Local Council Refusing to Intervene in PCN

SotonCar

Appeal has been rejected by Premier Park (no surprise). Now on to POPLA...

FujiKat

SotonCar wrote: »

From ITC this morning:

Hello Mr ——-

Ilfracombe Town Council IS NOT a traffic authority.

Protection of Freedoms Act 2012

8. When a person parks their car on private land not covered by a TRO without paying any required charges, the car park operator can issue a Parking Charge

Read the legislation for yourself.

Para 1 of POFA actually says "This schedule applies where....in respect of the parking of the vehicle on relevant land......"

Relevant land is clearly defined to exclude parking places provided or controlled by a traffic authority and the definition of "traffic authority" is clear and includes "Parish or Community Council" in a list of public bodies . There is no mention of there having to be a TRO on the land to exclude it...

ITC may be taking the view that they don't see themselves as a traffic authority because they can't make TROs...and they will have taken advice from Premier......but the definition in POFA is clear and includes them without qualification....it would seem Parliament intended to exclude all parking places provided by all levels of government.

You may lose at POPLA despite the legislation being clear....i'm not sure the people making decisions actually read it! At the end of the day only a Court can decide- if Premier want to take it that far...and judging by the cases taken by PPCs there's a fair chance they will. Hopefully a judge is able to correctly decipher the legislation!

Johno100

Have I got this right, the Council (yes a third tier of local government) have confirmed both on their website and in e-mail correspondence that they own the car park but in the next breath refer to it as private land?

SotonCar

Johno100 wrote: »

Have I got this right, the Council (yes a third tier of local government) have confirmed both on their website and in e-mail correspondence that they own the car park but in the next breath refer to it as private land?

That is correct.

SotonCar

FujiKat wrote: »

You may lose at POPLA despite the legislation being clear....i'm not sure the people making decisions actually read it! At the end of the day only a Court can decide- if Premier want to take it that far...and judging by the cases taken by PPCs there's a fair chance they will. Hopefully a judge is able to correctly decipher the legislation!

Surely if I submit the appeal referencing all of the legislation and the position ITC make clear on their webiste, and also the support from my local MP that would be enough?

My concern is that if this gets as far as court, and not living locally to North Devon, it is too much of a risk to take financially. I hate the thought of doing it, but the £60 payment wouldn't be a gamble to get this over with.

KeithP

SotonCar wrote: »

My concern is that if this gets as far as court, and not living locally to North Devon, it is too much of a risk to take financially.

If this gets to court, and you are an individual, then any court hearing will be in your local County Court.

Le_Kirk

If it gets as far as court, you will be able to choose the court local to you when you have filed your defence and receive the DQ.

SotonCar

KeithP wrote: »

If this gets to court, and you are an individual, then any court hearing will be in your local County Court.

Good news. Thank you.

I work in education so am quite keen for this not to get that far.

Redx

As above, the fact that you (like me) do not live locally to North Devon seems irrelevant, the claimant may be in Exeter and you might live in Durham or Carlisle, so you choose your local court, same as everyone else who in a private individual and not a company (not would you be going to Northampton either)

Plus it's civil court, so if you lose pay up in full on your way out, or within one month, to get the CCJ expunged

FujiKat

SotonCar wrote: »

Surely if I submit the appeal referencing all of the legislation and the position ITC make clear on their webiste, and also the support from my local MP that would be enough?

My concern is that if this gets as far as court, and not living locally to North Devon, it is too much of a risk to take financially. I hate the thought of doing it, but the £60 payment wouldn't be a gamble to get this over with.

You would think so wouldn't you! I know I did but I lost my appeal at POPLA in similar circumstances-the assessor made no comment in relation to the legislation quoted BUT you might be successful because it seems to very much depend on the person assessing..

As far as living away from North Devon, if it does go to Court you can nominate your local Court for the hearing. I was having the same thoughts as you as regards paying but I can't get past the fact that the legislation is clear and I think this needs to be proven in Court to stop this (IMHO) Illegal use of POFA to harass keepers into paying for minor parking infringements when they weren't even driving or at the car park.