Britannia Parking Rejected Appeal

parkingcat

Long story short, a pub car park I used to go to all the time apparently added paid parking. I didn't receive a ticket on my windscreen wiper, but did receive a "PCN" in the post from Brtiannia Parking. I did not see any signs, so I used the appeal template here and requested that they send evidence of signage. There response email arrived today -

Britannia Parking said:

Thank you for your appeal received on 22/11/2021 regarding the above Parking Charge Notice.

We have reviewed the case and considered the comments that you have made. This appeal has been considered in conjunction with the photographs and any evidence provided. Our records show that the notice was correctly issued as your vehicle was parked in breach of the Terms and Conditions of the Car Park.

The Parking Charge Notice was issued to the vehicle because you failed to make a valid payment or validate your stay at the reception/kiosk. It is the driver's responsibility to ensure that they have read and understood the terms and conditions for using the car park.

Please be aware that this site is an ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) controlled car park. A camera photographs your entry and exit and matches this data against a payment made at the payment machine. The parking contract clearly states “By parking, waiting or otherwise remaining within the Property, you enter into a Contract with the Operator and agree to comply with the Parking Contract”.

Britannia Parking is an active member of the British Parking Association (BPA) and we follow their Approved Operators Scheme, Code of Practice at all times. As advised under section 19 and 20 for England and Wales or Section 27 and 28 for Scotland, of the BPA’s Code of Practice, regarding signage and notifying the driver of the terms and conditions.

British Parking Association Code of Practice - Consideration and Grace Periods

13.1 The driver must have the chance to consider the Terms and Conditions before entering into the ‘parking contract’ with you. If, having had that opportunity, the driver decides not to park but chooses to leave the car park, you must provide them with a reasonable consideration period to leave, before the driver can be bound by your parking contract. The amount of time in these instances will vary dependent on site size and type but it must be a minimum of 5 minutes.

13.2 The reference to a consideration period in 13.1 shall not apply where a parking event takes place. (A ticket is purchased or stay is validated)

13.6 Neither a consideration period or a grace period are periods of free parking and there is no requirement for you to offer an additional allowance on top of a consideration or grace period.

We give motorists a 10 minute consideration period on arrival before entering into the ‘parking contract’, this is double the time recommended by the BPA. If the driver has not purchased a ticket within this 10 minute period, a Parking Charge Notice will be issued.

Therefore we consider there to be sufficient, clearly visible signage in the car park to draw your attention to the terms and condition of the parking contract that is on offer. By leaving your vehicle in the car park without purchasing a ticket or validating your stay, you have broken the terms and conditions and therefore we believe the Parking Charge Notice to be valid and correctly issued.

You have now reached the end of our internal appeals procedure.

You now have a number of options from which to choose:-

1 Pay the Parking Charge Notice at the amount stated above. If any discount has been offered you will be given a further 14 days to pay the discounted rate. Please note that after this time the discounted rate will no longer apply.

2 If you choose to do nothing, we will seek to recover the monies owed to us via our debt recovery procedures and may proceed with Court action against you.

3 Make an appeal to POPLA - The Independent Appeals service. Please note that if you wish to appeal to POPLA, you will lose the right to pay the Parking Charge Notice at the discounted rate, and should POPLA's decision not go in your favour you will be required to pay the full amount. If you opt to pay the Parking Charge Notice you will be unable to appeal to POPLA.

Any advice on what to do next? I read the POPLA appeals section of the Newbie thread here, but I am unable to go back to the car park to show evidence regarding the lack of clear signage (and Britannia Parking did not show any photos of the signs in their response to my appeal). Can anyone advise? Thank you.

parkingcat

Anyone please?

KeithP

Create a PoPLA appeal - as described in the third post on the NEWBIES thread.

Are there no pictures of the signs on the internet?
Do you know anyone in the area that can get pictures for you?
Does GoogleStreetView help with pictures?

Has this parking place featured on this forum before?
If so, are there any pictures available here?

Is there a local Facebook group that can help with pics?

You haven't even told us where the car park is so it's difficult for people here to help with that.

parkingcat

KeithP said:

Create a PoPLA appeal - as described in the third post on the NEWBIES thread.

Are there no pictures of the signs on the internet?
Do you know anyone in the area that can get pictures for you?
Does GoogleStreetView help with pictures?

Has this parking place featured on this forum before?
If so, are there any pictures available here?

I there a local Facebook group that can help with pics?

You haven't even told us where the car park is so it's difficult for people here to help with that.

Hi Keith thanks for your reply. It is the car park to the Sherwood Manor Pub (Mansfield Road, Sherwood, Nottingham NG5 2FX). The charging for the car park must be relatively new as it was free before. Anyway, I have actually just found a photo of the sign on Google street view (see attached). Not only is the sign pretty small, I arrived there at night and so it was dark and it wasn't visible. 

KeithP

What did the Sherwood Manor have to say when you asked them to cancel the parking charge because you were a paying customer?

Redx

Most pubs I visit these days have ANPR cameras and many use either a PDT machine outside or more usually an iPad on the bar or at reception , nothing unusual in that !

They won't supply pictures of the signs , or maps , until the Popla evidence stage in a few weeks time , they don't have to , so won't

The BPA CoP version 8 dated January 2020 covers signage and especially new arrangements when new signs are put up , so download it and read it

Plan A should be tried , before plan C ( POPLA ) , plan A is ALWAYS the best option , not plan B ( your appeal to Britannia ) , Always before plan C

So read the newbies FAQ sticky thread near the top of the forum in announcements , trying plan A , then try POPLA plan C ( why have you not even mentioned plan A ?? )

You don't want to see plan D ( court )

Coupon-mad

Certainly try PLAN A before even thinking about POPLA.