County Court Claim From Civil Enforcement Ltd - £277 for 55 mins parking!! UPDATE - CLAIM RETRACTED!

Bear1978

unfortunately i completely messed up in my initial appeal and admitted to driving my son to the park...i also naively pleaded poverty as part of my appeal due to being furloughed for 9 months on a salary that didnt cover my rent.

Redx

Then defend as a driver

Your financial situation is not a factor in these cases , so wasn't considered and won't be considered 

Bear1978

i'm having a discussion about my case on Pepipoo and they feel that my PoFA defence is irrelevant as i admitted i was the driver...which is fair enough.

In the meantime i've amended my complaint letter to the council to only refer to the Deregulation Act as follows:

Dear Sir/Madam,

 I am writing to complain about the use of ANPR cameras at your Car Parks for Swanley Park.

 I have been issued with a court claim from your private contractor Civil Enforcement Ltd for the amount of £277.57 due to an unpaid parking ticket of £1 on 16/12/2020.

 I have been appealing the PCN due to the lack of prominent signage detailing the new parking system that was introduced in April 2020. My visit to the park in December 2020 was for just 55 minutes and it was my first time at the park following the new parking restrictions. I am not a local resident and i was not aware that the new ANPR enforcement for parking was introduced. Due to the signage not being prominent, i didn’t realise the car park was now charging to park.

 Since dealing with the PCN appeal, i have since learned that the LGO has previously found in favour of a member of the public that received a PCN at Lullingston County Park, managed by Kent County Council. In the LGO decision, which i have attached, it says: “The Council did not use the correct process to issue a parking penalty to Mr X. This is significant fault. This affects other members of the public too and we therefore find it appropriate to consider any wider injustice”.

 The Deregulation Act (2015) also prevents the use of private firms to use ANPR by local authorities to issue PCNs by post and i would suggest that you seriously review the legal viability of using Civil Enforcement Ltd to issue such PCNs via ANPR.

In fact, the British Parking Association’s own notice to their members, via their attached guide entitled “ANPR In Local Authority Car Parks”, advised that “So far as off-street parking is concerned, the Secretary of State for Transport wrote to all English local authorities in September 2014 indicating that the Government opinion was that it was unlawful for local authorities to use CCTV/ANPR in public car parks and informed them that DVLA would not supply information in those circumstances. That remains the Government's position”.

 I would like to directly ask Swanley Council why they continue to illegally use Civil Enforcement Ltd’s ANPR system to enforce parking fines via post for their car parks at Swanley park.

 I would also request that Swanley Council instruct Civil Enforcement Ltd to retract their court claim to recover their claim of £277.57, i will strenuously defend my case on the grounds as explained in this email.

 Yours faithfully,

Coupon-mad

Go for it and take it to the LGO please.  We are overdue seeing someone challenge a Local Authority for using banned ANPR.

You could add a section about what happened to Wycombe Council when they set a car park up with ANPR.  They were banned by the DVLA from getting any registered keeper data!  Easy to Google.

Bear1978

Thanks Coupon-mad

i have some reservations though as some of the members of the forum at pepipoo have slated my arguments...saying that a private contractor is allowed to issue such PCNs on public car parks. I'm not so sure of myself now as i was directed there because of their expertise on council-related issues

my thread over there is titled "Help needed - CEL Court Claim for PCN via ANPR in Council Car Park"

Bear1978

Coupon-mad said:

You could add a section about what happened to Wycombe Council when they set a car park up with ANPR.  They were banned by the DVLA from getting any registered keeper data!  Easy to Google.

yes good point, i'll add a paragraph relating to that case

Coupon-mad

Private contractors can - on private land - but this is a council owned car park and they can’t use ANPR.  Surely if it was as easy as getting a contractor to do it instead, collecting parking tariffs on the Council’s behalf (as they are) Local Authorities all over the Country would be using ANPR to enforce parking rules on street and off!

This needs testing with a LGO complaint and there is absolutely zero downside to trying it.  Please be that person!  Two complaints, no cost, no risk and you know the Deregulation Act to cite. 

look what happened to Wycombe Council when @bargepole reported them.  If they’d used a contractor to operate the ANPR I can’t see that it would have been any different.  They got a DVLA ban on data harvesting and it really hurt them!

Bear1978

Coupon-mad said:

This needs testing with a LGO complaint and there is absolutely zero downside to trying it.  Please be that person!  Two complaints, no cost, no risk and you know the Deregulation Act to cite. 

ok brilliant...that gee'd me uploads! thanks!! 

Bear1978

Coupon-mad said:

Private contractors can - on private land - but this is a council owned car park and they can’t use ANPR.  Surely if it was as easy as getting a contractor to do it instead, collecting parking tariffs on the Council’s behalf (as they are) Local Authorities all over the Country would be using ANPR to enforce parking rules on street and off!

is there anywhere that you can point me to that specifically refers to provate contractors not being able to be used on council property? preferably in specific legislation? I'd prefer to quote from an original source rather than from a news article

Coupon-mad

Private contractors can be used.

ANPR (and the POFA, keeper liability) can’t.  Make sure your complaint makes that clear.

The legislation is the Deregulation Act which banned Local Authorities from using ANPR or CCTV for parking enforcement (only a handful of ‘sensitive area’ exceptions exist: school zig zags and zebra crossings).