POPLA appeal lost - evidence pack?

CharlieTHX

Sorry, given how irritating I found PP's evidence with no paragraphs I should have known better than to paste it here in the same way.  I've also redacted my VRN, doh!

I know that POPLA had sight of the logs as they are referred to in their decision:-

Decision

Unsuccessful

Assessor Name

Grahame Hill

Assessor summary of operator case

The operator has issued the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) to the keeper of the vehicle for whole period of parking not paid for.

Assessor summary of your case

The appellant’s case is that they were unable to enter the full License number as the 'L' key on the keypad was non-responsive. they decided therefore to enter the last three digits of the license plate and successfully purchased a ticket. they paid for parking and did not overstay. The appellant has provided evidence to support the appeal.

Assessor supporting rational for decision

The appellant has identified as the driver on the day of the parking event. As such, I am considering the matter of driver liability. When entering onto a private land managed car park where terms and conditions apply, motorists form a parking contract with the operator by deciding to park on the land. The signage in place sets out the terms and conditions of the contract. In this case, the operator has provided photographic evidence of the signage in place in the car park, which states: ‘please enter full correct vehicle registration details’ and that a failure to comply with the terms and conditions will result in a Parking Charge of £100.

The operator has also provided Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) images of the vehicle, entering the car park at 13:46 , and exiting at 14:43, totalling a stay of 56 minutes. The operator has provided a printout showing that the motorist’s full vehicle registration number does not appear in their systems on the date of the event but a partial one does. As such a PCN has been issued. The appellant states that they were unable to enter the full License number as the 'L' key on the keypad was non-responsive. they decided therefore to enter the last three digits of the license plate and successfully purchased a ticket. They paid for parking and did not overstay.

When looking at appeals, POPLA considers whether a parking contract was formed and, if so, whether the motorist kept to the conditions of the contract. POPLA is an evidence-based organisation and will use the evidence provided by appellant and operator to assess the appeal. POPLA cannot allow an appeal if a contract was formed, and the motorist parked but did not keep to the parking conditions.

I note that the operator has previously offered a reduced payment of £20 to the appellant; and the appellant has chosen to use the POPLA service. POPLA is an appeals service to establish if a PCN has been issued correctly, all matters regarding any payment of a PCN must remain between operator and appellant. I acknowledge the appellant’s evidence of payment which tallies with the operator’s records. Whist I note their ground of the ‘L’ not working, I note also that the letter ‘L’ appears on the log both before and after the appellant’s entry. In an ANPR managed site the camera enters the vehicle registration into a transaction system, when the driver enters a matching registration number and makes the appropriate payment the parking period is authorised.

By not entering their correct details, the appellant has failed to validate their parking. They were not entitled to remain at the site, and by doing so they have breached the terms and conditions of parking. It is the driver’s responsibility to ensure they insert their full correct vehicle registration mark as advised on the signs, so a payment can be assigned to their vehicle. It is also the responsibility of the driver of the vehicle to ensure they purchase a valid ticket for the duration of their stay when using this car park. As the Appellant has failed to do this, and has therefore breached the advertised terms and conditions, the parking charge notice has been issued correctly Accordingly, I must refuse this appeal.

D_P_Dance

By not entering their correct details, the appellant has failed to validate their parking. They were not entitled to remain at the site, and by doing so they have breached the terms and conditions of 

A judge id likely to take a different view.  Many judges regard failure ti enter claims as de minimis.

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

Redx

Reading the above its clear that if only the last 3 characters of the VRM were entered then it's a major keying error and the £20 offer complied with the BPA CoP 2020 , so no complaint there

Your complaint about the machine logs being missing could be valid , but that is a popla issue

Johnersh

  I note also that the letter ‘L’ appears on the log both before and after the appellant’s entry. 
Has the o/p been provided with a log to establish this? 

I acknowledge the appellant’s evidence of payment which tallies with the operator’s records.
So there is no debt or pecuniary loss and that is accepted.

So if they litigate they want £100+ for failing to type in 4 digits, having now satisfied that the driver came and left on time and provided at least sufficient information to reconcile the account. Beavis makes clear that the penalty rule is engaged. There is good scope to argue that the contract was frustrated and the penalty impermissible.

CharlieTHX

I was thinking of replying to POPLA with this, what do you think? 

Dear Grahame,

Thank you for your reply.  At no point during the process have I been able to view the 'other evidence' referred to by Premier Park on your portal.  This includes the machine logs to which you refer in your decision.  Should it not be the case that I can view the same evidence that you were able to?

You advised me by e-mail (19th Feb) that I had seven days to respond to the operator's evidence however it is clear that the full extent of the operator's evidence was not available to me and I therefore contend that I was disadvantaged in this process.

I request therefore that you re-open this appeal and ensure that all the evidence provided by the operator to POPLA is available for me to review in accordance with your own terms and conditions.

Kind regards,

Redx

I doubt that the assessor will reply or reopen the case

Any complaints about procedural errors go to John Gallagher and I did mention this in a previous reply

CharlieTHX

OK thank you, so would I be flogging a dead horse taking this course of action, better to just wait for an LBC and form a case then?

D_P_Dance

It might be useful if this were to get to court.  

Redx

Having now seen more of your case I fail to see how you could have won at popla , you haven't provided any legal reason as to why you should have won at popla , even if you had seen the machine logs , their statement outlined the case as they saw it

Johnersh was correct in his reply , which may have won at popla if you had argued it that way ,but hopefully may win in court

You do not form a case at LBC , you do so at MCOL

Johnersh

I don't really comment on popla - don't know enough about it. My thoughts were more geared towards if you get a claim through.

A win at popla does not of course mean that they'll win a claim.