Euro Car Parks PCN (NTK/NTH) - advice please!

DraconUK

Hi all,
I've read through the NEWBIE section and numerous other threads and I would like some advice before I take the next step. I drive a company lease and overstayed in a retail shopping carpark by 34 minutes (up to 2.5hours free). I do not have the receipts from all our shopping but I do have the credit card transactions which show we purchased from multiple shops - usually we wouldn't take this long but there were queues due to COVID. Euro Car Parks (ECP) manage this carpark and sent a NTK in the post to my company who immediately replied back to ECP and provided my details, and now I have received an NTH in the mail. In this letter they have included pictures of my number plate (from ANPR), separately noting the entry and exit times underneath (i.e. not part of the photograph). The letter also misspells Haringey several times (Harringey and Harringay) though the postcode of the site is correct. I revisited the carpark the other night to take pictures of the signage and it doesn't say who the land owner is, and sports the usual smaller text about the penalty for overstaying £100 then reduced to £60 if you pay within 14 days of issue. At the bottom of the sign it notes they use ANPR to "monitor and enforce the above terms and conditions". On the land owner point I have since googled and they are a very large property investment company who rent out the space to retailers (homebase, costa, subway, tk maxx, etc) and therefore unlikely to respond to cancelling the parking charge (like many other threads I have read). 
I understand most of the advice here is for submitting a POPLA appeal, can I still use the same arguments (e.g. no landowner authority, poor and inadequate signage, not the same as Beavis, etc. for my appeal to ECP? The first thread in the NEWBIE section for lease or hire cars seem to be in some ways similar, though there they do not know who the hirer was, Should I start there?
Thank you in advance for any help you can offer!!

Coupon-mad

now I have received an NTH in the mail

So you are not at POPLA stage. 

You are at first appeal and a NTH is best appealed using the NTH appeal example by @Edna_Basher and add/upload the bank statements as well, telling ECP that the driver will not be named but the occupants of the car shopped in multiple shops and here is the proof of patronage. Cover the first name and account number (and other transactions if you want) on the bank statement.  Do not say ''my bank statement''.

DraconUK

Hi Coupon-mad,
Many thanks for the quick response. In my company's response to ECP they had already noted that "The above vehicle is on longterm lease with XXXX and the nominated person above has full use of the vehicle", but the only document ECP sent me was the NTH, does that mean they did not comply with Keeper Liability? 

Here is a draft of my first appeal to ECP below based on Edna_Basher's template and also alanjuk's. Do I need to add any reasoning behind the overstay (i.e. COVID) or will that just be noise? I have also attached a picture of the signage, should I still include the Beavis point?

Dear Sir/Madam
Reference: Parking Charge Notice xxxxxxxxx : Vehicle Registration xxxxxxx

I refer to the above-detailed Parking Charge Notice (“PCN”) issued to me by Euro Car Parks (“ECP”) as a Notice to Hirer. I confirm that as the hirer of this vehicle, I am its keeper for the purpose of the corresponding definition under Schedule 4 of the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (“POFA”) and I write to formally challenge the validity of this PCN.

I believe that your signs fail the test of 'large lettering' and prominence, as established in ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis. Your unremarkable and obscure signs were not seen by the driver, are in very small print and the terms are not readable to drivers.

Further, I understand you do not own the car park and you have given me no information about your policy with the landowner or on site businesses, to cancel such a charge. So please supply that policy as required under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

You will no doubt be familiar with the strict requirements of Schedule 4 of POFA to be followed in order for a parking operator to be able to invoke keeper liability for a Parking Charge. There are a number of reasons why ECP’s Notice to Hirer did not comply with POFA; in order that you may understand why, I suggest that you carefully study the details of Paragraphs 13 and 14 of Schedule 4 in particular.

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn, but the occupants of the car shopped in multiple shops and proof of patronage has been included in the form of a bank statement. Given that ECP has forfeited its right to keeper liability, please confirm that you shall now cancel this charge. Alternatively, should you choose to reject my challenge, please provide me with details of the Independent Appeals Service (POPLA), their contact details and a unique POPLA appeal reference so that I may escalate the matter to POPLA.

Thank you for your cooperation and I look forward to receiving your response within the relevant timescales specified under the British Parking Association Ltd Code of Practice.

Yours faithfully,
My name

Coupon-mad

 the only document ECP sent me was the NTH, does that mean they did not comply with Keeper Liability? 

Yes, it always means they didn't because no PPC gets this right.  But you need to add a sentence like I said about the occupants of the car.  This isn't rocket science!

Redx

Just do as coupon mad said above , don't try egging it , not until Popla , where the correct keeper as Hirer appeal will see it off , due to non compliance with POFA , your strongest argument of the lot !!

The rest is probably just noise , because POFA trumps all of it , it's the law !!

However , if the driver is inferred or revealed , victory turns to defeat ( probably )
 
The driver should never be revealed

D_P_Dance

Have you complained yo your MP?

DraconUK

Thank you all for the advice, I have now submitted the appeal to ECP and will let you know the outcome hopefully sooner rather than later! 
@D_P_Dance: No, I haven't complained to my MP yet, does it matter if this site is in another council area?

Redx

I fail to see what council areas has to do with it ?
MP s have constituencies , irrespective of council boundaries !

You cannot go direct to another MP , it's against parliamentary rules
Protocol means you contact the MP listed on your voting form , the one that won !

DraconUK

A quick update. ECP has accepted my appeal based on my proof of patronage! Here is their response:

"The car park in question is on private land and upon entering such land vehicles are subject to the terms and conditions of parking as shown on the signage. This signage quite clearly states that if your vehicle is in breach of the terms and conditions of the car park then a PCN will be issued. On entry to private land it is the responsibility of the driver to check for signage and ensure that your vehicle has been correctly parked. Any vehicles found not adhering to the signage will be issued with a PCN.

Please be advised that there are a number of signs around the car park indicating the restrictions of the site and it is the responsibility of the driver to read them when parking.

The car park is operated by Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) – cameras capture an image of vehicles entering and leaving the car park and calculate their length of stay.
Parking at the above site is limited to 150 minutes. Your vehicle was parked longer than 150 minutes, therefore the notice was issued correctly.

Please be advised that this is ‘Customers Only car park’ therefore the vehicle should be only left on the car park while using on site facilities. As you have provided proof of being a genuine customer onsite, I am pleased to inform that your appeals has been successful on this occasion only and the notice has been cancelled as a gesture of goodwill.

However any further Parking Charge Notice issued for the same reasons will not be cancelled. It is the

driver’s responsibility to check the signage and adhere to the terms and conditions of the signage onsite."

Thanks again @Coupon-mad and @Redx for the advice!!

Coupon-mad

Good news!  But we need you back to make a difference.

CALL TO ACTION TO ALL READERS OF THIS THREAD! 

What we want you and everyone to do, is come back here (please) every week over the Summer and check for when the Government’s final Consultation gets released.  It will come out 'this Summer', so very soon, but only for 4 weeks.

As said on every thread right now, we NEED people like you to have your say about Government policy re the level of parking charges to be applied next year onwards.

YOU CAN HELP TO MAKE SURE THAT, FROM NEXT YEAR, NO-ONE IN YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES GETS A £100 PCN AGAIN!

NB TO NEW READERS:
The new policy will become LAW and will also apply in Scotland - so this is a call to action to ALL posters and lurkers!