Private parking fine although pay machine was out of order

DQ1973

Hello! I parked in an ANPR pay on exit car park where I park regularly. On exit when trying to pay all 4 machines in the car park were out of order thus not possible to pay. I called the number on the board to make payment over the phone and the answer machine said due to Covid they are not taking payments over the phone. 

There were no other contacts for the company on site so I left. I then received a fine which I refused to pay because it was extortionate and unfair and also went through the POPLA process which as everyone knows is a waste of time, sure enough that was rejected and now I have debt collectors chasing me down. I would prefer to go to court out of principle but has anyone else been in this situation and gone to court who can advise please?

I don't think I should pay the £180 I'm being hounded for. Surely there is an obligation of the car park owners to make sure there is a way to pay for parking? They could just switch of their machines every so often otherwise. POPLA rejected as they said I was parked on the land so I should pay which I agree but as I couldn't pay it feels wholly unfair to then charge me £100. I can afford it but that's not the point.

Thanks!

KeithP

Who is the parking company?
Where did this parking event take place?

D_P_Dance

It is not a fine, please read the newbies.

I don't think I should pay the £180 

They have added what appears to be an extra unlawful amount f0f £80 for debt collection.

This amounts to double recovery and Judges all over the country are dismissing these spurious additions. Indeed some judges have dismissed entire claims because of this. Read this and complain to Trading Standards and your MP,

Excel v Wilkinson

At the Bradford County Court, District Judge Claire Jackson (now HHJ Jackson, a Specialist Civil Circuit Judge) decided to hear a 'test case' a few months ago, where £60 had been added to a parking charge despite Judges up and down the country repeatedly disallowing that sum and warning parking firms not to waste court time with such spurious claims.   That case was Excel v Wilkinson: G4QZ465V, heard in July 2020 and leave to appeal was refused and that route was not pursued.  The Judge concluded that such claims are proceedings with 'an improper collateral purpose'.   This Judge - and others who have since copied her words and struck dozens of cases out in late 2020 and into 2021 - went into significant detail and concluded that parking operators (such as this Claimant) are seeking to circumvent CPR 27.14 as well as breaching the Consumer Rights Act 2015.   DJ Hickinbottom has recently struck more cases out in that court area, stating: ''I find that striking out this claim is the only appropriate manner in which the disapproval of the court can be shown''.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/16qovzulab1szem/G4QZ465V Excel v Wilkinson.pdf?dl=0

However, VCS appealed this so it may not apply in all cases, read this

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ntksx9g7177ahyg/VCS v Percy v1 Amendments (2).pdf?dl=0Also read this

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6279348/witness-statements-2-transcripts-re-parking-firms-false-costs-recorder-cohen-qc-judgment-2021/p1

Also consider complaining to The SRA about the solicitor, if one is involved They are fully aware of the unlawful nature of most of thse additions yet persist in adding them..

https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/

DQ1973

KeithP said:

Who is the parking company?
Where did this parking event take place?

Hi Keith it's Euro Car parks and the site was Templar St in Leeds

Coupon-mad

Complain to the landowner and the BPA and get your local MP to complain on your behalf, too.

Parliament is (right now - perfect timing) heavily invested in ridding this country of the scourge of chancer private PCNs.

In the build up to the imminently due Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, the Bill's sponsor. Sir Greg Knight MP, went on Hansard H of Commons record in 2018 (easy to find by Googling) stating that if all payment methods are not functioning then that should be a 'perfect defence'.

Show that to your MP and the BPA and ask the former to help lend weight to your complaint, and the latter to investigate Euro Car Parks.

DQ1973

Coupon-mad said:

Complain to the landowner and the BPA and get your local MP to complain on your behalf, too.

Parliament is (right now - perfect timing) heavily invested in ridding this country of the scourge of chancer private PCNs.

In the build up to the imminently due Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, the Bill's sponsor. Sid Greg Knight MP, went on Hansard HofCommons record in 2018 (easy to find by Googling) stating that if all payment methods are not functioning then that should be a 'perfect defence'.

Show that to your MP and the BPA and ask the former to help lend weight to your complaint, and the latter to investigate Euro Car Parks.

Amazing! Seems like very sound advice thank you.

gwernybwch

Sorry to bump an old thread, but I have received a parking fine for a similar situation. I will appeal against it using the sticky template, but my main question is whether I just stick to the template of add additional information at this stage?

The background is -

I arrived in the car park at the start of the day and both coin meters were out of order. There is a sign there saying that I can pay by app or call a number, I didn't have my phone on me and had to go to work.

I came back at the end of the day and had got a PCN and then took photos of the pay machines still showing out-of-order signs. Studying the main sign in detail it doesn't state not to park there if the payment machine is out-of-order.

The traffic warden must have set my dashcam off and the annoying thing is that it is recording what looks like other parkers telling the warden that the machine isn't working and him continuing to issue tickets! What is worse, the boss / land owner is sat in his X5 watching this all going on and doesn't intervene. Grr!

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Coupon-mad

There was no traffic warden.

You will need to start a new thread but don't call the scammer a warden.

Snakes_Belly

Start a new thread and you will get help. This is very similar to the scenario that I encountered.  

95Rollers

They've added £80? I thought the "Industry standard" for this unregulated "industry" was capped at £60-70!  They've nearly doubled it - after all it is double recovery I suppose!  What's their justifcation cost of living/ rising overheads?!?  Last time I looked it was just another way for the BPA to let its members squeeze consumers for more cash because one of BPA's big wigs said "parking is business and business is about money"!  The same guy also owns a collection firm.  This completely sh*ts over their cack-handed false justification of the Beavis case as it goes completely against the principles of that court ruling!  

Back on topic...

I wouldn't pay. You made ALL reasonable steps to pay at the time - walking up and down to ALL machines nor couldn't find an attendant (not a warden). You tried using the machine, tried calling them - I don't know how "covid" could stop them from taking remote cashless payments when the rest of the world shifted towards cashless payments & remote working!!!  So what more could you do.  They required Payment on Exit - not entry, so its not like you could test ALL 4 machines for when you got there if the signs/ T&Cs suggest you do it on exit!  I'm sure that if you knew that the machines were busted, you would have avoided this dump.

So they've decided to charge you £180 for a flawed service that was less than a tenner probably which is unproportionate and unjust because they are oppressively and intrusively loading their ineptitude at business onto the consumer.  I can see this getting laughed out of court.

DON'T PAY and fight it all the way.  Worst case scenario you could write a letter stating the above and that you offered to pay the original balance, not these bombastically over inflated invoices which aren't completely lawful with their add-on fees.