UKCPM PCN this time for stopping to read the parking signs!!!!

The_Fairy_Dogmother

I not have another PCN from a different company, this time in my local town. And it is utterly ridiculous I think!

It's a new double yellow line/parking "situation" that's been put in place since MacD was revamped a month ago. People use to park where the parking restrictions are now as there are not enough parking spaces in MacDonalds and now they have re-vamped it there are even less!! There is a hand carwash and a petrol station all on the same patch of land. Anywhere that isn't in the carwash, macDs or the petrol station is now a no-parking zone (according to the lovely UKCPM).

So, we had been to MacDs drive through to get coffee then went to park where we use to park before the new yellow lines appeared (it's a fab place for people watching!). Not wanting to get a repeat of the PCN like we got the previous month we stopped next to one of the signs to check if we could park there with a blue badge/what the restrictions were. After reading it & seeing we couldn't park anywhere now we drove off (with the hump!).....and got a letter through the post a couple of weeks later saying we are owe £100 parking charge!!! For parking there for a minute!!!!!

So, I will use the standard template in the newbies thread that's suggested to appeal, but am wondering if adding on the following at this point is a good move, or do I leave it until later on in the process... The car was there for a very short period of time, just to read the parking signs. As soon as we had read the sign & realised that parking was not allowed we moved. The only places available to park & read the UKCPM signs at that point were those on double yellow lines. Therefore you are issuing a parking charge for taking the time to read one of your signs, to which we promptly adhered to!

I have photos showing that we were parked next to a sign reading it. Also I've photos of all the signs that are up (all in places where you can't park) & other photos showing there is no where that is ok to park whilst you go & read the parking signs.

I am also writing to the land owner, the MP & also the local paper. It is utterly ridiculous having signs up & nowhere that you can park to read them that won't result in you getting a ticket!!!

Thank you for your thoughts in advance

Coupon-mad

Unusually, it might even be worth showing the IAS all your evidence of this, as you must be allowed time to read a sign at double yellows where disabled people CAN park for 3 hours normally, so this was an unexpected parking restriction and new to this site.

The_Fairy_Dogmother

CM That's good to know & I will do once it gets to that IAS stage. It's always been double yellows in most of the area, just no signs up. I've never had problems parking there before with my BB.

Do I mention it at this stage too (initial appeal on their website to their PCN)?

The_Slithy_Tove

The_Fairy_Dogmother wrote: »

The car was there for a very short period of time, just to read the parking signs. As soon as we had read the sign & realised that parking was not allowed we moved.

Exactly! You checked the terms of the contract they were attempting to offer*, rejected it, and so left. No contract was ever entered into. There can be no grounds for a charge.

*If the signs said No Parking, then they are forbidding, and incapable of offering a contract anyway.

The_Deep

This is an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts for alleged parking offences, aided and abetted by a handful of low-rent solicitors.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, and others have already been named and shamed in the House of Commons as have Gladstones Solicitors, and BW Legal, (these two law firms take hundreds of these cases to court each week, hospital car parks and residential complex tickets have been especially mentioned. They lose most of them, and have been reported to the regulatory authority by an M.P. for unprofessional conduct

The problem has become so widespread that MPs have agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. It has even been suggested that some of these companies have links with organised crime.

Watch the video of the Second Reading and committee stage in the House of Commons recently. MPs have a very low opinion of this industry.

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/2f0384f2-eba5-4fff-ab07-cf24b6a22918?in=12:49:41

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-07-19/debates/2b90805c-bff8-4707-8bdc-b0bfae5a7ad5/Parking(CodeOfPractice)Bill(FirstSitting)

and complain in the most robust terms to your MP. With a fair wind they will be out of business by in the not too distant future..

The_Fairy_Dogmother

So do I say the following when I appeal in the first instance to them directly? "In the photos you have sent me I was sat checking the terms of the contract you were attempting to offer, rejected it, and then left. No contract was ever entered into & therefore can be no grounds for a charge."

Or do I just copy & paste exactly the wording on the newbies thread then mention at the next stage of appeal?

I'm inclined to do a standard appeal (as written in the newbies thread) & not mention the parking to read sign as yet because they haven't given me exact times that they say I was there from & till.
In the first appeal direct to them was going to ask for photos/confirmation showing the time I parked & time I left. Once they give me that I will then go to the 2nd stage of appeal & mention about the stopping to read signs & therefore can't be charged etc that then.

KeithP

Have they actually said you were there at all?

Or have they perhaps said your car was there and they have written to you as the keeper of the car?

You seem to be falling into the trap they have set for you by blatantly telling them who was driving the car.

Send the blue text appeal.

Send it unaltered - no changes or additions necessary.

Send it as the keeper of the vehicle.

Definitely do not say anything that might give any clues to the driver's identity.

The_Fairy_Dogmother

Keith you're totally correct! I didn't realise I had done it! Like you said, they;re clever at setting the traps. Yes they said the car was there, not me. I'll send of the blue text appeal as you said. Thank you.

The_Fairy_Dogmother

I was going to write to the land owners too asking for them to sort it out, as suggested in one of the sticky posts.
Also I was going to contact my MP as its a ridiculously impossible set up.
Shall I do that now or wait till I've heard from UKCPM about my appeal to them?

KeithP

You can send those letters now.

It is perfectly possible that either your MP or the landholder, whilst trying to be helpful may forward a copy of your letter directly to UKCPM.

So again, take great care with your words.
Say things like "we visited McDs", or "we stopped to read the signs".