Foreigner POPLA Appeal Help

Starshine_Moonrise

Hello and thanks in advance for your help! I am a newbie as I am American and had rented a car for my visit. I received a ticket from Britannia Parking for the standard 100/60 pound deal. I appealed and my appeal was rejected and now I was given a POPLA number.

I parked in a parking lot for a total of 16 minutes. The meter was broken and by the time I asked people how to work the machine and was informed it was broken, I never left the lot and the 16 minutes had passed. When I found out it was broken, I moved the car to another lot. I received the ticket from the rental company. My appeal was denied because it said alternative methods of payment are clearly stated on the signage, by way of calling or using my phone to pay. Now, I didn't have service, as I had an American phone. They also stated there is a 10 minute grace period, I had exceeded.

Can anyone advise me what to do? This is not right. Thank you!

twhitehousescat

ok , so the car hire co named you . you accepted and made appeal as DRIVER

great , how much longer are you in the UK for

Starshine_Moonrise

I was already home when I received the email.

twhitehousescat

umm , confirm: you are acually back in the USA now

Starshine_Moonrise

Yes, in the US.

twhitehousescat

ok , simple as a citizen of the USA and living there they cannot touch you

forget POPLa , write to data protection officer at parking co and update your address

as you have named yourself they cannot to to hire car co for money

Starshine_Moonrise

They have my address. The rejection letter has my address on it. If I don't pay, the car hire company will charge my credit card for the cost. I think I may just have to pay. It's ridiculous though, as the meter was broken and I was only there for a few minutes trying to figure it out.

MistyZ

If your live in the US and are now home, there's virtually nothing Britannia can do. The costs and logistics of pursuing mean it's not worth their while.

You did the right thing in naming yourself as driver in this instance. I'm not sure whether the rental company can / will now pay the PCN and send you the bill + admin costs .... Interested to see what the more experienced members say and hoping that this will be the end of it for you.

Edit: check out what twhitehousecat says above, i.e. that the hire company cannot go after you. I understand that you may want to confirm this for yourself or hear more about the thinking behind this.

Starshine_Moonrise

The car hire company already charged me a fee for getting the ticket. They said they would reimburse me if I won the appeal, but alas...

twhitehousescat

they CANNOT go after the hire co for money if you have named yourself as driver

CANNOT and if they do , then all hell will break out with there regulatory body

Umkomaas

If the hire company formally passed liability to you by informing the PPC of your name and address, they have discharged any liability they may have had. The PPC cannot now go back to them to demand payment.

Are Britannia writing to your US address?