Disabled Spot Ticket

pcyuljr

Good Evening,

I have received a ticket for parking within a disabled space in a private retail free car park. I did make a purchase within the shop I was visiting.

Firstly, let me state I did park within a disabled space without displaying a badge. The reasons for this being my partner had an injury (not long-term) and there were plenty (10+) of empty disabled bays adjoining the space I took up I obtained images of these). I was not inconveniencing any other car park user and was in the shop for no more than 15 minutes.

The ticket was issued by UKPC and placed on the windscreen of the vehicle.

The charge is for £50 within 14 days or £85 after this.

I am loathed to pay this as feel the charge is disproportionate to the 'offence'. I have read the newbie thread but see little regarding such a situation, although I would certainly never dare state 'My case is different'

My query is whether the standard process (such as over staying/lack of payment) applies and if I have any chance of being successful in avoiding paying this charge.

I am half tempted to send a cheque to the company for only £5 and say 'I appreciate I breached your terms and conditions, here is an appropriate payment amount.'

Any advice is much appreciated.

Redx

none of the above will work


the £85 is not excessive or disproportionate according to the SUPREME COURT 2 years ago in the BARRY BEAVIS case, that was the trigger for all these court claims and warnings, he lost 3 times in 3 different courts, so you have no chance using that as an argument, whatever you may think

if you were to swerve this invoice, it would be on a legal technicality, like no landowner contract poor signage, BPA CoP issues, failing POFA2012 (the law) etc

parking companies are contracted to keep disabled spots clear for those who qualify under the EA2010 and so have a duty in law to ticket anyone who is not lawfully there , in this case, your vehicle

I sympathise with what you say, but that doesnt mean you are right in law, especially when you are not as no blue badge was owned or shown and no disability qualified either of you under the EA2010

as an able bodied driver you "should" have dropped her off there near the shop and then returned to the vehicle and parked in a normal spot. then you should have retrieved the vehicle and picked her up from outside the shop, like a taxi would

the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread tells you how to appeal and what to write , and the popla examples tell you what the technical reasons are for a successful appeal

appeal as keeper using the blue text appeal and forget about the "mitigating circumstances & the disproportionate fees)

there is no way they will accept a small fee at this stage, they dont need to, they could take you to court for the full £85 + court costs due to you breaking the EA2010 and them legally enforcing it

Half_way

The only workaround would be to eithe win at popla, or landowner cancellation, however with both methods you need to be extremly careful how you word it.

People with genuine dissabillities, who are covered under the equality act - but dont have a blue badge have enough difficulies in enforcing their rights.

missile

Pay up.
Did the injury your partner have prevent you from letting him/her exit the vehicle and you parking elsewhere?

Half_way

missile wrote: »

Pay up.

Whilst the OP was in the wrong to use a disbled bay, it would appear to be a missunderstanding.
Even if it was deliberate couldnt give a toss will park there anyway parking incident, i would much rather see someone fight a PPC ticket than the money going into the coffers of a private parking company.
If the money went 100% into the coffers of a genuine charity then it would be different, but advancing the proffits of PPC land is worse than disabled bay abuse

pcyuljr

Thanks for the advice.

As 'Missile' states, I was in the wrong and was parking in a disabled spot in a private car park that had plenty of signage. So I have no defence. My only issue was that £50 seemed a little disproportionate for a 15-minute stay in a car park with many free disabled spots. But I guess the owners are free to charge what they like and now it seems I am obliged to pay it.

Don't get me wrong, I am up for a battle when I feel I am in the right, and have done so against airlines for compo with advice from the MSE forums.

But in this case, knowing I was in the wrong, and it seemingly a tricky battle without a likelihood of succeeding, it does appear that paying the ticket and learning for future will be the best bet. Unfortunate, but thanks again to those who contributed, I appreciate it.

KeithP

I am beginning to wonder why you started this thread.

Redx

pcyuljr wrote: »

My only issue was that £50 seemed a little disproportionate for a 15-minute stay in a car park with many free disabled spots.

But I guess the owners are free to charge what they like and now it seems I am obliged to pay it.

its not though, because the SUPREME COURT have mulled over the BEAVIS case and decided that £85 is not unconcionable (not disproportionate) and this could apply to anything up to £100 which was the limit set by the BPA 6 years ago (or more) (it is merely your personal opinion and not backed up by the law)

the fact that there were any or hundreds of disabled spots isnt relevant because no occupant of the vehicle qualified in order to park in one, there could have been a thousand disabled spots free and neither you nor your partner would qualify to park in one

in theory they could charge what they like but it would have to be on the signage and you agree to it by parking there and reading the signs, in practice its never more than £100 which is the current industry "standard" until the government change it next year

the CRA 2015 would probably be breached if it were higher

pcyuljr

KeithP wrote: »

I am beginning to wonder why you started this thread.

Because I was in need of some advice from people better informed than me in relation to a matter I knew little about. Having received and considered such advice, I have weighed up my options and determined I was in the wrong and have little chance of success of challenging the ticket. Hence the thread was helpful and proved useful to me. I'm sorry if you didn't get as much value from it, I'll be sure to consider the utility my posts provide you in future.

The_Deep

UKPC are fraudsters

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11858473/Parking-firm-UKPC-admits-faking-tickets-to-fine-drivers.html

http://parking-prankster.blogspot.com/

I wonder if the judge knows about this?

If their paperwork is tickety boo, the signage passes muster, their contracts are in order, etc., you have given them an open goal.

pcyuljr

Redx wrote: »

its not though, because the SUPREME COURT have mulled over the BEAVIS case and decided that £85 is not unconcionable (not disproportionate) and this could apply to anything up to £100 which was the limit set by the BPA 6 years ago (or more) (it is merely your personal opinion and not backed up by the law)

You are clearly very informed about all of this.

However, please don't confuse legally correct with morally correct. If they were both the same, Rosa Parks would never have remained on the bus.

The SUPREME COURT may have decided £85 was appropriate. Mr Beavis, along with most other sensible people don't agree with this, hence the reason for this forum page. If the parking companies were charging £5, I very much doubt as many people would be contesting the charge. It's not necessarily the fact a penalty was imposed that people are irritated by (generally we accept the need for rules), but the size of the penalty.

My problem is, in this case, I don't have the moral high ground as I foolishly parked in a spot I shouldn't have done.