Parking Fine - Wise Campus - Bristol

Gridiron_Grump

30 days - Check
No mention of DRP, just "our client" - Check
'How to pay options' info on the reverse - Check

I'll have a proper look at Newbies, post #2 and go from there.

Gridiron_Grump

Is there a 'Lay' person explanation of the Sir GK bill and what it means going forward? Is it going to have any relevance to current ongoing private parking disputes?

Gridiron_Grump

When scouting through the various posts over the past few months, I cannot see any that links to my situation, though perhaps I am being too literal?

Essentially:

WISE from the time my sporting teams started to use the venue has never been a Pay to Park venue, weather a player, coach or spectator.

From reading after the fact, around November 2017 they brought in paid parking, in conjunction with UKCPM. This I have no doubts has caught out several people who attend and haven't been warned of the change, as why would any driver even consider looking for parking meters / signage in car park that hasn't previously been pay to pay.

So, as I cannot find anything to the above, I would assume looking for a post about unclear or hard to see parking signs would be the best to research?

I think I have left it a little too late really, as the letter for the LBC was dated March 26th, though not received until early April as I was away. But I would assume this information would still be required for a potential Court summons?

Gridiron_Grump

Just done reckon. There are signs, but not clear. About A3ish in size. 90degrees to the drivers position, 6'-7' from the ground, on the other side of the pavement, essentially on the edge of the bushed on lamp posts. One would need to be very close to read and understand what they say. Charge value is in larger print than the majority of the text, but would still require you being a few feet away on foot to read this. Probably around 250ish words on the sign. There was a sign on the fence near the entrance, same as the rest, bout 6' off the ground, but though head on to the drivers position, still around 3'-4' to the left of the road/.

In the car park (shut at this time) there are a scattering of signs similarly positions on lamp posts. The car park nearer the playing fields looks to be sign free, but this was from a distance.

I would imagine that anyone who may have frequented the venue before the introduction on the parking enforcement would not have noticed these signs at all, as a frequently visitor wouldn't think to look, unless forewarned.

Wise SGS Stated the below for the introduction to parking on their website:

Why are you introducing the scheme?
SGS College is introducing a managed parking service at its WISE, Filton and Stroud sites to bring it in line with many other Colleges and Universities.

The service is being introduced to reduce the number of cars on site and encourage users to consider more environmentally friendly forms of travel, in line with sustainable transport initiatives.

The College is committed to ensuring we have a safe parking environment for learners, staff and visitors. The new service will ensure parking facilities are managed so they are not overloaded beyond capacity, with non-users of the facilities and that responsible parking is adhered to.

.



And this (I wonder how much of the successful penalty fees also go to Wise?:

Where does the money from the parking go?
As a non-profit making organisation all income received will be reinvested into the College’s facilities and services.

I am not sure whether mentioned of the above is of any use or interest, though there seemed to be some irony here in this information.

Coupon-mad

Gridiron_Grump wrote: »

Is there a 'Lay' person explanation of the Sir GK bill and what it means going forward? Is it going to have any relevance to current ongoing private parking disputes?

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5891794/draft-advisory-code-of-practice-sir-greg-knight-bill

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5787731/parking-code-of-practice-bill-passed-by-mps

why would any driver even consider looking for parking meters / signage in car park that hasn't previously been pay to pay.

So, as I cannot find anything to the above,

Can't you?

We often have threads about new restrictions where none existed before, and point people to read the relevant IPC Code of Practice about extra signs being needed to alert drivers to the new rules.

I wonder how much of the successful penalty fees also go to Wise?

Not much at ll, or nothing. Most likely they get the tariffs paid, and if they get anything from PCNs paid it's usually a tenner.

When scouting through the various posts over the past few months, I cannot see any that links to my situation, though perhaps I am being too literal?

You are.

Your Gladstones claim and defence will be almost exactly like any other UKCPM defence you care to read, except you can add the bit about the IPC CoP about new restrictions and how the change was not made clear to drivers who are familiar with the car park and cannot reasonably be expected to seek out sparse signs they have no reason to suspect are there, especially given the PDT machines are far from prominent, hidden in a corner, with no large 'pay here' arrows etc.

Gridiron_Grump

Evening all

Curiosity question.

A second LBC letter arrived today from GS with a copy of the original letter included. Essentially it is saying that they previously made contacted, they received no response / payment / reason for no payment. If not paid in full they are instructed to commence with legal proceedings, if there is belief of a valid reason for non payment the date has been extended to respond (essentially by 14 days)...etc.

So question being, is this normal practice from GS to issue a second letter extending time for response, or merely an act of desperation trying to elicit a payment?

Many thanks.

Coupon-mad

Gridiron_Grump wrote: »

30 days - Check
No mention of DRP, just "our client" - Check
'How to pay options' info on the reverse - Check

I'll have a proper look at Newbies, post #2 and go from there.

Gridiron_Grump wrote: »

A second LBC letter arrived today from GS with a copy of the original letter included. Essentially it is saying that they previously made contacted, they received no response / payment / reason for no payment. If not paid in full they are instructed to commence with legal proceedings, if there is belief of a valid reason for non payment the date has been extended to respond (essentially by 14 days)...etc.

So question being, is this normal practice from GS to issue a second letter extending time for response, or merely an act of desperation trying to elicit a payment?

They are painting a picture for court to show they gave you a reasonable opportunity to respond under the pre-action protocol (PAP) for Debt Claims.

Why in the reply above did you say you'd do what the NEWBIES thread post #2 tells you to do with the LBC, if you didn't?

Or did you? The NEWBIES thread is clear about not ignoring a LBC.

Gridiron_Grump

Lost track of time, was away, and thought I had more time than I did, so no one to blame but myself. Also from the above, as I mentioned, I was being too literal and couldn't find anything specific that I could relate to, which was taking allot of time browsing the posts. I was also getting a little confused that some links for LBC went to very old posts (2013 I think), which also within these posts stated they are old, should be used and that there should be more up to date posts in the NEWBIE section.

I'm not great with legal / formal wording, so I struggle to understand some of it and what needs to be done, and the length of some of the defenses that I have seen is also very overwhelming.

I am sure you all find people like myself infuriating......i'll try again and see if I can make sense of it.

Cheers.

Coupon-mad

There is no legal wording there in the NEWBIES thread (I am not legally qualified myself).

In post #8 above, Umkomaas pointed you to the right place to find details about sending a SAR to the parking firm by email and how to word it and how to find the email addy of their DPO and what that all means.

And to tell the solicitor you've requested a SAR and that you are seeking debt advice so they have to put it on hold for 30 days.

Gridiron_Grump

The "SAR" bit. I have seen the section with the just the questions and nothing else (below):

A SAR is free. Ask for (as a minimum):

- ALL photos taken
- all letters/emails sent and received, including any appeal correspondence earlier
- if the car park was Pay and Display, ALWAYS ask for a PDT machine record from that day, of payments made (VRNs can be partially redacted but insist on getting this and follow it up if they refuse).
- all data held, all evidence they will rely on, and a full copy of the PCN, NTK
- and a list of all PCNs they consider are outstanding against you and/or this VRN, and remind them that any claim must be for all PCNs in one claim, not several separate claims.

but I have also seen posts where extra wording around these questions above? Is this needed, or can the above be sent in that format?

Again, apologies for asking, but I have seen allot of references to the "blue template", which when i read seems similar to the above. Are they one in the same?, or, should the Blue Template have been used a stage or two before this?

In regards to the letter / email to GS, there is no template for this and therefore a couple of sentences stating what you have said above, will suffice?

On another note, I have found the details of the Principle of the College, 4 Bristol MPs, 1 South Glos MP, The Mayor and Lord Mayor of Bristol, who I will all make some form of polite message template to send to them to complain about parking firms such as UKCPM, etc. I will also site to the College that I will be complaining to the MPs and Mayor(s), which may hopefully get their attention a little more. I will a cover of some of the items with them like poor signage, change of conditions, new legislation, etc.

Lastly, I found out last night from someone that frequents the campus as a coach (so will be permitted to park without issue) that the pay and display machines have been out of order since December, with 'black bags' covering them. Not sure if this will be useful information in the defense, or just interesting to note that they have been out of order for 5 months, and UKCPM haven't bothered to fix them.....I will investigate this with the college also.

Thanks again for you support so far.