Ticketed by UKPC after parking in disabled bay with disabled passenger (no blue badge)

deighton2002

OK, so my passenger asked me to park in the disabled bay at a retail park in order to access a pet-shop.

She is disabled and receives PIP, she had a kidney transplant and has limited mobility due to issues.. 

She does NOT have a blue badge.  Not all those 'disabled' and receiving PIP qualify for Blue Badge, and it is unclear if she would qualify.

When we came back a ticket had appeared (it later blew off my dashboard and was lost).

I've since determined that the blue badge scheme does not apply on private land and there was no 'display blue badge' sign at the space (I took pics).  The notice board (50 yards from space) had a list of conditions and said a blue badge was needed for disabled bay.  I did not endeavour to find or read this detailed sign before entering the shop, although I did scan the area round the disabled parking bay for any signs regarding blue badges etc.

I'm thinking that a defence around the 2010 disability discrimination act is applicable.  Is it likely to work with little sweat?  I have negative experiences of POPLA, will they accept it?  Will I need to ask my friend for personal medical information to send to UKPC/POPLA/courts - she may refuse as she wants to pay the fine for me!

This has really riled me, I'm not a chancer and I'm a person who might pay if I had genuinely misused parking (I have done this when fined due to my human error before), but this is in the territory of embezzlement, since the bay called 'disabled bay' then has a caveat attached to it about blue badges that were only intended for public land, and it is hidden away in 'small print' - I bet they don't pay anything towards the admin of the blue badge scheme that they are mis-using.

Is it worth bugging the council and/or trading standards about their sharp practices?  For one thing a lone disabled person would have to travel 50 yards from the disabled bay to read the sign, and not withstanding the blue badge requirement seeming illegal, it would have been a simple matter to have stated 'blue badge parking' as opposed to 'disabled parking' (which it isn't if only a subset of the disabled may park there).  OK well it's off my chest a bit.

Redx

popla never accepts the EA2010 argument

the best bet is plan A in the newbies faq sticky thread

please read it

the keeper can appeal as keeper, because UKPC do not comply with POFA so a keeper has no liability and an easy win , as long as the driver is not divulged to anyone , not to UKPC, not to the landowner either

the royal WE will suffice , WE parked , an occupant of the vehicle is disabled and on benefit for it (PIP) etc

Half_way

Whos car park was/is this?  - that is important.

 have all parties ( including the landowner)  been informed that an occupant of the vehicle has a protected characteristic under the Equality act?

deighton2002

Half_way said:

Whos car park was/is this?  - that is important.

 have all parties ( including the landowner)  been informed that an occupant of the vehicle has a protected characteristic under the Equality act?

I haven't informed anyone yet due to lost ticket - my Passenger GF has mailed the CEO of the UK brand leading PetShop to complain about this issue. 

Your form of words there looks useful. 

From an unrelated appeal, I think that POPLA is a coercion mechanism designed to make people pay those that fund POPLA (the cowboys!).  How come they are not challenged over the EA act in general?

Every stage of their process seems to lean on the side of getting payment, not least that they give a narrow window for your 'further input' via an EMail to your spam folder (I reckon they got themselves put on a spam list themselves, although general public hatred also could explain it).  They lie and say they are 'binding'.  They have a huge red button on the appeals page called 'withdraw appeal' (with zero possible benefit to the person appealling since it is free).  I'm pretty sure there was a link on there for you to pay your fine too.  They tell you that 'templates cannot be used' then the cowboys upload gigabytes of template guff, presumably not subjected to any such rules.

Coupon-mad

How come they are not challenged over the EA act in general?

The new proposed Code of Practice from the Government reminds PPCs about the laws, including the Equality Act and the EHRC Code of Practice for Service Providers.

Half_way

deighton2002 said:

Half_way said:

Whos car park was/is this?  - that is important.

 have all parties ( including the landowner)  been informed that an occupant of the vehicle has a protected characteristic under the Equality act?

I haven't informed anyone yet due to lost ticket - my Passenger GF has mailed the CEO of the UK brand leading PetShop to complain about this issue. 

Your form of words there looks useful. 

From an unrelated appeal, I think that POPLA is a coercion mechanism designed to make people pay those that fund POPLA (the cowboys!).  How come they are not challenged over the EA act in general?

Every stage of their process seems to lean on the side of getting payment, not least that they give a narrow window for your 'further input' via an EMail to your spam folder (I reckon they got themselves put on a spam list themselves, although general public hatred also could explain it).  They lie and say they are 'binding'.  They have a huge red button on the appeals page called 'withdraw appeal' (with zero possible benefit to the person appealling since it is free).  I'm pretty sure there was a link on there for you to pay your fine too.  They tell you that 'templates cannot be used' then the cowboys upload gigabytes of template guff, presumably not subjected to any such rules.

Why beat about the bush and try and hide things away - Pets at home?? these stores are usually in retail parks where they are tenants, if that is the case then you will need to get in touch with the retail park owner as it will be the retail park owner who will be responsible for the parking company, where is this car park??

 If the petshop owns the land and the car park then its relatively straight forward, although if they are on a retail park then its not impossible to find the owner

D_P_Dance

Read this, (no blue badge needed).

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/equality-act#:~:text=Find%20out%20more%20about%20the%20characteristics%20that%20the%20Equality%20Act,%2C%20sex%2C%20and%20sexual%20orientation.

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.

fisherjim

The blue bade is not designated for use on private land, the PPC's have said this when it suites them and also demand it when it suits them they want it both ways.

The reality is that the motorist in effect is doing a service in displaying it to help the PPC, and the appeal system should when a correct challenge is made cancel the charge.

But of course this is greedy scam land and they twist this to their own ends like everything else, and reject any appeal in favour of bullying for cash.

triumphtt600

Hi sorry if i missed similar But i recently park in the brewery car park romford sainsburys owned i think run by met parking i had my mum it was first day out since lockdown and first time with wheelchair so with all that going on and struggling to get mum into wheelchair i mistakenly forgot to display mums blue badge as we were parked in disabled bay which you still have to pay for when we returned i had a ticket which i did appeal to their better nature which had no effect and fine still stands  this does not seem fair and cant afford this on carers allowance any advice pls sadly i appealed b4 reading up on all this     

Le_Kirk

You seem to have dropped onto someone else's thread rather than starting your own.  Read the NEWBIE thread; it is on first page of the forum.  Once you have read it, you will be able to start your own thread where you receive bespoke advice.  Meanwhile, Plan A (which you will see recommended in the NEWBIE) is the best attack, so contact the Sainsburys (Manager not customer services) and ask for a cancellation.  Proving you were shopping there always helps.