Paying the council rather than PPC by using the wrong app!

Eloy423

Hi all,

The driver recently parked in an NCP in Sheffield, which the driver paid for with the PayByPhone app. The driver approached the signage in the car park to double check the name of the car park and then selected it in the app.

When the driver returned to their vehicle, the driver had a 'ticket' stuck to their windscreen. Bewildered, the driver drove off and later investigated. It turns out that the NCP car park uses a different app (RingGo) and that the driver had in fact selected the on-street car parking offered by the council (who use the PayByPhone app) with the same street name in it (the council parking is called "Sidney Street" on the PayByPhone app and the NCP car park is called "Sidney Street" on the RingGo app).

NCP are demanding £100 or £60 if the driver pays early... you know the drill.

The car the driver drives is leased, so the driver would like to avoid paying any admin fees from the lease company if possible.

This was a genuine mistake and the driver has the receipt for the council parking app. Does the driver have a case against POPLA? I've had a search around and can't find any cases similar to this. Are there any?

The driver thought paying for parking via their phone was supposed to make things easier!

Redx

it does, if the correct payment system is used

the fact is they paid the wrong person, so the correct person has issued an invoice for the unpaid parking

as its a hire vehicle, there is a special section at the bottom of post #1 of the NEWBIES FAQ sticky thread (the edna basher advice)

if the hire co dont know about it yet, the hirer can appeal as hirer/lessee/keeper (day to day keeper) by appealing the windscreen pcn

any appeal can only succeed on a technicality, usually at popla, so in this case they may have to pay, in which case they pay the £60 quickly and learn a costly lesson

so its up to them what they do , but if NCP have all their ducks in a row, the driver is culpable and could pay anything from £60 up to say £200 if it went to court

The_Deep

This was a genuine mistake … Does the driver have a case against POPLA?

I am afraid that this is most unlikely to sway PoPLA. To win at PoPLA the PPC must have done something wrong, in this case they have not.

However, that does not prevent you complaining to your MP, £100 is, I suspect, a lot more than the Council would charge in similar circumstances.

It is the will of Parliament that these scammers be put out of business. Hopefully that will take place in the near future. The Bill has passed through the HOC without hitch, and goes to the Lords soon. In the meantime involve your MP, the poor dears are buckling under the weight of complaints about these scammers. Read this one which I wrote earlier

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 of these companies may have connections to organised crime.

Parking Eye, CPM, Smart, (especially 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 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.

Eloy423

Thanks for the reply. Is there a template letter I can send to my MP?

Umkomaas

Eloy423 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply. Is there a template letter I can send to my MP?

Use your own words. Everyone is expecting a template for everything they want to write. There is no template for a complaint to a MP.

Did they cover letter composition at school?

Eloy423

Great response, thanks. :T