Private Land: Parked in a disabled bay (interesting story!)

ImranBro

Hi,

Really would appreciate some advice on this please. I don’t want to pay what I feel is an unjust charge.

A couple of months ago I received a parking charge notice for parking in a disabled bay.
At first I ignored it but a couple of weeks ago I received a letter from a collection agency requesting payment.

I wrote the following letter to P4Parking (from whom I received the ticket and are a member of the British Parking Association - BPA) just to find out what they had on me:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Reference (PCN): XXXXX

I recently received a letter from TNC requesting payment for an unpaid PCN from P4Parking which I was really surprised to receive.

Please could you provide me with evidence of contravention as I have strong reason to believe this is not the case.

Kind Regards,

XXXX

P4Parking treated this as an appeal (possibly because I addressed the letter to the address provided on the pcn) and provided photographs which weren’t very clear outlining the infringement (The picture is only showing the disabled sign partially because the sign is painted on the ground underneath the car.) They advised me that this was the last appeal for me and I needed to contact POPLA if I wanted to take it further.

The background to this is I live in a private development (shared ownership) and was never allocated any parking. However, I have been parking in this bay since I moved in (over 2 years ago now). When I started parking there was nothing painted on the bay but about 8 months ago, the contractors came and painted all the bays on our street and the one I parked in was painted with a disabled sign alongside a number (most general disabled bays do not have a number painted below it).

I asked the guys painting the bay if it belonged to anyone (as generally the number means it’s been allocated to someone) and they said they didn’t know. So I carried on parking there. Over the last few months the patrols have increased but I thought I was safe because the bay I was parking in had a number beneath the sign and because the car covered it. Until 19th October!

I have been parking in the same bay since (I simply do not have anywhere else to park) but for a short while I put a note on my car for the parking attendant explaining he’d made a mistake and thankfully this hasn’t repeated itself.

I’m being asked to pay £125 now for this charge (including £25 for the admin fees) and am loathe to pay it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated in terms of what I can now do.

A lot of people are getting fed up of the ticketing that’s been going on recently. The irony is we pay the management company a service charge for the upkeep and part of that is the parking enforcement (so we’re paying to get ticketed!).

Thanks,

missile

Are you disabled?
Why do you not park in the bay marked with your number?

ImranBro

I was never allocated with any parking and no I'm not disabled. There is a shortage of parking spaces hence my parking in the bay. Otherwise, I wouldn't have any parking and this bay would remain empty.

AdrianC

You parked in a disabled bay because there wasn't anything else convenient...?

And you think this is suitable grounds to appeal a penalty?

A lot of people are getting fed up of the ticketing that’s been going on recently. The irony is we pay the management company a service charge for the upkeep and part of that is the parking enforcement (so we’re paying to get ticketed!).

How else do you want them to enforce the parking, if not for issuing penalty charges?

Park within the rules of the car park, and you won't get a penalty.

waamo

As well as parking in the wrong bay you've also posted on the wrong board. The parking tickets board is here https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=163

DoaM

As per post #5.

And it wasn't a penalty despite what (some) others may be thinking ... disabled bays on private land do not require a blue badge to be displayed, as they're there for the benefit of anyone with protected characteristics per the Equality Act 2010, not just people with a blue badge. (That doesn't mean I condone you using such a bay if the EA2010 doesn't apply to you).

neilmcl

ImranBro wrote: »

I was never allocated with any parking and no I'm not disabled. There is a shortage of parking spaces hence my parking in the bay. Otherwise, I wouldn't have any parking and this bay would remain empty.

How do you know. Do you think they may be acting against you is probably the landlord may have received complaints from genuine disabled persons who are unable to park their cars. Apart from the legalities I think you're being very selfish.

ImranBro

neilmcl wrote: »

How do you know. Do you think they may be acting against you is probably the landlord may have received complaints from genuine disabled persons who are unable to park their cars. Apart from the legalities I think you're being very selfish.

Because there are several other disabled bays which are permanently empty and no one ever parks in them.

Car_54

OP, what does your lease say about parking?

ImranBro

Car_54 wrote: »

OP, what does your lease say about parking?

That there is no allocated parking.

Basically when we moved because all the bays were unpainted we assumed (incorrectly) there would be ample parking. This hasn't turned out to be the case.

Bonniepurple

OP, you made an assumption that there was ample parking. You found out there wasn’t. You’re making the assumption that because there are empty disabled bays (?ALL the time?) there is more than enough disabled parking. I suspect that that assumption is wrong too. Clearly, for whatever reason, the other bays were not suitable for someone. You don’t know why. You don’t need to know why. You just need to accept that you can’t park there now.