Fine for stopping - Bristol Airport

SC75

Hi - I have had a good look around the site bit can’t seem to find a scenario like mine.
I dropped my son & his girlfriend to the airport last August in the designated drop off zone. As I was paying on the way out I dropped my purse and money went all over the floor of the car. I quickly went through the barrier while it was still up, then when I got to the stop sign at the junction - stopped and picked my stuff up off the floor (it was 6am and no one was around) I was stopped for 9 seconds apparently  - then carried on. 

Vehicle Control Services subsequently sent me a fine for £100 for unauthorised stopping! I appealed it online and heard nothing more until recently when I received a legal letter chasing £160. I searched my emails and found a reply in my junk emails saying they were unable to allow my appeal as the signs clearly say no stopping. I imagine this means to drop people off or pick them off - not stopping at a junction with a stop sign!

Anyway according to research to appeal to POPLA I needed a code which I emailed and asked for but still not heard anything.

Should I pay the fine (really don’t want to) or wait for court summons and try to fight it? In your experience do I have a case? I’m so upset and frustrated as I genuinely don’t feel I did anything wrong. 

Thanks in advance and apologies if I could have found the info elsewhere on the forum.......

Fruitcake

It is not a fine.
It is not a criminal case so you will get a court claim, not a summons.

You haven't named the PPC, but for the benefit of the regulars, it is VCS. They have fairly recently lost two court cases against people who briefly stopped. One of these posters was called ginger_bread_man, so search for his thread, and I think the other case VCS lost at Brizzle is linked from there. I'll have a dig myself, but one of the threads had a map of the scammer's scamzone so you can check to see where your car was, compared to that map.

You should complain to the airport management about this, and your MP, quoting the two cases where the scammers issued scamvoices in areas where they are not contracted to scam.

No, of course you shouldn't pay these unregulated scammers.

If you were stopped at a stop sign, are you sure you weren't stopped to let traffic past? Perhaps you looked for the dropped money because you had to stop anyway to let other traffic pass by.
(Don't answer that question here, but do think carefully about what you would tell a judge).

Coupon-mad

This is the same as all Airport no stopping cases.  We've seen people pursued for stopping at a zebra crossing and/or in a queue to the side car park!

No different, there was no POPLA.  You could see if the owners of Bristol Airport will step in and cancel this unfair PCN; if not then you'll win in court.

Read any VCS Airport threads.   That is your search term of course...there are shedloads exactly like this.

Fruitcake

This is ginger_bread_man's thread about Bristol airport including maps of the area where they are contracted to scam. Have a look to see if your car was on or off the red line. He beat the scammers at his court hearing.

Vehicle Control Services, No stopping in a queue... — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Here's another poster who won.

VCS No Stopping at Bristol Airport - Witness Statement — MoneySavingExpert Forum


Airport byelaws apply which would mean the keeper cannot be held liable, but that doesn't help you if the driver has already been identified.

Redx

No chance of getting a Popla code from an IPC member

It's a parking charge notice , not a fine

There is zero chance of getting a summons , but you may well get a court claim pack from the CCBC in Northampton within 6 years

SC75

Thank you for taking the time to reply - I’ll have a look at the threads you have linked fruitcake and also search for vcs airport threads - thanks Coupon-mad.

On Tuesday I’ll also contact the airport and my local MP as suggested.

If no luck and I do need to attend court to fight this - am I able to do this myself or would I need a legal expert to represent me who understands the legal jargon and can argue I’m sure, much more effectively than me! 

Thanks again I appreciate your time.

Fruitcake

You don't need legal representation. You act for yourself as a litigant in person, and there is a guide to court written by bargepole in the second post of the NEWBIES with a step by step guide on how to do this.
This will be at your local court, or a court of your choice.

From memory, when you leave the drop off car park, there is a mini-roundabout just after the barrier where you have to give way then turn right. After a short distance you then come to a T Junction almost on a bend with a Stop sign painted on the road. Service vehicles, people using the hotel and long stay car park all come towards you up the hill and slightly to the left, then go round a right angle bend as they cross in front of you. Traffic coming from the right has to slow down before it takes the sharp right hand bend before going down the hill.

It looks like the T Junction/Stop sign is within the scam zone, but it would be perfectly reasonable for a vehicle to stop at that T junction for well over nine seconds with the amount of traffic whizzing round the airport.
Presumably you meant there was nobody around behind the car when you stopped. That does not mean there was nobody else around.    There must have been a scamera car at least.

This is my local airport, and I live under the flight path so I know it fairly well, although I haven't used it recently.

Umkomaas

If no luck and I do need to attend court to fight this - am I able to do this myself or would I need a legal expert to represent me who understands the legal jargon and can argue I’m sure, much more effectively than me! 

The cost of a legal representative would be far more than the amount VCS are trying to snatch from your purse right now.  By the time they get around to issuing a court claim, and the amount of information waiting for you to discover on this forum, you will have better knowledge than almost any generic legal rep you could find. This is a niche sector of contract law, and the national expertise rests here with forum regulars. 

Almost everyone who comes here for the first time has no knowledge, but the vast majority walk out from court with a court judgment in their favour.  Believe in yourself!

Coupon-mad

Of course you can defend yourself and win.  Have you missed the fact that the NEWBIES thread tells you that 99% of ordinary people win in court, when they take our advice and follow it through from defence through to court hearing (by phone, these days).

SC75

Ok great thank you - what a fabulous bunch you are! I’ll take the time this evening to read as much as I possibly can.  My first job - Google Bristol airport’s chief exec’s name and contact details! 

Thanks so much again and I’ll keep you posted 

D_P_Dance

 I received a legal letter chasing £160.

The added £60 is very likely to be unlawful, read this,

Excel v Wilkinson

At the Bradford County Court, District Judge Claire Jackson (now HHJ Jackson, a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge) decided to hear a 'test case' a few months ago, where £60 had been added to a parking charge despite Judges up and down the country repeatedly disallowing that sum and warning parking firms not to waste court time with such spurious claims.   That case was Excel v Wilkinson: G4QZ465V, heard in July 2020 and leave to appeal was refused and that route was not pursued.  The Judge concluded that such claims are proceedings with 'an improper collateral purpose'.   This Judge - and others who have since copied her words and struck dozens of cases out in late 2020 and into 2021 - went into significant detail and concluded that parking operators (such as this Claimant) are seeking to circumvent CPR 27.14 as well as breaching the Consumer Rights Act 2015.   DJ Hickinbottom has recently struck more cases out in that court area, stating: ''I find that striking out this claim is the only appropriate manner in which the disapproval of the court can be shown''.