CIVIL ENFORCEMENT PARKING CHARGE APPEALS PROCESS IS A SCAM OR A SHAM

Robert_Wilmot

I was sent a parking ticket after paying the full day £5.00 fee for parking at the Balmaha overflow car park in order to go open water swimming on 31 August.

The reason my appeal was unsuccess ful because my credit card payment was 5 minutes late. I.E.. 15 minutes when the required time for payment to be lodged is within 10 minutes from entering the car park area.

My appeal statement explained the reason for the delay but this has been ignored by CIVIL ENFORCEMENT.

The parking ticket recorded my car as entering the car park at 10:34 and the parking ticket was recorded at 10:49, i.e. 15 minutes after the car entered the car park area.  The delay was caused by the parking meter not accepting payment by coins and waiting for other car park users to vacate the meter.

 If I appeal this to POPLA - as the incident occurred in Scotland - I will lose the opportunity to pay the lower penalty of £60.00 and have to pay £100.00 if this follow-up appeal fails.

This cannot be right, surely? I would welcome any advice on how to deal with this.

Thank you, your appeal has been submitted successfully!

Your PCN number is: 43265989738

Date Appealed: 13/09/2021 04:51 PM

 I paid the full 1 day/24-hour parking fee of £5.00 for parking at Balmaha on 31 August 2021. A scan of the parking ticket is uploaded here. The ticket records the car as entering the car park at 10:34 and the parking ticket was recorded at 10:49, i.e. 15 minutes after the car entered the car park area.  The delay was caused by the parking meter not accepting payment by coins and then waiting for other car park users to vacate the meter at which time a credit card was used to make the £5.00 payment.

KeithP

Robert, welcome to the forum.

I know you said the parking event took place in Scotland, but are you based in Scotland too?
If so, do not consider making a POPLA appeal.

tboo

According to the internet, this car park is run by Stirling Council and they issue Penalty Charge Notices.

https://stirling.gov.uk/roads-transport-streets/parking-zones-permits/changes-to-balmaha-car-park/

As this forum does not deal with these tickets then posters are normally signposted to pepipoo.

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

KeithP

But the OP mentions the Balmaha overflow car park.

The Balmaha overflow car park seems to be a bit further along the B837.

Here's a picture of the entrance...

Can you see the entrance signs?
There are no others. Have a look on Google Street View.
Here's a close up of them...

The left hand sign says Overflow Car Park.
I can't make out what the right hand one says.

To be fair, that GSV image is dated November 2020 and it is possible that the signage was a little better by 31st August this year - at least I would hope so as it looks like Civil Enforcement Ltd are running an ANPR car park there.

OP, have you got, or can you get, up to date images of any or all of the signs currently there?

KeithP

Robert, have you based your forum username on your real name? If so, you may want to get your forum username changed to something completely anonymous.

To help with that, have a read of this item from the Forum's FAQs:

Can I change my username?

In most circumstances, we don't allow this.

The only reason we will change your username is if it puts your privacy at risk e.g. you've inadvertently registered using your name, email address or something which gives away your identity within your username.

If you fall into this category, email forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com your current username, the email address you registered with and three alternative usernames in order of preference.

Coupon-mad

You neither use POPLA nor PAY a private parking charge in Scotland!  You should never have appealed.  You have probably told them who was driving, but had you stayed as registered keeper only they couldn't hold you liable.

Stop engaging with them.  No paying, no contacting them, no POPLA.  You are in Scotland and you were bulletproof, almost, and should have ignored them.*

Get the landowner to cancel it if you can find by research of newspaper articles or Land Registry records, who owns that plot of land.



* This position will change in 2022 as the Scottish Govt is set to mirror the E&W position when the new Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 is finally enacted for new PCNs.

That new law will mean there will be keeper liability but there will be a properly independent Appeals Service free of charge to consumers, hopefully run by someone who knows the scam and is legally trained, as the first Lead Adjudicator of POPLA was when it was good, in 2013/14.

KeithP

Local businessman Sandy Fraser, owner of the Oak Tree Inn, offered to provide the temporary 70 space car park on waste ground at the northern edge of village, which is earmarked for future development.

So said The Scottish Daily Record in March 2020.

It goes on to say that permission was only granted for two years, so I guess Civil Enforcement Limited will be looking to cover ANPR costs and of course make a profit in that time.

ParkingMad

The planning documents are here:

https://eplanning.lochlomond-trossachs.org/OnlinePlanning/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=PWY9RXSILXP00

robertellis575

Robert_Wilmot
Did you manage to rectify this issue?  I had the exact same problem at this car park.  Surely there must be some reasonable grounds to appeal this decision based on the fact that we paid the full payment for parking.  The machines there are faulty and it is completely unreasonable to be issued a fine due to a problem with their machine

Coupon-mad

But it's only CEL in Scotland.  So what, really? No-one would pay this farce.

You can try POPLA if you have evidence but POPLA for Scottish cases forces the appellant to say if they were driving or not.

Up to you, if not trying POPLA, then complain to the landowner snd local press and otherwise ignore the letters unless CEL try a simple procedure claim.

Given that CEL's Head of Legal used to work for defunct and discredited Wonga (seen on his public LinkedIn page) and CEL have this in their recent history (below) I doubt they are up to a Scottish court claim:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=97202

Nothing came of it but worth a read.  Relax.  But neither you nor the OP of this thread should have registered on a public forum with your real name...

MothballsWallet

Coupon-mad said:

You neither use POPLA nor PAY a private parking charge in Scotland!  You should never have appealed.  You have probably told them who was driving, but had you stayed as registered keeper only they couldn't hold you liable.

Stop engaging with them.  No paying, no contacting them, no POPLA.  You are in Scotland and you were bulletproof, almost, and should have ignored them.*

Get the landowner to cancel it if you can find by research of newspaper articles or Land Registry records, who owns that plot of land.



* This position will change in 2022 as the Scottish Govt is set to mirror the E&W position when the new Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 is finally enacted for new PCNs.

That new law will mean there will be keeper liability but there will be a properly independent Appeals Service free of charge to consumers, hopefully run by someone who knows the scam and is legally trained, as the first Lead Adjudicator of POPLA was when it was good, in 2013/14.

(Highlighting mine) Because, imo, Nicola Sturgeon and Holyrood are stupid.

Every decision they make hurts Scotland's chances of joining the UN if they get independence.