Parking Eye POPLA Appeal

Pep21

To summarise: I parked in a car park which does say you can only stay for an hour and a half and is for the use of customers of a parade of shops. I parked on a Sunday morning at 8.15. I left at 10:00:16 according to my notice. I was late out of the car park because my key ran out of battery and I had to call my gf to come with the spare key. Unfortunately my wallet was in the car, so I couldn't have purchased a new battery and even if I had wanted to all of the shops were closed as they open at 10am.

I explained this to Parking Eye who basically told me to do one as I don't have any evidence of this actual chain of events.

Surely having to pay any amount of money for use of a car park which is free and open is unfair but even more so when the actual shops they are for are closed. I was not there prohibiting any customers from parking.

What should I say in my appeal to POPLA and is there precedent for this type of appeal?

Coupon-mad

There is no precedent for that because no-one would appeal like that.

Show us pics of the signs there. Can you get some at the weekend?

Does it actually offer a contract when the shops are shut? If not, that's a good thing!

Pep21

The forum does not let me upload images because I am a new member. Is there a way around this?

The car park in question is Glynn Square in Wolverton, Milton Keynes.

The sign says:
1.5 hours max stay.
Customer Only Car Park.
For use only whilst shopping in store.
Failure to comply with the following will result in a Parking Charge of: £100

Parking limited to 1.5 hours (no return within 1 hour)
Park only within marked bays
Blue Badge holders only in marked bays

SMALL PRINT: ParkingEye Ltd is authorised by the landowner to operate this private car park for and on its behalf. Certain parking terms and conditions apply, which are set out within this notice (the "Parking Contract"). By parking, waiting or otherwise remaining within this car park, you agree to comply with the Parking Contract, including making payment as required and entering your vehicle registration details via the payment and/or terminals. If you fail to comply with the Parking Contract, you will become liable to pay the sum specified on this notice (the "Parking Charge"). If a Parking Charge becomes due, a reduced payment option will be available for a specified period from issue. Failure to pay within this period will result in the full amount becoming payable, If the Parking Charge remains unpaid beyond 28 days, recovery charges in respect of further action may apply. The Parking contract shall form the entire agreement between the parties and any variation of the terms shall not be valid unless confirmed in writing by ParkingEye Ltd. Please note that ParkingEye Ltd is not responsible for the car park surface, damage or loss to or from motor vehicles, or general site safety. In addition to the Parking contract please see privacy information below.

Privacy information - when you use this car park, ParkingEye Ltd collects and processes certain data in order to ensure that you are complying with our terms and conditions and to enforce these where necessary. We also use the data for car park management. This will include, for example, reporting on vehicle turnover and repeat visits in order to improve the customer experience. The data we collect comprises images of vehicles using the car park and/or the Vehicle Registration Mark. this is collected via Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras and/or attendants on-site, as well as via payment machines or terminals. We may share data from time to time as required to support the purposes stated above. When collecting the data specified above, ParkingEye Ltd is the Data Controller. for more information, including details about your rights as a data subject, please visit our website at (Parking Eye website). Alternatively, you can email us (email address) or contact us by telephone at 0333 1235 984.
This car park is private property

There does not appear to be any information relating to the car park when the shops are closed.

Le_Kirk

Pep21 wrote: »

The forum does not let me upload images because I am a new member. Is there a way around this?

Yes, use your favourite hosting site such as imgur or tinypic (other hosting sites are available) and, when you get the URL, just post it as a broken link such as: -
hxxps://tinypic...........
and someone will fix it for you.

The_Deep

That is one hell of a lot of small print, this is a car park not a contract to build a nuclear power station. How long did it take you to read it? Too long to be "reasonable" imo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wi/Reasonability

They are trying to scam you, complain 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 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 become so widespread that MPs agreed to enact a Bill to regulate these scammers. Hopefully, this will become law by Easter .

Coupon-mad

Pep21 wrote: »

There does not appear to be any information relating to the car park when the shops are closed.

And that will be the first point of your POPLA appeal. No offer of a licence to park when shops are closed, therefore the terms on the sign cannot apply outside of shop opening hours as it would be impossible to comply with ''Customer Only Car Park. For use only whilst shopping in store.''

Alternatively, this makes it clear that - in shop opening hours - you can PARK for 1.5 hours:

Parking limited to 1.5 hours (no return within 1 hour)

Therefore the extra 15 minutes can be accounted for, due to the failed car key battery meaning the car was broken down, effectively immobilised for at least half an hour of that time(true?).

Include a witness statement at POPLA stage, signed & dated by your girlfriend, stating the date and time of the breakdown and what she did to help, and the fact it took about half an hour to rescue you.

Then no landowner authority.

Then unclear signs.

But your main first point (at POPLA stage, not first appeal) is the fact that no terms are stated about any terms during shop closing hours. Thus, there is no contractual term that can relate to you, and no PCN can be issued before 10am on a Sunday (include proof of the shop opening hours from t'internet, for good measure).

Pep21

That is great. thank you.

Pep21

Hi - Parking Eye have replied to POPLA with all of their information and a redacted contract with the landowner and saying that as my headlights were off (picture clearly shows my headlights are actually on) I could see the signs (which I have never claimed I couldn't). They have not actually bothered to address my actual argument that I was parked in the car park out of hours and over the limit which I haven't denied. They have then used case: ParkingEye v. Beavis [2015] UKSC 67, which was found in ParkingEye’s favour and concerned the
value of our Parking Charges.
The Supreme Court considered the Defendant’s submissions that the Parking Charge should be considered to be penal and unfair, but the Justices supported the findings of the lower courts, where the charge was found to be neither ‘extravagant’ nor ‘unconscionable’.
In terms of the amount of the Parking Charge, this Judgment, along with the British Parking Association Code of Practice at paragraph 19.5, support the level of Charge issued by ParkingEye, and the Justices note that, “The charge is less than the maximum above which members of the BPA must justify their charges under their code of practice”.
Lord Hodge states that, “…local authority practice, the BPA guidance, and also the evidence that it is common practice in the United Kingdom to allow motorists to stay for two hours in such private car parks and then to impose a charge of £85, support the view that such a charge was not manifestly excessive […] the fact that motorists entering the car park were given ample warning of both the time limit of their licence and the amount of the charge also supports the view that the parking charge was not unconscionable.”ParkingEye submits that the Judgment provides clarity and delivers a binding precedent to support the position
that our Parking Charges are fair, reasonable and legally enforceable.
ParkingEye ensures that all its signage is clear, ample, and in keeping with the British Parking Association (BPA) regulations.The signage at this site demonstrates adequate colour contrast between the text and the backgrounds advised in the BPA Code of Practice, you will note the colour contrast at this site is black text on white background. As the images show, the vehicle did not have its headlights on when entering the car park. We contend that there was clearly enough daylight for the motorist to be confident driving without the use of headlights, and
therefore the signage would have been fully visible. (Please see Section F).

If they haven't addressed my actual point and are stating lies about my headlights then do I just point this out and hope for the best?

MothballsWallet

This sounds like their evidence bundle: if I remember correctly, the guidance is that this is your chance to rebut their claims, so you need to go through each of their points and counter it in your reply.

I'm sure the more regular regulars will be along soon and will correct me if I'm wrong (which does happen).

D_P_Dance

All the PE signs that I have come across fail imo to be able to form a contract. They are either too high, the font is too small, or they are too wordy, or all of the above, read this thread and complain to your MP.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972164/parking-eye-signs-oxford-road-reading&highlight=

Coupon-mad

D_P_Dance wrote: »

All the PE signs that I have come across fail imo to be able to form a contract.

That's misleading, DP. The Supreme Court found their signs clear.

If they haven't addressed my actual point and are stating lies about my headlights then do I just point this out and hope for the best?

Yes, you have 2000 characters (NOT WORDS) so do some bullet points like the NEWBIES thread tells you to do, in the section about POPLA comments. You will be reiterating that the circumstances more than justify the slightly longer grace period, and that in any case, the signs make no offer of a parking licence during hours that the shops are closed.

POPLA comments stage is already covered - everything is, in the sticky thread.