CE Ltd Popla rejected

JustEm

I've read the newbie threads and struggle to decide what I should do now and would like advice please. Apologies if I'm asking questions that have been asked before.

Received a letter in July from CE ltd with fine for not entering registration number at tourist attraction I was visiting. I contacted the venue and they said there was nothing they could do. I appealed to POPLA on the grounds that I was at the venue, not using car park illegally - it was an event specifically for disabled children & I'd taken my son.The parking attendant directed me to disabled bay then directed me to entrance at rear of property. The machines for inputting your registration number were in the main foyer - which I didn't pass through. I didn't see any signs. Niaively I assumed because I could prove I was there that that would be enough.

Popla rejected the appeal on the grounds that it was my responsibility to check parking restrictions. (CE provided evidence of numerous signs) By parking there I had entered into a contract which stated I could park for free for 12 hours so long as I entered my registration number. Not entering reg meant I was agreeing to pay £100.

I've done everything you said I shouldn't. I've agreed it was me. I then tried to pay in installments and they refused.

so now I'm just ignoring them. Most recent letter (this week) said i now owe £140 (additional costs) and i can't afford it not in one lump sum.

And even if I could, it seems unreasonable to pay for not entering my registration number.

The_Deep

Received a letter in July from CE ltd with fine for not entering registration number at tourist attraction I was visiting. I contacted the venue and they said there was nothing they could do.

Firstly, it is not a fine. It is an invoices for damages they allege they incurred when allegedly you breached a contract which they allege you entered into when you parked on the land.

Secondly you can write bad stuff on TripAdviser and Facebook about the venue.

Thirdly you can complain to your MP.

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.

Not entering a VRN is something that many judges consider to be a trifling matter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_minimis

and the Law does not concern itself with trifles, a PPC may struggle therefore in court.

JustEm

Thank you so much for your reply.

I'll start by posting on facebook and trip advisor and will send a strongly worded letter of complaint direct to the venue. And i'll contact my MP also.

And I'll simply ignore and file the letters I receive until they get serious.

Thank again - reading through these threads has been an eye opener. The conduct of these firms is shocking.