F1rst Parking / First Parking PCN - Looking for some advice...

big_sid

Hi all, I've been trawling through the newbie threads as well as lots of other posts relating to people fighting PCNs issued by F1rst Parking but I'm still not sure how to proceed in our specific scenario.

My partner is a student at a uni that uses First Parking and has parked numerous times in the car park in question and has paid using their app on each occasion. The other day my partner was taken ill after arriving and as such forgot to pay the parking fee with the app. Upon returning to the car there was a PCN stuck to the windscreen. 

We don't necessarily want to get into a long drawn out battle which ends up needing to be defended in court as this will too much of a toll on my partners mental health (which was also the reason for being taken ill). While my partner is not registered as disabled (was, but lost that a while back thanks to DWP assessment nonsense) and therefore does not have a blue badge the university have my partner designated as a disabled student.

My partner genuinely messed up and is at fault here realistically, but would illness be a valid extenuating circumstance to fight the charge? We would be absolutely willing to pay the full days parking fee. First port of call will be to see if the uni can/will cancel it which will be asked later today, but wondering if we have a leg to stand on given the situation?

Many thanks in advance.

D_P_Dance

Never ever admit liability, this is a scam and can usually be beaten oon points of law.  Do they have a landowner contract, are their signs legible, not too high, wording not too smaal?  Have they kept to the times stiipulated by law?  etc. etc., etc. 

Have you read the newbies?  Have you read other posts?  Have you complained to your MP.  

Le_Kirk

Plan A in the NEWBIE sticky (which I assume you have read) is to complain to the landowner, in this case the Uni.  Point out that the car park management company is there to prevent outsiders blocking up spaces for genuine users of the car par, which your partner was, and not to penalise those genuine users. 

Fruitcake

Start with a complaint to the Uni. There is no such thing as registered disabled, but if the Uni has accepted that your partner has a disability/protected characteristics as defined by the Equality Act 2010, they are obliged to make reasonable adjustments.
One of these adjustments might be to allow the person to pay for parking after the event because they recognise the illness/condition might affect memory or cognitive ability, meaning they inadvertently forget to do things.

Your partner should ask the Uni to instruct the PPC to cancel the charge, and to enter her VRM on an exemption whitelist in case it happens again. This is not an excuse to park for free, so wording could be used to suggest that if this happens again, your partner gets a polite reminder that they haven't paid, and given the opportunity to pay afterwards.
Other options payment options might be available to sweep up any inadvertent late or missing payments.

If the matter hasn't been resolved within the required time, then the keeper should appeal to the PPC using the template in blue text from the NEWBIES. It should be sent unaltered save for a one liner stating that The Driver has a disability/medical condition recognised by the Uni, and thus has protected characteristics in accordance with the EA 2010.
Once the PPC are aware of this, they are obliged by law to make reasonable adjustments.

big_sid

Thanks all for you responses. As I said, first port of call is the uni. We will be talking to them today to see if they can intervene and get this cancelled. We'll see how that goes. Once again, many thanks it is very much appreciated.

Coupon-mad

However, appeal in time as well because presumably it's £60/£30 and if you appeal they may reoffer the discount and once you hear from the Uni you can decide.