Unfair PCN - please help

tinalee1

Firstly, thank you for taking the time to click on. I really have tried understanding all the FAQs and templates and have been back & forth on this website all week but still am not sure what to do. So apologies if I am wasting time and overlooking a simple solution, but I am finding it all quite overwhelming.

I received a PCN from Euro Car Parks mid November. It said that I had not paid for parking, but I was sure my boyfriend had. I was the driver (and vehicle owner) and my boyfriend paid using the Pay by Phone app. So I replied in my appeal simply stating the reason for the appeal: "Because I paid". I attached a screenshot for proof, thinking they had made a mistake.

10 days later my appeal was rejected, because the wrong location was paid for. We paid for Matilda Street - Sheffield City Council, instead of Matilda Street - Sheffield. I believe a very easy mistake to have made since they are right beside one another on the Pay by Phone map. I feel like this is very unfair and sneaky, since we obviously did try to pay and follow rules.

I have not yet responded via the Popla appeal page. Could anybody please advise on how to go about this?

Thank you.

knightstyle

All these claims are unfair but you can defeat these companies IF you follow the newbies thread above this one.
Regular helpers on here will help later when they take you to court but they are all very busy helping others who are already preparing their defences.
So follow the guide, do not say who was driving, yes do the popla appeal but do not expect to win it. Then, maybe years later, you will get a LBCCC. When you do look for recent threads on here and draft a defence, then come back to see if the experts can help with it.
As has been said many times 99% of those who follow these rules win!

Fruitcake

What a shame you gave away the driver's identity. That means you have thrown away a potentially valuable appeal point.

That cannot now be helped so crack on with your draft PoPLA appeal by reading post 3 of the NEWBIES.
Use every point that is available to you.

Get pics of the site and signage. You wouldn't have paid for the wrong place if the signs were adequate.

Post your draft appeal here for checking before you submit it.

You should have at lease,

Not the landowner
No standing (no valid contract) with the landowner
Inadequate signage
BPA CoP failures (read it to determine where they have failed)

Anything else applicable.

Check with the council planning department to see if the scammers have planning permission for ANPR scameras (if used) and advertising consent for the signs. Not having the latter is a criminal offence and therefore a complaint to the DVLA should be made for a breach of their KADOE agreement, and to the BPA for a breach of the BPA CoP.

After today, complain to your new MP about this unregulated scam.

Coupon-mad

Those circumstances, in themselves, can't win at POPLA, so don't bust a gut over your POPLA appeal wording about the payment going to the wrong location code. However you should mention it as facts, then go straight into using the templates in the 3rd post of the NEWBIES thread about unclear signage (and location codes) and 'no landowner authority' which potentially could win it.

Why are you using private PDT car parks anyway? Honest question. I never do.

tinalee1

Thank you for your responses.

We used that carpark simply for convenience - there was no street parking available and it was next to where we wanted to be. I didn't think anything more of it.

Redx

Well you will if it comes with £100 PCN notices every time , nothing convenient about it with a massive surcharge

Coupon-mad

OK so you know how to put a POPLA appeal together as explained above.

tinalee1

Coupon-mad wrote: »

OK so you know how to put a POPLA appeal together as explained above.

Yes, I'll go down tomorrow to take some photos of the signage and put an appeal together. Thank you