Popla appeal unsuccessful

Stal

Hi All,
My first ever post in a forum so apologies in advance if im not in the right place or doing something wrong.
Earlier this year we received a PCN from Parkingeye Tower Road car park Newquay (i know it features heavily on here) for an overstay of 18 mins,
I appealed the charge firstly with Parkingeye which was rejected surprise surprise! I did explain that the car park was extremely busy, the machines only accepted coins, the payment app wasnt working and i had to change before buying the ticket. Neighbouring businesses are well aware of this and wouldn't change my money which meant a walk to the nearest Sainsburys before purchasing a ticket. (frustrating at best since the machines are so outdated they wont even take card payments)

Now, I have been on hear reading similar cases and took advice as best i can while getting my head around the jargon etc and appealed with POPLA.
In my appeal i highlighted grace periods both entering and leaving, i only mentioned that i was the registered keeper of the vehicle, highlighted the inadequacies of the car park signage (being mounted too high and hardly visible in the bright sunlight and even that they would be poor at night too since they are mounted high up with little or no lighting (not applicable to my case as it was through the day but worth a mention non the less).
The APNR cameras they use i questioned their accuracy, evidence of maintenance logs etc and it also turns out that there is no planning permission in place for them either!
The biggest case i felt i had for my appeal was the BPA grace period which to my understanding was a minimum 10mins to park and also the same to leave in effect 20 mins in total.
How could the APNR cameras know when i finally parked and payed for the ticket? They state that it took me 21 minutes which they dont deem as acceptable (how would they know as the cameras are only seeing cars come in and go out?) It would seem that they are surmising i bought the 4 hour ticket when they state i did unless there are other forms of camera.
Admittedly i didn't explain about the reasoning behind my journey for change as id read on the forum that wouldnt wash with POPLA.
Anyway to summarise as best I can without going into too much detail my POPLA appeal was unsuccessful. Are they in in Parking eyes pockets? the response i got seems a matter of opinion rather than fact but the mains ones i picked up on in their response was as follows
BPA brace period 13.2 no longer applies to the start of the contract and that the latest BPA code of practice was brought out on 7th January 2018 and in this case neither does 13.4.
It states that it considers me as the driver as i ticked the registered keeper and driver option in the appeal to the operator which i have no recognition of if im honest.
APNR documentation from the operator proving calibration, maintenance and material logs as they bear no validity. I would of thought that they would more so if anything?
What do i do now? i did read somewhere that i may receive letters from debt collectors etc and to just ignore them and the chance of going to court is minimal is this correct.
Thanks in advance for any help on this matter and if anyone would like to see the full POPLA response or my appeal thats not a problem.
Stal

Redx

PE are the main paymasters of the BPA, the BPA employ POPLA , which is a flawed system but run by the Ombudsman Service, so NO the Ombudsman Service is not in the pocket of PE

AND PE monitor TIME ON SITE , not parking time

the BPA CoP currently covers these aspects of their practices , plus any laws made by government

it is extremely likely that PE will issue debt notices and then issue an LBC followed by an MCOL, so NO it is not a minimal risk, they took BEAVIS to court 3 times and they won each and every time, the last time being 2 years ago, in the Supreme Court

only a judge can decide this matter now, if you still wish to fight it


PE have 6 years to issue an MCOL

Stal

MCOL?
Should i write to POPLA asking them to reconsider?
Should i write to their local MP?
Are they legally allowed to issue such PCN with pole mounted ANPR cameras without planning permission?
What costs and how much am i looking at should this go to court? and do they drop the case as it would likely to cost them more money to attend and fight the charge?
And lastly (apologies for all the questions) what are my chances given that i believe I have a strong case based still on grace period alone?

The_Deep

PoPLA decisions are well known for being not entirely fair, bot, hopefully they are not gong to be around for much longer. The car park is a trap, PE signs are often too high, and the print too small, and the whole industry is ubnder the cosh from Parliament.

By all means complain to PoPLA, and to your MP.

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. Is has been suggested by an MP that some may have connections to organised crime.

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.

Sir Greg Knight's Private Members Bill to curb the excesses, and perhaps close down, some of these companies passed its Third Reading in late November, and, with a fair wind, will should become Law next year.

All three readings are available to watch on the internet, (some 6-7 hours), and published in Hansard. MPs have an extremely low opinion of the industry. Many are complaining that they are becoming overwhelmed by complaints from members of the public. Add to their burden, complain in the most robust terms about the scammers.

beamerguy

Stal wrote: »

MCOL?
Should i write to POPLA asking them to reconsider?
Should i write to their local MP?
Are they legally allowed to issue such PCN with pole mounted ANPR cameras without planning permission?
What costs and how much am i looking at should this go to court? and do they drop the case as it would likely to cost them more money to attend and fight the charge?
And lastly (apologies for all the questions) what are my chances given that i believe I have a strong case based still on grace period alone?

MCOL .. MONEY CLAIM ONLINE

POPLA will not reconsider but POPLA will not be around for much longer due to the new parking bill

Write to YOUR MP

Do you have proof they do not have planning permission for ANPR

Depends on your defence and certainly grace periods play a big part.

Parking Eye do get whooped in court but it's now up to you to provide the evidence that a judge will be on your side

Half_way

Waiting is not parking -

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/2014/03/waiting-for-space-is-not-parking.html


complain to your MP, if you can find you who the landowner is, and complain to them.
You could also inform Parking eye that you are rejecting the findings of POPLA as is your right as POPLA have failed to take into account the fact that the delay was down to parking eyes equipment not being fit for purpose.


A few other things to consider in a complaint to landowner/your MP:
POPLa has no independent scrutiny board, as this was scrapped by the BPA limited
The reason why parking eye issued a parking charge notice was entirely down to a failure of parking eyes own equipment/systems.




On the surface you should have a very good chance of winning this, especially as you made every attempt to pay and comply.



Again you should inform parking eye that you are rejecting the findings of POPLA and then go into a little more detail about why ( ie payment machine errors, time required to purchase a ticket, and as such they should re-consider and cancel the parking charge, as it would be unreasonable to pursue this matter through the courts.


Keep an accurate time sheet detailing how long you are spending on this, if it does go to court, you should be going very strongly on the unreasonable action side of things, and claiming your full costs back

Coupon-mad

Stal wrote: »

MCOL?

The fact you asked that, tells us you haven't read the NEWBIES thread you MUST read first. Acronyms are all there in the 5th psost.

Should i write to POPLA asking them to reconsider?

No.

Should i write to their local MP?

Yes.

Are they legally allowed to issue such PCN with pole mounted ANPR cameras without planning permission?

Yes and no, the LA won't care and nor will a Judge.

What costs and how much am i looking at should this go to court?

What, if you lose you mean? Rare here to lose. £175ish (and that includes the PCN).

and do they drop the case as it would likely to cost them more money to attend and fight the charge?

Nope, they sue people at a loss, pour encourager les autres.

And lastly (apologies for all the questions) what are my chances given that i believe I have a strong case based still on grace period alone?

We see 99% of clued-up & well supported posters here win, but you'll know that when you read the NEWBIES thread (post #2 of it).



P.S. No-one needs a link to the NEWBIES thread, so no asking for that please, seeing as you are looking at where to click already, in my signature. You have a link already, top of every page. And you were staring at the NEWBIES thread at the top of the forum when you instead hit 'NEW THREAD'.

Stal

Hi,
Thanks all for the quick reply, I havent been on for a while as i stupidly tried copying and pasting my POPLA response ( I did mention im not good on forums).
I did try go through the newbies thread to look at acronyms and advice etc but couldnt find them, i do struggle on these forums.
Are there any templates on letter writing to MP`s? as its not one of my strong points.
Is it worth writing to Parking Eye to re consider?
Failing that i take it its just a matter of waiting for the LBC and do i need a solicitor?
thanks again,

Coupon-mad

Are there any templates on letter writing to MP`s?

No but there are examples on threads. maybe search the forum for:

Greg Knight MP complaint and see what you find.

Or try:

Steve Double MP complaint Newquay

...as I recall people have written to the Newquay MP, Steve D, lots of times about Tower Road! He knows the score, but give him more ammo.

Is it worth writing to Parking Eye to re consider?

No.

Failing that i take it its just a matter of waiting for the LBC

Yes.

and do i need a solicitor?

No!

Have you not read all the wins here by ordinary people? Search the forum for ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST and make a cuppa and read loads of 'court reports'!

ALL OF YOUR SEARCHING NEEDS TO BE 'ADVANCED' SEARCH, THEN CLICK SHOW RESULTS AS POSTS.

Stal

Coupon mad you’re a legend!
Great advice as always and I’m taking your advice and doing my homework. Admittedly there are some people’s advice on here that conflicts one another but that’s to be expected I guess.
What if anything will writing to the MP do?

Stal

P.s my mother has the exact same PCN as myself. Can I represent her or oversee both appeals at the same time?