Stanmer Park Brighton, Private parking fine...

Seagull-Stripes

Just a little update of the situation.

ARVAL have confirmed they will be charging me for the ticket despite my complaint via email to their fines department stating that they should have passed on my details to OPS.

They cite the reason that they have to pay the fines is that they risk getting taken to court with the costs escalating and so they just pay it and pass it on.

It's all utter utter bulls**t.

I have their responses in writing for what it's worth.

They advised me to appeal the ticket to OPS via ARVAL so I sent them my original appeal so let's what happens. They've got the money so I doubt much is likely to happen.

I have also made a complaint via ARVAL's official online complaint form. If that comes back negative I will take it to the BVRLA and possibly the financial ombudsman.

Any other ideas?

Absolutely fuming right now!!!

Redx

As registered keeper they have every right to just pay it , same as every other registered keeper

It's the passing it on that may be in jeopardy !!  Depending on the contract you sign as a hirer or as a lessee

If they just followed POFA and bvrla guidelines then under POFA they have no liability in law after passing on the hirer or lessee details , so they are being lazy and assuming the hirer has liability but not allowing a hirer to appeal , a foolish standpoint and fraught with pitfalls !!

So if they really wanted to pass it on , they should have filled in the tearoff slip and named the hirer

Umkomaas

If they are a member of BVRLA they should follow the Memorandum of Understanding thrashed out on their behalf by their Trade Association with the BPA. There is a BVRLA arbitration process - read up on it and consider invoking it. 

Coupon-mad

The only thing that was right about your update is this:

I have also made a complaint via ARVAL's official online complaint form. If that comes back negative I will take it to the BVRLA and possibly the financial ombudsman.

Arval are telling you a load of porkies.  We have told you the Notice they received was non-POFA and not theirs to pay.  It was driver liability only.

D_P_Dance

They cite the reason that they have to pay the fines is that ...

If is is a private PCN IT IS NOT A FINE.  You should hammer this home to the hire co.  

Seagull-Stripes

Cheers guys!!!

All points noted, understood and will be acted upon.

I'm going to wait until the response comes back from ARVAL's complaints procedure and then go from there.

I've got an idea of the next steps if the response is negative.

MothballsWallet

@Seagull-Stripes I think Abbott & Costello or the Three Stooges would run a hire company better than Arval seem to be able to do.

How did they get their BVRLA membership?

Seagull-Stripes

Sorry it's been a while since posting....

Update as follows:

ARVAL came back to me a little while ago stating that as a dispute has arisen, (between me and ARVAL) they were putting the fine on hold.

They sent my appeal to OPS and were awaiting their reply so everything was on hold for quite a few weeks.

I got an email from ARVAL yesterday saying the following:

"Good Morning,

We have received a response and unfortunately One Parking Solution Ltd has decided to reject your appeal. Please find attached a copy of the correspondence explaining the reasons why this fine remains valid.

Unfortunately on this occasion Arval are unable to appeal this any further. I apologise that this is not the desired outcome."

This is a copy of the reply from OPS:

"Dear J,

The charge was paid in full on 16-02-2021.

We cannot accept an appeal after a charge has been paid.

 There is no appeal to action. Once a charge has been paid you cannot appeal.

A letter was sent to Arval on 22/02/2021 stating this.

 

Kind Regards

I

One Parking Solution"

So basically ARVALs policy for just paying these parking cowboys instead carrying out a transfer of liability has forfeited my right to appeal due to their poor handling.

As Coupon Mad said previously, my issue is with ARVAL as OPS have their money and don't want to give it back.

I plan to now reply back to ARVAL stating that due to their poor handling of this I expect them to swallow the charge.

I will cite the fact that transfer of liability was possible all along as per the BVRLA guidelines regardless of what OPS say and if they had done this I would have appealed and won. They will probably ask for evidence of this. Is this available anywhere??

Despite that fact that ARVAL said they were acting under the guidelines of the Data Protection act by not providing our personal info to OPS, they had it in writing twice from us to provide our details.

In any case ARVAL and OPS should both comply with the requirements of the BVRLA MoU regarding ToL.

I do wonder wonder whether OPS's policy of not being able to accept after payment of a charge is legally correct but that's just an aside really.

Looking forward to hearing your thought's on this utterly mad situation!!!

Redx

A registered keeper such as arval are legally entitled to pay the PCN , as is any RK

OPS are entitled to accept the payment and refuse to refund it , so they have done so

Arval chose to not pass on hirer details , stupid and not a data protection issue , but that is their right

Your issue is a legal contract issue with arval , meaning that you dispute any charge arval may impose on you

There was a separate contract between arval and ops , you are a stranger to that contract

Yes it's a dog's breakfast , but been happening for 5 to 10 years , not a new issue

As you say , their decision , their loss , not yours

As mentioned earlier , arval are Muppets , so expect foolishness and obfuscation , but your dispute remains with arval

Seagull-Stripes

Redx said:

Yes it's a dog's breakfast , but been happening for 5 to 10 years , not a new issue

As you say , their decision , their loss , not yours

As mentioned earlier , arval are Muppets , so expect foolishness and obfuscation , but your dispute remains with arval

Thanks Redx

It just seems mad to me that such a simple process is made unnecessarily difficult.

The admin time spent on my case so far by ARVAL is probably at least 2-3 hours whereas the time needed to just pass on a keepers details is a few minutes.

There is no logic whatsoever to the way this has been handled.