UKPC parking ticket for being over 10 minutes, I am disabled, appeal ignored.

Stacey81

Let’s try this again, as it delete what I write last time.

 

I have been here before you all help me when I get my wheelchair stuck on a beach.

This thread

 https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5478273/parking-ticket-fistral-beach-no-time-given-to-apeal-or-pay/p1

I am typing this in word that predicts what I want to say so hopefully I should be easier for you to understand this time.

I got another parking ticket, that I do not feel I should have to pay.

 

I was 10 minutes over. Was a care park that allows 3 hours to go do your shopping and does not allow extra time for disabled people. Which is unfair to disabled people.

 

I have tried to appeal them already, via the link they gave me, they wrote demanding I give over the name of driver or they will have to give me a POPLA code. Kind of rude! 

 

So here is the basics.

 

The basics about me for those who don’t know, and a refresher for those who remember me.

I am a full time wheelchair user, my husband is my main unpaid Carer. 

It takes time to clamp my wheelchair in and out of my van.

There is 3 people who can drive my van, my husband, my mum and which ever PA (Carer) I register on a need to bases. I can not drive, because I have epilepsy and dystonia. 

 

About the day of the ticket.

Date- 6th December 2021

I had gone to Bury St Edmunds to do some Christmas shopping. After nearly 2 years of being stuck in my home shielding from covid, I have to admit I was excited and went over the top with my shopping, but who wouldn’t?

 

I went to ‘The Range’ and ‘B&M’ stores we visited often before covid, as I get my craft supplies from there and some cheap snack foods for movie nights with hubby and PAs. 

 

We had my husbands 72 year old mother with us as she had flown over from the states for the holidays. 

 

We went to ‘The Range’ first, stopped at the van to do medications and treatment, then we went to ‘B&M’. I made sure I rolled down every aisle, because it had been so long since I was aloud out because of Covid. I was soaking it all up! That I can’t deny. So much so, I killed the battery in my wheelchair. But it was worth it, I felt great and alive again.

 

Important facts.

 

I got a ticket for being 10 minutes late.

Letter states

Vehicle arrival  – 15:37:10

Vehicle departure – 18:47:39

Vehicle Duration- 3 Hours 10 Minutes.

 

Letter in such small print is impossible to read, that bugs me so much. But is irrelevant I guess. I have people who can help me, but I hate that I had ask for help.

I went to the website to appeal, explained I am a wheelchair users and takes long time to clamp my wheelchair in and under equality act they needed to make a reasonable adjustment to allow time for me as a disabled person. And that 10 minutes extra was not an unreasonable request.

 

I received a letter reply today, stating that they give a grace period already to allow the driver to read their terms of parking. That the grace period is built into the parking time aloud. 

 

And that if I do not respond with who the driver was with in 7 days, they will have to give me a POPLA code.

 

The paperwork.

 Unfortunately I don’t have a recite for ‘B&M’. Only for ‘The Range’

Recite for the range.

The parking ticket letter.

The response to my appeal

So what to do now?

I know I shouldn’t give the driver name, so do I respond to the apeal again and state again that they need give reasonable adjustments for disabled people, and I won’t give drivers name as they have done nothing wrong. Or do I want and chance they give me a POPLA code?

 Thank you in advance for your help

Your friend on wheels.

Stacey

Trainerman

That response is total rubbish (situation normal). The experts will give you more detail but you are right about special requirements needing extra time. I cannot see Popla or a Judge going against you for just 10 mins.. Stay strong

Umkomaas

I'd ignore the request for driver details, but I'd tell them that they should be providing you with a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010 as someone with protected characteristics. Then, I'd send them links to the photos of you being stuck on the beach, showing the type of wheelchair you have to use, as well as the YouTube video of your husband re-loading the wheelchair and you back into your adapted vehicle - those you showed us last time you were here. 

Then, if the heartless ****** deny your appeal, bring the wrath of the press on them and get your MP to take up the cudgels. 

All above in addition to other forum advice you will no doubt get very shortly.

Coupon-mad

Hello again Stacey!

I recall your case where your wheelchair got stuck on the beach.  Did we get the BPA involved that time?  I seem to recall it was a huge issue to get that one cancelled and I think we got Steve Clark at the BPA involved.

I am shocked at this discrimination and refusal to give you extra time. 

Can you please email your situation to the BPA's Head of AOS, Sara Roberts, telling her about it and including a link to this thread.

sara.r@britishparking.co.uk

Please tell her that the good folk on MSE Forum sent you and if the BPA can't talk to UKPC and get this cancelled (and your car should be on the site whitelist!) then the next step will be a formal complaint to your MP and the Minister responsible for the new parking Code of Practice.

I think the BPA will be helpful.

I recall your video last time of yourself and am glad to hear you are all well!

Half_way

ANPR isnt fit for the purpose of issuing parking charge notices.

 I would look at pulling the landowner in on this shambles and let them know that through their agents use of ANPR that makes no concessions for occupants of vehicles that they are breaching the EA.

You should also state tat they should install an ANPR system that can automatically detect if an occupant of the vehicle has a protected characteristic

Umkomaas

You should also state tat they should install an ANPR system that can automatically detect if an occupant of the vehicle has a protected characteristic 

And we all rubbished owd Trev's 'ANPR in a Box', that, with all the algamalgorythymums he wrote down his garden shed, was capable of spotting all sorts - terrorists, light-fingered shoplifters, illegal immigrants, petrolpinchers, .... and maybe even spot the odd protected characteristic. 

A man ahead of the delusional.

Stacey81

Coupon-mad said:

Hello again Stacey!

I recall your case where your wheelchair got stuck on the beach.  Did we get the BPA involved that time?  I seem to recall it was a huge issue to get that one cancelled and I think we got Steve Clark at the BPA involved.

I am shocked at this discrimination and refusal to give you extra time. 

Can you please email your situation to the BPA's Head of AOS, Sara Roberts, telling her about it and including a link to this thread.

sara.r@britishparking.co.uk

Please tell her that the good folk on MSE Forum sent you and if the BPA can't talk to UKPC and get this cancelled (and your car should be on the site whitelist!) then the next step will be a formal complaint to your MP and the Minister responsible for the new parking Code of Practice.

I think the BPA will be helpful.

I recall your video last time of yourself and am glad to hear you are all well!

Hello Coupon-mad,

Yes it was very hard to get last ticket sorted we had to do huge letter for the, hmm I forgot name of it but had a code for it and was all online. My sleepy head is on now. I hope don’t have do all that agin, I don’t have strength I use have.

I sent a email to the lady you suggested. I added link to this thread like you suggested and I also add links to videos that show clamping wheelchair in and out van. 

 

I have my fav PA here this week so I think I may also try to go the range at weekend see if I can get them to do something to, attack from all angles.  See how I feel, as I have been very sleepy this week. 

 

I will keep you updated.

I am happy to hear you are well to. 

Your friend on wheels

Stacey

Fruitcake

Hello again Stacey. *Fruity waves* I remember you well. I did a picture of you in Thunderbird 2 if you remember.

Did you ever get the problem with ParkingEye, I think it was, who issued tickets when your vehicle was parked in your won space?

Anyway, ignore the horrible reply from UKPC and wait for them to send a PoPLA code. If you are up to it, do complain to your MP, and ask her/him to forward it to Michael Gove MP and Neil O'Brien MP at the department for levelling up, as well as the Secretary of State for Health.

You might also consider contacting local and national press.

The Equality Act 2010 is what is important here. The grace period for a driver to read signs is nothing to do with making reasonable adjustments for the time it takes you and your wheelchair to be unclamped, unloaded and later loaded and clamped back in the vehicle.
Loading and unloading of people or goods is not parking as determined in the Appeal Court case of Laura Jopson vs Homeguard Services, so you should make everyone aware of this.

Thrugelmir

You obtained your parking ticket at 15:37 and left the range at 18:06.  Over two hours in the one shop? 

Coupon-mad

Thrugelmir said:

You obtained your parking ticket at 15:37 and left the range at 18:06. 

Over two hours in the one shop? 

Why shouldn't they? The Range will have welcomed their custom, spending over £200.  

Stacey also says they shopped in more than one place.  She has described what a happy and fulfilling occasion it was!

What else do you think they were doing?

Unhappy with the idea of a parking firm (UKPC) being reported to the BPA, MP and the Minister, perhaps?  With a Scrutiny Panel being set up, firms who do this sort of thing can expect a heck of a lot more complaints and scrutiny in future.

The industry needs to be ready for closer scrutiny and stop thinking they can get away with the stuff they got away with ten years ago.

Parking firms have had a major hand in ruining the High Street and retail shopping.

Redx

Thrugelmir said:

You obtained your parking ticket at 15:37 and left the range at 18:06.  Over two hours in the one shop? 

Read it again , more carefully this time ( maybe take longer than the BPA CoP grace periods ? , Just a thought )

Poor Stacey went to two , repeat two , shops ( or possibly more she didn't mention ) , but can only find one shop receipt ! Not 2 receipts , even though he spent in both shops

Plenty of retail parks consist of half a dozen , or a dozen or more , shops , I know plenty in my area where 10 or more are common , so they should be 3 or 4 hours , not two !

Add the fact that she is a blue badge holder  wheelchair dependent and needs assistance , doesn't drive and gets ferried around in a converted vehicle , it's not surprising that the low parking period onsite was not long enough , whereas the 3 Hours on her blue badge was more than ample !! 

As a fellow blue badge holder who has the same reasonable adjustment rights under the Ea2010 , I know the issues she faces , especially after I assisted my mum during her illness  , she could not drive ( never had ) but was a blue badge holder etc

My problems are nowhere near as bad as Stacey , so I applaud her for going to the beach and to retail Parks to spend her money and time helping the businesses she frequents etc. Disability discrimination is still rife in this country , so Helen Dolphin or someone similar like Alex Brooker , Sophie Morgan , Ade Adepitan or Nikki Fox

Good luck Stacey , I an sure that when Sara read this and the previous case , or talks to Steve Clark , she will ensure the right outcome !