PCN

garygaryd

As registered keeper my wife received a PCN on 20.02.20 for an alleged offence on 08.02.20, the vehicle entered a car park run by MSCP on 08.02.20 at 1847 hrs and left at 21.43 hrs, the offence alleged is parking without payment of the parking tariff (£3.00). The vehicle did enter and leave at these specific times. Before exiting the car park an attempt was made to pay the parking fee of £3.00 the machine would not accept any notes or card payment, (these were attempted), and would only accept coins, of which I didn't have.
The circumstances of us leaving are that we had been visiting the theatre this evening and I had left my wife at the front of the theatre, as she was having a panic attack and was with an elderly relative. 
Having attempted to pay the parking charge and been unable to do so (as above), I left in the vehicle to collect my wife and deal with the medical situation, once this had been resolved. I returned to the entrance of the car park and walked into the car park (now having change), paid a £3.00 fee of which I owed for the previous parking as above.
The company accept I did return to pay a £3.00 fee.
Once the PCN was received, I appealed the decision via THEIAS, all within the relevant time scales. I have now had an adjudication from IAS stating that my appeal is dismissed, although they say they are sympathetic to the circumstances. I have logged back into myparkingcharge.co.uk and my fine is now £100.00. I have tried to contact them directly to no avail.
Having read the forum i probably should not have appealed via THEIAS. 
At no time did i not intend to pay the parking charge and returned and actually paid the correct fee.
Please can i have some advice as to what I can / should do next? I feel that this is an wholly inappropriate fine and I have mitigation as to why it was not paid at the time. 
Thanks   

D_P_Dance

and my fine is now £100.00. 

It is not a fine, it as an invoice from an ex clamper for compensation for an alleged breach of contract.   It is a civil matter and you owe therm nothing unless a judge says you do.  Read this

as it may well apply in the circumstances

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frustration_in_English_law

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP, it can cause the scammer extra costs and work, and has been known to get the charge cancelled.

Parliament is well aware of the MO of these private parking companies, many of whom are former clampers, and on 15th March 2019 a Bill was enacted to curb the excesses of these shysters. Codes of Practice are being drawn up, an independent appeals service will be set up, and access to the DVLA's date base more rigorously policed, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully, when life gets back to normal, it will become impossible for those scammers who are left to continue their vile trade, but until this is done you should still complain to your MP, citing the new legislation.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/8/contents/enacted

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these Private Parking Companies.

Umkomaas

As with any IPC/IAS member, the chance of winning an appeal is just about zero. Unless you can get the landowner to intervene and have this cancelled, I'm afraid it's a wait and see if they issue court proceedings, which you can defend with help from the forum.  

They have 6 years in which to issue proceedings. 

KeithP

Who are MSCP? Can you please provide their full name?

Coupon-mad

Keep proof of payment of the £3, wait for a claim, defend it in court and win.  There is no other advice to be given at ths stage and with our help, you will win.   There is NO reason to do anything else.  No panicking, no contacting the PPC.

Who are this PPC, name in full?

garygaryd

KeithP said:

Who are MSCP? Can you please provide their full name?

In the notice it has Earlsdon Park MSCP, Coventry, CV1 3BH

garygaryd

Coupon-mad said:

Keep proof of payment of the £3, wait for a claim, defend it in court and win.  There is no other advice to be given at ths stage and with our help, you will win.   There is NO reason to do anything else.  No panicking, no contacting the PPC.

Who are this PPC, name in full?

Coupon-mad said:

Keep proof of payment of the £3, wait for a claim, defend it in court and win.  There is no other advice to be given at ths stage and with our help, you will win.   There is NO reason to do anything else.  No panicking, no contacting the PPC.

Who are this PPC, name in full?

Vehicle Control Services Limited, PO Box 4777, Sheffield, S9DJ. Thanks.

KeithP

Haha... yes, I always understood MSCP to stand for Multi-Story Car Park, but your opening post made us think otherwise.

MistyZ

Which car park was this?  I think the one thing you can & should do at the moment is to find the landowner or land management company responsible for the car park and complain to them vigorously.  

I would mention that VCS accept that payment was received - quote exactly what they said about this.  Also mention that they are 'sympathetic to the circumstances'.  (How sweet of them For heaven's sake - they had their flipping money, they seem to accept your explanation ... but they want more money, more, more, more ..).   Anyway, insist that the landowner cancel this charge.  

Doesn't sound as if the theatre own the car park .... or might they?  You'll need to do some digging.  

garygaryd

MistyZ said:

Which car park was this?  I think the one thing you can & should do at the moment is to find the landowner or land management company responsible for the car park and complain to them vigorously.  

I would mention that VCS accept that payment was received - quote exactly what they said about this.  Also mention that they are 'sympathetic to the circumstances'.  (How sweet of them For heaven's sake - they had their flipping money, they seem to accept your explanation ... but they want more money, more, more, more ..).   Anyway, insist that the landowner cancel this charge.  

Doesn't sound as if the theatre own the car park .... or might they?  You'll need to do some digging.  

Brilliant advice. Thanks I will keep you posted.

Fruitcake

You have revealed the driver's identity in your initial post?. Did you intend to do that as we do not normally advise it? Did you reveal the driver's identity in your appeals?
The Keeper has protections in law that The Driver does not. 
If you did blab about who was driving then it cannot now be helped, but if you didn't then you should edit your initial post and only refer to The Driver and The Keeper, who are two different people in law.

As well as complaining to the landowner, The Keeper should complain to their MP about this unregulated scam.

You can ask the council who pays the non-domestic business rates for the car park to get a good idea about the landowner's identity. While you are on to the council you can ask them if planning consent exists for ANPR scameras and advertising consent exists for signs. Not having the latter is a criminal offence and cannot be applied retrospectively, although only the council can prosecute. Complaints should be made to the council in writing if approval for either has not been granted. 
If it goes to court then for a few quid you can buy a copy of the Land Registry entry to get definitive proof.