First appeal rejected, but I have proof that the machine wasn't working

cmssbrie

Hi,

I received a ticket for parking on a privately owned town centre car park. I used the template in the Newbies thread for the first appeal to Civil Enforcement Ltd. They have written to me saying that my appeal has failed so I am now on with the second one.

The thing is, the payment machine was out of service at the time I parked on the car park and I have a photograph showing this. It does state on the signage that I should use the phone service to pay, but whose to say I had any data / credit to do this? Should I mention this in my appeal to POPLA, or does it simply not count?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Coupon-mad

That would lose at POPLA but I would add a point about it to the usual template POPLA appeal wording (see post #3 of the NEWBIES thread) for consistency in case POPLA is lost and later, you have to get a Judge to decide.

A Judge will have expected you to 'narrow the issues and facts' at this stage.

Hopefully it won't come to that and maybe CEL won't have time to contest a long forum style POPLA appeal, but if they do, don't expect to win (and don't worry if you don't - these cases are won at court, in most cases, no risk at all).

The_Deep

It does state on the signage that I should use the phone service to pay,

Not everyone carries a mobile phone on their person. I think that this is important and should be mentioned in your appesl. Was this the only P&D machine in the vicinity? If so you were unable to pay and the contract was therefore invalid, read this

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

and complain to your MP as nine times out of ten these tickets are scams.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.