Why has POFA 2012 argument failed

Weemaggie

Two questions here really that I am hoping you can help with.

1. I appealed a parking violation, issued by a private company, because the date raised was clearly over 14 days from the breach. I had the following reply from, Excel Parking services, which I don't really understand. It said :

            "You state that our Notice is not compliant with the Protection Of Freedoms Act (POFA) 2012 on the Notice issued to
            you; however we have not cited POFA 2012 nor stated that you are liable for the Charge as the vehicle keeper.
            The following options are now available to you at the portal www.myparkingcharge.co.uk; you will need the serial
            number of the Notice issued and the registration number of your vehicle to log in to the portal:
            1. If you were not the driver ............
            2. Submit a full appeal to us ........... via website .
            3. Pay the Charge .......... As a gesture of goodwill we are willing to re-offer you the original discounted charge of £60 as full and final settlement of this Notice ... by 26/08/2020"

Are they saying they don't fall under POFA 2012. Is this valid. What's the relevance of me being keeper, driver or both ?

Option 2 says I can appeal, but I already have. Presume I use that option if I want to appeal their reply or if I have other grounds of appeal if there above email response is valid.

2. I haven't yet tried the second line of defence as I expect that is less clear cut. They had decreased the permitted max time from 3 to 2 hour parking at this shopping centre car park in early march and had clear signage at eye level at the time (I discovered from googling news reports about it). But then everything closed down due to Covid and I went for the first time 4 months later when shops reopened and it felt to do so. At this time there was no clear signage of the change. My argument would be that the special change notices should have been left up or put back up as it felt like entrapment. All that remained were tiny circular stickers on the old signs to cover the 3 with a 2, his is very small letters and very high up high poles. It is quite possible that they displayed the special change signs for the time enforced by law (if there is such a thing) which to be honest I would still probably have missed, even without Covid, as I don't go there very often anyway.

Would I have any chance of appealing on these grounds - if it is just hoping for leniancy and understanding then it's never going to work with these companies.

Many thanks

Redx

Doesn't matter what you say or do , Excel will reject any arguments or appeals

POFA is not mandatory , so they are choosing not to follow POFA

They pursue a keeper because they believe that a keeper was also the Driver , unless proved otherwise

A landowner cancellation is always the best option , plan A of the newbies thread near the top of the forum , please read it

Other than a landowner cancellation , there is no magic bullet , but ideally do not give them ammunition nor reveal who was driving , they won't give any leniency , they just want your money

beamerguy

It does not really matter if they select not to use POFA.  They still get beaten

There are far higher authorities that will zap them. That starts with the Judge. There is the ruling of the Supreme court which the judge will follow and then there is the double recovery rules of the court.
If this goes further, Excel will add on fake amounts which are unlawful. Once a judge see this, he/she will not really care about POFA as you can see in the ABUSE OF PROCESS thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6103933/abuse-of-process-thread-part-2/p1?new=1

Excel and VCS are the same set up

Snakes_Belly

There is another poster with a very similar scenario to you currently fighting a claim from Excel. Maybe you could work together and support each other. I did this with several other people who had issues with the same car park.  With help from the regulars we all did OK. Not so Excel/VCS. We were very costly.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6178373/excel-parking-appeal-retail-parking-at-aldi-rejected-am-i-doing-it-right/p1

D_P_Dance

Nine times out of ten these tickets are scams, so consider complaining to your MP., it can cause the scammer extra costs, and in some cases, cancellation. 

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 later this year,

Just as the clampers were finally closed down, so hopefully will many of these companies, persistent offenders denied access to the DVLA database and unable to operate.

Hopefully life will become impossible for the worst of these scammers, 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/of these Private Parking Companies.

nosferatu1001

As above
OP ytour mistake is in assuming the are obligedto use POFA. They are not. 
If they dont, they may not claim the keeper has any liability, and are only allowed to process the keepers data to ask them to id the driver. If you explicitly refuse to do so, then strictly they should erase your data and move on
Until someone sues them to actually do this, its not going to happen and theyll keep taking people to court. 

Weemaggie

Thanks for your advice. I sent an email off to the shopping centre management yesterday, explaining my 2nd line of defence which I was convinced the parking company would also rejcect. I have had no reply to this email BUT this morning I had an email from the parking company cancelling the fine. I can only assume that the landowners forwarded my 2nd appeal to them with an instruction to accept it. Result. Thanks again.

Le_Kirk

Well done - a nice result.

Redx

Well done from me too !!

We keep telling people to complain to the shopping centres of landowner , it seems obvious , it gets results , but it's amazing how many people do not do so or have to be coerced into doing it , yet it gets results and alerts the proprietors as to what their contractors are getting up to , the dirty tricks they employ , the threats they make

Plan A is ALWAYS best , glad it worked out for you