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Appeal to Britannia Parking rejected, how to go further with POPLA?

Hi all, I'm hoping for someone to give me some advice about a PCN received from Britannia Parking. I have tried going through the newbies thread but I admit I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the information and am not sure how to proceed.

Some background: I drove into a car park to pick up something from a friend who wanted to meet me there, intending to leave again straight afterwards. I parked up, left the car to fetch the item from my friend, and went to leave. However, upon turning my engine back on, the car's fan blowers didn't work, which required me to change a fuse. After sorting this I left the car park. Total stay ended up being 19 minutes.
The car park had a free stay period of 30 minutes. However it appears that you need to display a ticket for this. Admittedly it was ignorant of me to not even think about getting a ticket, I do feel like an idiot, but what's done is done. Lesson learned.

Within a week I received the PCN from Britannia with ANPR photos of my car entering and exiting.
I appealed this with them, explaining the circumstances (was this a rookie mistake?), but I did not provide the name of the driver. I also said that the charge was excessive and not a commercially justifiable loss to the company or landowner.
It's come back with a rejection and a POPLA code.

I'm not sure what grounds to use for a POPLA appeal, or if I even have any grounds. I know that I cannot use mitigating circumstances at POPLA. Perhaps the fact that the "free period" was not exceeded, but how do I word this? Britannia's rejection letter states that "this notice does not have to comply with a genuine pre-estimate of loss, as this is no longer a legal test".
Am I stuffed?

Comments

  • Redx
    Redx Posts: 38,084 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Excessive amount failed with the Barry Beavis case so no idea why you thought that idea would work

    If they know who was driving you cannot use pofa , but assume you did not actually tell them and use it anyway

    A popla appeal will include the typical points , such as

    No landowner authority
    Poor and inadequate signage
    Grace periods
    BPA Cop failures
    Pofa 2012 failures

    Etc

    Post the popla draft below for critique
  • Oren
    Oren Posts: 21 Forumite
    Third Anniversary 10 Posts Name Dropper
    I'm sorry, I used "that idea" because it was suggested as an option on one of the MSE template letters. Sorry, I wasn't aware of the Barry Beavis case and that it wouldn't work. Yes, I am pretty ignorant in this, sorry, this is my first private PCN.
    I did not tell them who was driving. Thanks for replying.
  • Redx
    Redx Posts: 38,084 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Google Barry Beavis and you will see he lost that argument in 3 courts of law a few years ago , the last being the Supreme court in London

    10 out of 11 judges decided those issues over the 3 courts , hence my reply

    The best option for you was and still is to read the newbies faq sticky thread near the top of the forum , where you won't find that argument , don't read the official MSE advice

    Now you will have to rescue this at popla with better research

    The chances are your initial appeal would have been rejected anyway , regardless of what was said
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