District Enforcement ticket - grounds to appeal?

BlueHamster1975

Hi,

After having parked at Beddington Park in Wallington near Croydon the other week for football, I later received a PCN in the post for £100 fine for "Parking on any access road, grass verge or unmarked ground". I had turned up, found what looked like 'the car park' and parallel parked between two other cars in this area, adjacent to the grass but not on it. All in all there were cars all in this car park and I did not block anyone or anything.

Pretty outraged at this, I went back to the site today and the signs at the site read £100 fine for "the vehicle is parked on any access road" or "the vehicle causes obstruction or inconvenience or any other person or otherwise blocks another vehicle".

This was just simply not the case at all, I have a picture below of when I returned today to show where I had parked (when I was caught the car park was full and I managed to find this gap between other cars in this row). Unfortunately I am unable to share links as I am a new user to MSE.

I have read the sticky and a few forum posts and it sounds like DE are quite litigous so im worried about being taken to court as I simply don't have the time to prepare all this for a £60/100 fine. Is it worth appealing this with POPLA first, and sharing my pictures/reasoning with them?

Suffice to say, am I on the right side of the law here?? Their letter to me seems like they've just pulled these reasons out of thin air - the whole business model is a sham and i'm outraged that they are allowed to do this in the UK.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated, i've noticed there is a wealth of knowledge in these forums and it would be great to hear your thoughts.

Redx

only a judge can answer your query, as its a legal matter with contract law and signage involved


if the signage states that the driver must park within marked bays only, and if there ARE marked bays, then parking elsewhere can be seen as a breach of the parking contract, hence the PCN


so unless the bays were not clearly marked, and unless the signs say "park anywhere you can find a space" , its their car park, their rules, and the driver seems to have breached those rules


it is your choice what you do going forward, which is either PAY ior FIGHT , not our job to tell you what to do, nor do we know what the signs say nor have we seen their pics either (of the vehicle or the signs etc)


not sure which "law" you are referring to either, as there are no laws governing private parking


the laws are CONTRACT LAW , POFA2012 etc


and their CoP from their trade body can also be considered as being the "law" in that they are expected to adhere to their trade body CoP as well as the "law"

Quentin

You say you read the FAQ , but need to study it again!


You will see that you are dealing with an IPC company, thus no POPLA!


After sending the template appeal then you ignore everything except a lbcca or Court correspondence


They have 6 years to start legal action


Come back for advice on how to deal with it at that time


If you have inadvertently used your real name as your forum name then you need to ask MSE to change it to something truly anonymous


The PPCs monitor this forum and can use posts in your thread against you

Redx

mmmmmmmmmmm , I mised that , thanks Quentin

I have read the sticky and a few forum posts and it sounds like DE are quite litigous so im worried about being taken to court as I simply don't have the time to prepare all this for a £60/100 fine.

Is it worth appealing this with POPLA first, and sharing my pictures/reasoning with them?

NO, because as IPC AOS members there is no POPLA , its only for BPA AOS members

BlueHamster1975

Thanks for all your responses, much appreciated. I will message an admin asap to change my username - thanks for the heads up.

So the signs terms are either: parking on an access road OR causing obstruction/inconvenience

Yet the ticket reads that I was either parked on: access road, grass verge or unmarked ground

So there is huge inconsistencies between what they are saying on the signs and what they are enforcing.

For the record, I went back today to visit and there is no paint on the ground, anywhere! So it is impossible to determine where the 'parking' is and where the access road is.

Does that make my case worth fighting?

KeithP

BlueHamster1975 wrote: »

Thanks for all your responses, much appreciated. I will message an admin asap to change my username - thanks for the heads up.

To help with that, you might like to read this short extract from The MSE Forum Guide - Frequently Asked Questions & Rules:

Q. How can I change my username?

A. In most circumstances, this is not permitted.

The only reason we will change your username is if it puts your privacy at risk. This usually means you've inadvertently registered using your name, email address or something that gives away your identity within your username.

If you fall into this category, email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com and request that it is changed, giving three alternative usernames in order of preference.

Redx

Does that make my case worth fighting?

maybe , but only if you are up for a court case in front of a judge in your county court in the next 6 years (if it gets that far)

and it does not state that YOU were doing anything at all

it states that the VEHICLE with VRM details of AB123XYZ was parked in such a manner as to......................................... and that YOU are the keeper of that vehicle and so are deemed "liable" for the issues caused and what they allege on the NTK

BlueHamster1975

As I say, there is no paint anywhere on the ground, so there is no fair way in which a driver can deduce where is the 'parking' area and where is the access road. The car was parked in line with metal pylons preventing cars getting through, there was no block whatsoever to the gate into the road. You think that is only 'maybe' worth contesting? If there's any chance I might lose in court and be ordered to pay hundreds as they've added extra time fees etc on i'd really rather avoid that.

It may also be worth noting there was no windscreen ticket.. if that makes any difference to my position here.

If I send the template letter to them to appeal (as I can't use POPLA) will it 'freeze' my 14 days by which to pay the reduced £60?

Many thanks.

BlueHamster1975

Also is the template also the best idea to send them? Or in some instances is it better to put together your rationale for why you are not paying - i.e. in this instance, the vehicle was not parked 'on any access road' as there are no markings to determine where parking bays are and where access road is'

If it helps to see where this is, if you type 'Beddington Park' into google and click on the maps result - the car park is about 30m north of the default pin location (just south of Dog School Ltd). You can see on satellite view there are a row of four cars parked parallel - that is where I parked!!! I believe the land-owner is Sutton Borough Council.

Quentin

Have you read the advice in the newbies FAQ thread about the futility of appeals to IPC companies?

Just follow the advice in the FAQ, send off the template in the knowledge it will be rejected then ignore everything except a lbcca or Court correspondence

See #3 above!

Quentin

You need to ask Redx to edit #4 and #7 above following your name change,!!