Llangrannog Beach car park - PCNs when prevented from paying

maisie_cat

In case anybody visits there is a free carpark just up the hill for anybody able bodied.

ParkingMad

The pay and display machine was replaced last year and now takes payment by card. Motorists can still pay via the JustPark app, even though the BPA investigation stated that this option should be removed as there is no phone signal in the area. Motorists are still getting PCNs for not paying within 10 minutes. 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g1118313-d7020471-Reviews-Llangrannog_Beach-Llangrannog_Ceredigion_Wales.html

D_P_Dance

Surely, if there is no phone signal, surely frustration of contract will apply?

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists

 

Umkomaas

ParkingMad said:

The pay and display machine was replaced last year and now takes payment by card. Motorists can still pay via the JustPark app, even though the BPA investigation stated that this option should be removed as there is no phone signal in the area. Motorists are still getting PCNs for not paying within 10 minutes. 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g1118313-d7020471-Reviews-Llangrannog_Beach-Llangrannog_Ceredigion_Wales.html

Some extremely damning reviews on TripAdvisor there. It's just so utterly frustrating that so many people are going to get screwed over day after day for doing nothing wrong .... and the holiday season hasn't even started, and with Dripford telling Wales to stay within Wales for their holidays, there'll be some hand-rubbing at Selden Farm!

ParkingMad

Another article in the Cambrian News today with a photo of the P&D machine-

https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/article.cfm?id=136122&headline=‘Ridiculous’ car park fines ‘killing village’&searchyear=2021

cryingoutloud

Like most people on this forum, I've had Parking Charge Notice from One Parking Solutions for my visit to Llangrannog beach where I used this infamous car park. I was there with my two children who had a lot of beach gear and once I arrived, we took a bit of time getting organised with all the beach gear and stuff. We had entered the car park at 11:00 am on the 17th of April. While my family were sorting all the beach stuff out, I went and checked the signs at the parking meter to see the rates etc. I then came back to the car to discuss with my wife and we decided the 12 hour ticket was the best option for us as we were also planning to do a short coastal walk and considering taking the local bus first. Making all these enquiries and arranging our stuff took us some time and thus I bought the ticket at 11:22. I paid £10 for a 12 hour ticket. What I hadn't realised at the time was that the signs there refer to another sign in a different place in the car park with full terms and conditions where, in very small font, it says we have 10 minutes to purchase a ticket. Had I known this clearly from the signs at the meter, I would have bought the ticket earlier as the 12 hour ticket would have more than covered our whole stay. I have since got pictures of the signs at the car park, including the meter, the terms etc sent over to me by a very kind lady who works at a cafe within the same car park. 
In any case we left the car park that evening at 20:10:23, almost 3 hours within the ticket we purchased. Least did we expect to get a £100 charge through the door on our return. I tried to appeal first through OPS appeal procedure which was obviously declined. I now have another 5 or so days left to pay the lower £60 charge or a further 14 days from then to appeal with POPLA. When I originally appealed I thought, surely looking at the length of the ticket we purchased OPS should clear the charge.
My question to experienced people in this forum is do I have good grounds to appeal with POPLA and lose the option to cut my loses to £60? If so, what template and resources should I refer to when appealing?
I do retain the parking ticket with me, which shockingly, was incorrectly issued to end at 20:00 hours and not 23:22 hours based on the 12 hour time I bought the ticket for. When I mentioned this in the OPS ticket appeal, they said that their tariff changes at 20:00 and therefore the ticket is only issued until then and therefore, I ought to have expected this! I did initially wonder if I was fined for overstaying 10 minutes and 23 seconds after the time on the ticket had expired, but OPS clearly stated it was issued for not buying the ticket within the entry grace period not leaving after the expiry on the ticket that was printed. They also confirmed this over the phone.
I don't know if incorrect issue of this ticket also could be mentioned in the appeal. A legal adviser said to me that my confused the grounds of my appeal.
Is there anyway that I could pay the lower £60 fees in protest and then claim it back through small claims courts if my grounds are strong enough (which I think they are)?

Umkomaas

Please start a new thread of your own where you will get bespoke advice. Can you please place paragraphs into your post, because it's impossible to read that text wall. You can't do this on a phone, if that is what you're using. 

Have you read the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, first post, yet?

ParkingMad

Here is a photo of the tariff sign. It looks like you can buy a ticket for up to 12 hours, but it expires at 8pm. The overnight tariff from 8pm to 8am is £1 per hour. 

ParkingMad

There are 4 terms and conditions signs in the car park.
Spot the 10 (or is it 15?) minute grace period 🔍

Umkomaas

Hopefully that type of small print 'gotcha all ways' in signage will be outlawed by the new National Code of Practice. As @D_P_Dance would say, "I've seen fewer words in contracts for the commissioning of nuclear submarines" (or summat like that! 😊).