NCP fine, C2C railway land. No appeal afforded me other than court.

Dizzyflop

Draft letter to the Managing Director of C2C trains: 
Please pull apart as much as you like. 

Dear ... 

On the 2nd August 2020, my car was parked in the grounds of C2C's cark park at

Thorpe Bay Train Station, 

Station Road, 

Thorpe Bay, 

Essex 

SS1 3JY. 

I have since had a Parking Charge Notice issued by NCP that manage the car park on C2C'S behalf. 

It is well known that Private Parking Companies Are currently an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts pertaining to alleged parking offences. 

A Regulatory Bill is currently working its way through parliament that aims to crack down on unscrupulous companies such as these.

 The PCN that NCP have issues me  is further proof of the nature of such companies as it is not compliant with the Protection of Freedoms act 2012, and relies soley on ANPR cameras as its evidence which have been prohibited on Local Authority and Council car parks by the government due to being not fit for purpose. 

Furthermore, 

As a disabled blue badge holder, who wanted to make enquiries into the services on site, i visited the Thorpe Bay train station website in advance to check what the parking tariffs and terms were.  It states clearly that disabled parking is free, and no other terms or conditions are visible on the page including any that categorically state blue badges AND the vehicle must be registered with C2C in advance of parking.

[Insert URL]

On site there was a distinct lack of clear, legible signage that stated these terms differed from the website, and no signage at all that was legible from within the car regarding parking and the requirement to register my blue badge in advance.

It is therefore entirely reasonable for a disabled motorist to arrive, display their blue badge, and walk away without checking other signs. 

Making a disabled motorist own a smart phone, download an app or have internet access in order to register for parking that able bodied motorists are not required to do, is likely a breach of the Equalities Act of 2010.

I have taken the liberty of CC'ing my local MP  into this email, and will be asking him to report NCP to the regulatory authority for unprofessional conduct on my behalf whilst 

In the meantime i would be grateful if you, as the Managing Director of C2C, who are in charge of the property, would take steps to cancel this unfair and unscrupulous PCN and Remind NCP that this standard of practice falls short of the policies within C2C'S own passenger charter and their "Making rail accessible" strategy. 

I am sure you are keen to make sure any third party managing your company interests uphold the standards that C2C have with regards to their patrons, never mind are doing so whilst being fully compliant with the law.  

I look forward to hearing from you on this matter soon.
Kind Regards

I could add more, about the time being less than 2 minutes over alloted stay,  no authority, etc etc but i think its probably way too long as is. 

Le_Kirk

It is well known that Private Parking Companies Are are currently an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts pertaining to alleged parking offences. 

The PCN that NCP have issues issued to me is further proof of the nature of such companies, as it is not compliant with the Protection of Freedoms act 2012, and relies soley solely on ANPR cameras as its evidence, which have been prohibited on Local Authority and Council car parks by the government due to being not fit for purpose. 

Furthermore, As as a disabled blue badge holder who wanted to make enquiries into the services on site, i I visited the Thorpe Bay train station website in advance to check what the parking tariffs and terms were.  It states clearly that disabled parking is free, and no other terms or conditions are visible on the page including any that categorically state blue badges AND the vehicle must be registered with C2C in advance of parking.

Couple of little changes but otherwise I like it.

Dizzyflop

Le_Kirk said:

It is well known that Private Parking Companies Are are currently an entirely unregulated industry which is scamming the public with inflated claims for minor breaches of alleged contracts pertaining to alleged parking offences. 

The PCN that NCP have issues issued to me is further proof of the nature of such companies, as it is not compliant with the Protection of Freedoms act 2012, and relies soley solely on ANPR cameras as its evidence, which have been prohibited on Local Authority and Council car parks by the government due to being not fit for purpose. 

Furthermore, As as a disabled blue badge holder who wanted to make enquiries into the services on site, i I visited the Thorpe Bay train station website in advance to check what the parking tariffs and terms were.  It states clearly that disabled parking is free, and no other terms or conditions are visible on the page including any that categorically state blue badges AND the vehicle must be registered with C2C in advance of parking.

Couple of little changes but otherwise I like it.

Unusual for me to type on my phone and have no spelling mistakes, only grammar, and no doubt punctuation.  
Il proof read on pc before final send off. Glad you think its okay. Thank you. 

Out of interest could you tell me if there is a block on newbies editing their posts and for how long, or is it just not available on my phone? No access to pc until later on. I have seen something ive posted im keen to amend asap! 

Fruitcake

Newbies can't edit posts until they have posted a certain number of times, and been on the site for a certain length of time. It seems to be a compilation of the two rather than a fixed number or numbers, so you won't know until the cog-like edit button appears at the top right of your posts.
The button that had the word Edit in it was replaced with the cog icon because it so much more obvious than an edit button that said edit. Sadly I can't find the sarcasm smilie.

Dizzyflop

Fruitcake said:

Newbies can't edit posts until they have posted a certain number of times, and been on the site for a certain length of time. It seems to be a compilation of the two rather than a fixed number or numbers, so you won't know until the cog-like edit button appears at the top right of your posts.
The button that had the word Edit in it was replaced with the cog icon because it so much more obvious than an edit button that said edit. Sadly I can't find the sarcasm smilie.

Thanks for the info. 

The_Slithy_Tove

Dizzyflop said:

The only other signs there regarding parking are two that are 6ft up in the air. My disabilty would rule any chance of reading this out completely. 
 

NCP are notorious for impossible-to-read signs. I used one of their car parks in Bromley several times. There is a sign, about A4 sized, and with a font to match (10 or 12 point) on the wall on the entrance ramp. I guess it was Ts &Cs, but it was impossible to read. You couldn't walk up to it and look, as that area was marked "No Pedestrians". And even stopping in the car right next to the sign, it was still too far away to read - you try reading a sheet of A4 in close-typed text point font at a distance of about 4 feet.

Coupon-mad

The Bill is not working its way through Parliament, it became law in 2019 and the framework and Code of Practice is being finalised by the MHCLG now:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/parking-code-enforcement-framework/outcome/parking-code-enforcement-framework-consultation-response

A parking charge notice issued at a station does not time out after 6 months so forget that as an argument.  A penalty charge does but yours was an alleged contractual agreement.  Not hat you 'agreed' to pay £100 because you didn't, you had the reasonable belief and understanding that you were allowed to park free of charge (which is true).  At those bays, there is nothing on that yellow sign other than telling you that camera enforcement is in operation and if you knew that disabled drivers were exempt from paying a tariff then you'd have no need to walk to a machine or read any other terms.

I would be asking the train operator (TOC) for the name and address of the person who will be prepared to appear at the court hearing and answer for their (and NCP's) failure to make 'reasonable adjustments' for a disabled person who they know was eligible to park there free.  And if the car was only there for 31 minutes then clearly it was parked for less than the free 30 minutes for all-comers, anyway.  Cite the Equality Act 2010 and re-read what @Redx said - threaten a counterclaim for failure to make reasonable adjustments and scare the TOC into thinking they will have to come to court and answer to disability discrimination by having an unworkable and inflexible policy that not all drivers would be aware of when displaying their Blue Badge in good faith. 

This £100 charge is effectively a punishment of a known disabled person for not 'registering' their Blue Badge when they had no idea they had to.  A parking charge is not allowed to be levied purely to punish, there has to be a compelling legitimate interest over and above any loss (Beavis case).  Breaching the Equality Act 2010 by failing to waive PCNs when drivers appeal and tell them that they had a BB all along, is an example of a failure to make a reasonable adjustment, which is both an anticipatory duty but can also be a retrospective duty to 'make amends' for their inflexible policy and auto-camera issued PCNs, once the facts were known. 

Had there been a ticketer on foot they'd have seen the Blue Badge but the system just uses in/out cameras and a database of Blue Badges.  That discriminates against OTHER Blue Badge holders who have the same rights, but didn't know, and the registration process can easily be invoked retrospectively for a motorist at no cost, and indeed with an apology!

The complaint should work if you include the above and make it much more robust, making the TOC want to cancel the PCN.

Dizzyflop

Coupon-mad said:

Excellent reply thank you and exactly the type of hobbling verbiage i wanted to push in court.
 
Id obviously rather it be cancelled than have to go to court but id still prefer to give them a taste of their own medicine over this stuff. We tend to tolerate more for ourselves than we would tolerate happening to others, and disabilities discrimination is one of those subjects i can get a bit rabid with when i see it happening to others.

Interesringly the reason i mentioned the blue badge when on the call was this exact reason. I have had a friend take me to the local hospital twice now and ive had my blue badge in the windscreen for it. They got a ticket both times from total parking solutions, who simply cancelled the ticket when the blue badge was pointed out in the picture, and a copy of it forwarded to them by email. no fuss, no moaning.
I was expecting the same to happen when i called and knew then id fight it. 

I also think its wrong to have to register your car to park. They want the badge number and regustration.
My badge doesnt belong to the car but to me. I can use it in any car i travel in. What happens if the same badge number registers more than 1 car?! 

Umkomaas

id still prefer to give them a taste of their own medicine over this stuff.

Water off a duck's back.  They might lose a few, but there are exponentially more motorists who pay up without a whimper. It's the Govt who will hopefully be dishing out the medicine via the outworkings of the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019.  Not too long now - tick, tock. 

They got a ticket both times from total parking solutions, who simply cancelled the ticket when the blue badge was pointed out in the picture, and a copy of it forwarded to them by email. no fuss, no moaning. 

Lucky, lucky. TPS are far from paragons of virtue. In fact they are just as bad as the rest in the swamp. 

Coupon-mad

I also think its wrong to have to register your car to park. They want the badge number and registration.
My badge doesnt belong to the car but to me. I can use it in any car i travel in. What happens if the same badge number registers more than 1 car?! 

You are right, it is wrong to try to register a Blue Badge against a single car.  As you say, you can use your Badge in any car.  TPS are horrific and are misusing your data by getting it from the DVLA.  The problem is that ANPR cameras breach the Equality Act 2010 by failing to offer disabled people more time because the camera can't tell that you qualify for more free parking time (or more time for the same tariff).