass. But I'm not sure the effort:benefit ratio is in your favour!


There may also be a DPA damages claim there for them wrongly obtaining and processing your data because they had your VRM and were therefore obliged under that clause to cancel your charge, meaning that they should never have obtained your data/processed it (not sure if they obtained your data at all, did they get it from DVLA or did they get it from you, by you appealing before you'd had any contact from them - I haven't read back over the whole thread so not sure).


With DPA claims you need to prove distress. With trespass you can include inconvenience/time spent.


Personally, unless you are ready for a whole load of work in pursuing a claim, I'd focus on communicating to the rest of the residents that golden nugget clause in the contract which means that if they've provided their VRM (and updated it if it ever changes) then any charges issued to them should be cancelled. I'd also focus, if you think this is a good idea, on pressurising the MA to introduce a procedure for formally opting out of the permit scheme. You're not obliged to display a permit and you don't want to have to go through this every time your permit falls off or slips down on the dashboard. Others will jump on here now and say that it isn't for the MA to introduce a procedure, you are not obliged to display a permit because you already have the parking rights. However, thinking pragmatically, it would be a hell of a lot easier if you cajole the MA into introducing something rather than firing on all cylinders. The all cylinders option is of course to write to them (MA and PPC) to tell them that you will NOT be displaying a permit, because you are NOT obliged to, you have pre-existing parking rights that they are not permitted to interfere with, that any interference is a breach of your right to quiet enjoyment, they must instruct their operatives not to issue any charges to any vehicle parked in your space and that any attempt by them to do so will be a trespass and you will have no hesitation in issuing a claim against them for damages and an injunction.


I think your energies are better aimed at resolving future problems. I base this conclusion on the assumption that you have better things to do with your time than score points, and your real aim is to avoid getting a pcn ever again. However, you might have the appetite and time to sue them and only you can decide that. You'll need to write them a detailed LBC which complies with the Practice Direction - Pre-Action Conduct (ie spells out the claim in appropriate detail, the evidence you will rely on, and what redress you seek).


hairray's thread contains precedent LBCs. You'll obviously need to adapt them, depending on what your lease says.

MercilessKiller

Makes sense - I'll focus my efforts more on communicating with residents. Thanks again for all your help. A good victory