Advice requested: is it worth fighting this PCN further?

Rob18

On 1st March I charged my Telsa electric vehicle at the Tesla charging station in the car park of the Campanile Hotel on the outskirts of Northampton in the proper way.  However, I didn't remember to sign in at hotel reception and so a week later received a PCN for £100 from Parking Eye.  I have told Parking Eye I was just charging my car in the normal way, no dice, I've appealed (in writing) to the hotel manager and to the hotel company, no dice (it's Parking Eye doing this, not us), I have carried out a POPLA appeal which was rejected today: POPLA say that by parking there I had entered into a contract with Parking Eye which I broke by not registering at reception and hence I must pay.
Frankly, I don't care about the £100, it just seems WRONG to pay when I was parked perfectly legitimately.  However, it has been a long time now and I'm kinda losing the will to live with this thing; the other Tesla owners I have consulted mostly think I'm fair game, this is part of Parking Eye's business model, I should just pay up.

My question is: is it worth continuing to contest the payment?  I only came upon this site relatively recently and so will not have followed your excellent advice up to now, which probably won't have helped matters.  Another way of putting it: how much effort would I have to put into the remaining part of contesting the payment, versus just paying the vultures and swallowing the feeling of wrongness/futility?

Coupon-mad

We are not going to tell you to pay.    We will tell you that you would likely win in court, and not to pay.

How did you lose at POPLA, were you unable to show any evidence... surely TESLAs keep data showing the date and time of charging in the car's data system?

Johnersh

Gonna be difficult.

Parking Eye will have signs on entry. There's a Tesla ANPR warning adjacent to each charger and an electronic notification on the charger map.

It's not going to be a case of not seeing signs and by definition you were parked not waiting. 

D_P_Dance

Not too difficult imo.  ParkingEye's signs leave much to be desired and we have seen judges dismiss several cases recently because of this, read this

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5972164/parking-eye-signs-oxford-road-reading

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.

Castle

So what is the commercial justification/legitimate interest for the £100?
1) There was no failure to pay.
2) No overstay.
3) Driver was using the space for its intended purposes.

D_P_Dance

IIMU that TESLA recharging is included in the cost of the vehicle.  There may therefore be a primacy of contract issue here.   

Rob18

Thanks for the comments.  Yes I did show POPLA the receipt for charging from Tesla.  Relevant bits from the POPLA decision:

"POPLA’s remit is to assess the validity of the PCN, whilst I do not dispute that the appellant was a genuine user of the charging station, as he did not register to park, I must conclude that the PCN was issued accordingly."

"I acknowledge the appellant’s comments, however 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 cannot allow an appeal if a contract was formed and the motorist did not keep to the parking conditions."

Basically I didn't do the ParkingEye dance and so I need to pay.

Redx

I am not surprised that popla ruled on the points that way , I could have predicted that paragraph and outcome , mainly because it's not covered in any popla remit , as are other issues where a court has had different viewpoints

A judge may decide that PE should have cancelled the PCN when it's obviously what castle said above

The only way to get a legal decision is court , where a loss would amount to say £175

In the future , I suspect that a court case or CoP inclusion will lay down something in writing to cover this and the equivalent of popla may have to include it in future

A judge can decide the outcome , if both sides let it go that far , like in the Beavis case

Rob18

With this Tesla vehicle I pay for charging in the normal way, £14 on the receipt on this occasion if I remember correctly.

@Redx answers my other question, i.e. what is the down-side of continuing to contest this; £175 would not be an issue.  The other thing on my mind is whether there is a danger of "the law being an !!!!!!": in other words would a judge take the same literal position as POPLA, a contractual one, rather than a reasonable one.

Painful though it might be, it looks like I need to continue to contest this.  Which of the many good links in your Newbies thread should I follow next?  Is there an arbitration step or is it straight to some form of [small claims?] court?

Ralph-y

Pressure could still be brought to bear against the hotel.  Did you actually contact the manager/CEO and not customer services?  

Have you left lots of nice reviews on social media?

Ralph

Umkomaas

Painful though it might be, it looks like I need to continue to contest this.  Which of the many good links in your Newbies thread should I follow next?  Is there an arbitration step or is it straight to some form of [small claims?] court?

You need to see what PE's next move is - either issuing a Letter Before/of Claim which you'll need to deal with as per the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, second post, or a letter from a debt collector which you'll need to deal with (ie ignore) as per the NEWBIES FAQ sticky, fourth post. 

If you receive debt collector letters there's a good chance that PE won't pursue via the courts - we believe (but can't corroborate) in such cases that the landowner has not provided PE with permission to sue. 

It's wait and see time, other than badgering the hotel.