Appeal Submitted 12th Nov with no operator evidence as of 1st Dec - now put on adjournment

deighton2002

I was feeling hopeful that UKPC were not going to contest my appeal which is based on lack of disabled signage - now with (3?) days to go they have adjourned the case for them with an Email saying
'POPLA understands that during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is going to be difficult or impossible for motorists and operators to effectively appeal. In the interests of fairness, we have decided to adjourn all appeals received 28 November onwards in addition to some appeals received shortly before this time. Adjournment means that appeals will be put on hold and we will take no action until things return to normal. It also means operators are not allowed to chase payment while this appeal is registered with POPLA.'

I'm writing a reply mentioning 
- they are unfairly giving their member extra time whilst it is in fact probably still operating.
- POPLA doesn't seem to accept COVID as a factor in their decisions
- my appeal was started a good time before 28th Nov
If the company is still issuing tickets then why can it not also do the work to provide evidence?

I'd even started to feel some confidence in the fairness of the POPLA system, but obviously misplaced.

can they jus adjourn it like that?  What should I send to them to protest?

KeithP

So that's now three threads we have about this one incident.

Thread one:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6186178/ticketed-by-ukpc-after-parking-in-disabled-bay-with-disabled-passenger-no-blue-badge/p1

Thread two:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6193871/got-a-favourable-statement-from-popla-re-covid/p1

Please ask a Board Guide to merge your threads.

deighton2002

I don't know how to do that KeithP, 
but the good news is a letter came from UKPC telling me the ticket is cancelled.  I appealed mainly on poor disabled parking signage, which did in fact confuse me at the time, leading to the whole problem.

Coupon-mad

Very pleased to hear they cancelled it!

deighton2002

here is the document I sent to POPLA resulting in UKPC dropping their claim - thanks for all the help and ideas I've read here.  
BTW some people I described this incident to have chastised the driver, stating that they should have known they needed a blue badge - so it's easy to me to see why many would pay up - I didn't realise that the Blue Badge scheme doesn't apply to private for example.

D_P_Dance

 I didn't realise that the Blue Badge scheme doesn't apply to private for example.

It is hardly a secret, a minute on google would have told you .

deighton2002

D_P_Dance said:

 I didn't realise that the Blue Badge scheme doesn't apply to private for example.

It is hardly a secret, a minute on google would have told you .

well that's how I did find out, from sites like this one.  Although there is a new code of conduct that does appear to legitimise 'clearly' asking for a blue badge on private land.  

How come popla shut down for covid then restarted when covid got much worse?   Surely they look stupid(er) because they sent me an email in november saying that it was too dangerous to collect evidence etc, well now it is more dangerous - so what's going on there?

Fruitcake

deighton2002 said:

D_P_Dance said:

 I didn't realise that the Blue Badge scheme doesn't apply to private for example.

It is hardly a secret, a minute on google would have told you .

well that's how I did find out, from sites like this one.  Although there is a new code of conduct that does appear to legitimise 'clearly' asking for a blue badge on private land.  

How come popla shut down for covid then restarted when covid got much worse?   Surely they look stupid(er) because they sent me an email in november saying that it was too dangerous to collect evidence etc, well now it is more dangerous - so what's going on there?

The new code of practice has yet to be introduced. During the consultation phase, many motorists, myself included, highlighted the fact that it was a breach of the Equality Act to insist a disabled motorist had to display a blue badge, and that disabled people without a blue badge were entitled to used disabled spaces on private land.

It was also pointed out that the parking scammers have had ten years since the EA 2010 was introduced to come up with an alternative method to ensure that non-BB holder disabled motorists were not penalised. 
Asking a motorist to display a BB as a curtesy is perfectly acceptable; insisting they display one and penalising disabled motorists for not showing one on private land is not.

The new CoP won't change any existing laws or acts of parliament.

Asking us about a scammer funded scampeals system like PoPLA won't elicit anything useful from the regulars. The assessors are poorly trained and at the beginning of the year a number of them had to be retrained because they couldn't count to fourteen. Perhaps PoPLA is struggling because their members can't find any junior infant school places for retraining due to Covid.

fisherjim

deighton2002 said:

 I didn't realise that the Blue Badge scheme doesn't apply to private for example.

It does say this in the book that comes with it.

Fruitcake

fisherjim said:

deighton2002 said:

 I didn't realise that the Blue Badge scheme doesn't apply to private for example.

It does say this in the book that comes with it.

... and in the Blue Badge scheme Gov.UK website, and in documents held in the House of Commons Library that are available online for the general public to access.

Not that the unregulated parking scammers care about any of this. They will use the lack of BB as a means to scam people out of money, even though there is no legal or lawful requirement for a disabled person to display a blue badge on private land.

In addition, there is no legal or lawful mechanism that prohibits the use of disabled bays by able-bodied citizens, or disabled toilets for that matter.

Morally it is a different matter of course, but as we all know, the scammers have no such morals. All they want is money and will bend and twist the law to their own end, relying on the ignorance of the general public to do so with their letters that are designed simply to frighten the unenlightened into paying.

Coupon-mad

deighton2002 said:

D_P_Dance said:

 I didn't realise that the Blue Badge scheme doesn't apply to private for example.

It is hardly a secret, a minute on google would have told you .

well that's how I did find out, from sites like this one.  Although there is a new code of conduct that does appear to legitimise 'clearly' asking for a blue badge on private land.  

Oh no it doesn't.  Quite the opposite.  The planned new CoP realises the difference between 'having a Blue Badge' and 'being disabled' and even refers PPCs to the EHRC CoP about the Equality Act 2010, where their legal duties are set out.