Parking at Costa

jrc123

Hi All,

so i sent this popla appeal off last week with images to support as:

I am the registered keeper and I wish to appeal a recent parking charge from Capital Carpark Control. I submit the points below to show that I am not liable for the parking charge:

1). Confusing Unclear ambiguous inadequate signage so no valid contract formed.

2. No valid contract with landowner

3). Breaches in BPA CoP version 8

1). Confusing Unclear ambiguous inadequate signage so no valid contract formed.

 The Car Park had confusing, unclear, ambiguous, inadequate signage and insufficient information so is not compliant with the BPA Standards and creating unreasonable and unfair terms so no contract is formed with Capital Carpark Control and therefore no agreement to pay £100.

 I believe the signs that Capital Carpak Control are relying on at 664-690 Chigwell Road were confusing and misleading, the small print is too small for anyone to see read. The signs did not properly and clearly warn and inform the terms of this car park correctly and as such failed to comply with the British Parking Association Code of Practice Part 18 appendix B.

 Upon entering the road – see Image 1a. The car spaces are labelled Costa Only which is very misleading.

The first sign – see image 1b. This sign says pay by phone parking, again misleading and impossible to read.

The second sign – see image 1c. These signs fail to comply with the British Parking Association Code of Practice Part 18 appendix B. The signs are also so high that terms would only be legible if a driver got out of the car and climbed a stepladder to try to read them. Unreadable signage breaches Appendix B of the BPA Code of Practice which states that terms on entrance signs must be clearly readable without a driver having to turn away from the road ahead.

 

18) Signs
18.1) A driver who uses your private car park with your permission does so under a licence or contract with you. If they park without your permission this will usually be an act of trespass. In all cases, the driver’s use of your land will be governed by your terms and conditions, which the driver should be made aware of from the start. You must use signs to make it easy for them to find out what your terms and conditions are.
18.3) Specific parking-terms signage tells drivers what your terms and conditions are, including your parking charges. You must place signs containing the specific parking terms throughout the site, so that drivers are given the chance to read them at the time of parking or leaving their vehicle. Keep a record of where all the signs are. Signs must be conspicuous and legible, and written in intelligible language, so that they are easy to see, read and understand.

 

Upon entering the road from a 30mph road there are no signs at the entrance to the road and each signs display a different message as stated above and with supporting imagery.

The signage has now since changed to the following:

Image 2a – A-board sign has been left outside by the costa shop due to the signs not be legible and customers complaining.

Image 2b- Close up of A-board Sign

Image 2c – The road markings have since changed from Costa Only to Costa Staff Only.

 

These images back up my argument that the signs are inadequate, and the parking charge immediately cancelled.

 

2. No valid contract with landowner

It is widely known that some contracts between landowner and parking company have ”authority limit clauses” that specify that parking companies are limited in the extent to which they may pursue motorists. One example from a case in the appeal court is Parking Eye –v- Somerfield Stores (2012) where Somerfield attempted to end the contract with Parking Eye as Parking Eye had exceeded the limit of action allowed under their contract.
In view of this, and the British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice section 7 that demands that valid contract with mandatory clauses specifying the extent of the parking company’s authority, I require the parking company to produce a copy of the contract with the landowner that shows POPLA that they do, indeed have such authority.

It has also been widely reported that some parking companies have provided “witness statements” instead of the relevant contract. There is no proof whatsoever that the alleged signatory on behalf of the landowner has ever seen the relevant contract, or, indeed is even an employee of the landowner. I require, if such a witness statement is submitted, that it is accompanied by a letter, on landowner’s headed notepaper, and signed by a director or equivalent of the landowner, confirming that the signatory
is, indeed, authorised to act on behalf of the landowner ,has read and the relevant terms of the contract and is qualified to attest to the full limit of authority of the parking company

3). Breaches in BPA CoP version 8, include:

 19.2 Entrance signs play an important part in establishing a parking contract and deterring trespassers. Therefore, as well as the signs you must have telling drivers about the terms and conditions for parking, you must also have a standard form of entrance sign at the entrance to the parking area. Entrance signs must tell drivers that the car park is managed and that there are terms and conditions they must be aware of. Entrance signs must follow some minimum general principles and be in a standard format. The size of the sign must take into account the expected speed of vehicles approaching the car park, and it is recommended that you follow Department for Transport guidance on this. See Appendix B for an example of an entrance sign and more information about their use. A standard form of entrance sign must be placed at the entrance to the parking area. There may be reasons why this is impractical, for example:

 • when there is no clearly defined car park entrance

• when the car park is very small

• at forecourts in front of shops and petrol filling stations

• at parking areas where general parking is not permitted

 At 664-690 Chigwell Road there was no entrance sign to display any parking restrictions.

Image 1a

https://ibb.co/L1vzZJQ   Image1a

https://ibb.co/TTZqDK7  Image 1b

https://ibb.co/wyKbtdP   Image 1c

https://ibb.co/RQzgg2z  Image 2a

https://ibb.co/fkfQs2d     Image 2b

https://ibb.co/dDRxhtX    Image 2c

jrc123

I then received yesterday a response from POPLA which the car company have appealed my points.
Whoever wrote it their grammar was dreadful.
Also the imagery was of different dates and not of that location.
The location in question has 3 spaces 'Costa Only' and pay for parking to the rear.



With reference to the information provided to us and regarding POPLA reference XXX, we have rejected the appeal on the basis that the vehicle was not parked in accordance with the displayed parking requirements. 

The appellant XX provides several reasons as part of the appeal, firstly Confusing Unclear ambiguous inadequate signage so no valid contract formed, and you go on to read: - I believe the signs that Capital Carpak Control are relying on at 664-690 Chigwell Road were confusing and misleading, the small print is too small for anyone to see read. The signs did not properly and clearly warn and inform the terms of this car park correctly and as such failed to comply with the British Parking Association Code of Practice Part 18 appendix B. You go on to refer to the Costa parking bays labelled Costa Only

However, we must refer you to our evidence attached clearly highlighting the positions of the signage in relation to the parking bays, with close up images showing the text displayed on the signage which read in large bold text COSTA STAFF PARKING ONLY and go on to detail and read VEHICLES ARE NOT PERMITTED TO PARK, WAIT OR STOP IN BAYS MARKED COSTA ONLY AT ANYTIME,UNLESS THE VEHICLE HAS ALREADY BEEN PREREGISTERED WITH OUR OFFICE.

Section 1 in your appeal you go on to refer to the Pay by phone sign which you allege is misleading and impossible to read however, moving on to section 3 of your appeal you allege that there was no entrance sign to advise of any parking restrictions. This is someone contradictory to allege the sign was impossible to read but was not there to read in the first instance. Its either not available to read, or impossible to read and was therefore misleading as you allege.

In relation to the signs you refer to, this is also known as the entrance sign, displaying large lettering the terms and conditions within a car park. It also refers you to additional signage within the car park, meaning that the more detailed signage must be referred to prior to parking, with the displayed terms referring to the parking requirements if you had parked a further 20 feet into the car park which offers 45 minutes free parking with £1 per hour thereafter.

The Costa bays are out of bounds and are reserved for Costa staff only and although you refer to the bays being marked Costa Only, it should not be assumed the bays are meant for Costa "Customers" only and does not display "customer" parking, which is why that private parking requirements do not rely on floor markings but clearly displayed car park signs indicating in clear terms, the parking requirements.

You later go on to refer to the requirement of keeping a record of sign location, where we have also attached our record along with date and time stamped evidence of sign placement and them in situ together with a map of there placement.

You allege that the signs are so high that a driver would have to exit the vehicle and climb a ladder, however, signs are carefully placed to ensure that can be easily read but at a height to ensure they are not blocked by a larger vehicle or removed without permission. We would also like to add that the signs are of a much larger size recommended by our trade association, British Parking Association, meaning the larger the size, the larger the text, meaning a more transparent message given to drivers. In addition, you will note from our evidence that an additional signs is placed at the doorway to Costa (shown under the light).

We can also see from the images taken that you exited the vehicle and walked in the direction of the rear of the vehicle, directly making your way to the parade of shops.

You go on to say there has been changes to signage and refer to an A board left outside Costa alleging that it is because our signs are eligible however, to reiterate the evidence we have provided shows the signs are made of a bright white aluminium material with bold black text which read in no uncertain terms COSTA STAFF PARKIGN ONLY as advised above, and the display of the A board is because instead of making a formal appeal with the issuing company, some would access Costa who later changed the floor marking to read Costa "STAFF" only for those who assumed the bays were for customers despite it not reading as such, which only solidifies the reason for the issued of the parking charge.

You go on to say that there is no valid contract with the landowner and for avoidance of doubt we have attached a redacted copy bearing in mind in contains commercially sensitive information, and must highlight that a contract can be engaged between an agent acting on behalf of the landowner, and we must also highlight that it would be highly unlikely that if permission was not granted that we would be permitted to display our signage and camera equipment.

You again refer to signage in the final part of the appeal (section 3) and say Entrance signs play an important part in establishing a parking contract and deterring trespassers. Therefore, as well as the signs you must have telling drivers about the terms and conditions for parking, you must also have a standard form of entrance sign at the entrance to the parking area. Entrance signs must tell drivers that the car park is managed and that there are terms and conditions they must be aware of. Entrance signs must follow some minimum general principles and be in a standard format. The size of the sign must take into account the expected speed of vehicles approaching the car park, and it is recommended that you follow Department for Transport guidance on this. See Appendix B for an example of an entrance sign and more information about their use. A standard form of entrance sign must be placed at the entrance to the parking area.

Where again we must refer you to the enclosed evidence confirming that an entrance sign is displayed, which is large in size and again displaying bold lettering on a white background referring you to the terms of parking in addition to the additional terms within the car park area.

We believe that the Parking Charge Notice was issued correctly in line with the displayed terms and conditions and in line with the British Parking Association guidelines and requirements and also in accordance to the terms and conditions of parking displayed on car park signs within the car park.

We consider the appellants comments as we did within the original appeal received by the appellant, however our position remains the same in that regard and only once the evidence is carefully reviewed is a reply made, and the reasons of rejecting the appeal are shown in our original appeal reply.

The purpose of instructions displayed in a car parking area is for all that use the car park to adhere to them. T

he car park signs also stipulate that by parking in the parking area, the user agrees to adhere to the terms and conditions displayed. However, it is apparent from our evidence supplied that the terms and conditions were not adhered to.

In light of the attached evidence, it is apparent that the ticket was issued in accordance with the displayed parking requirements, and the vehicle was parked, in an area displayed in breach.

We have provided a number of different images and documents (below) to assist in our evidence relating to Parking Charge Notice 34797, showing the vehicle was not parked in accordance with the displayed parking 16/02/2022 3 of 39 Evidence_PCN_34797_16-02-2022 terms and conditions.

There are a number of car park signs within the car park which allows a driver to decide whether or not they wish to stay on the property and comply with its terms or remove the vehicle and find alternative parking. We must add that by parking and agreeing to the terms of parking displayed, you cannot then change or alter its terms after already agreeing to them. Kindest Regards PCN Processing Centre Capital Car Park Control

jrc123

I now have 7 days to put further comments to the POPLA appeal before it goes to the final stage or the judgement.

I need to blow them away now.

The images they provided are old images and most of the signs dont exist, my images are relevant to the dates in questions and what they look like now.

Any advise is greatly appreciated 

Umkomaas

I need to blow them away now.

Be aware that you only have 2,000 characters (not words) in which to do so. You'll need to ration your blows to where the PPC is most vulnerable. 

jrc123

Noted on that.

I want to again bring up 

1) poor inadequate signage, no sign at the entrance, two signs next to eachother saying different message, hard to read etc.
2). The floor markings have since changed which due to the poor signage.

Would there be anything else i should add or any expertise?

thanks so much

Fruitcake

Pick out the most important points and briefly refute them.

Signs saying Costa Only and Costa Staff Only are contradictory. Change to surface markings and temporary warning signs support this.

Signs are above head height (above the roof of the van in one of the photos, so over 2m to the bottom of the signs) and not visible to a driver. Only one bay has signs. (Which bay was the car parked in?)

Is/was there an entrance sign? If not, or it does not comply with the BPA CoP, say so. There is an image in the CoP of what a sign should include, both mandatory and optional (which would still be best practice.)

Signs do not suitably bring the charge or parking conditions to a motorist (BPA CoP failure). Too small to read from more than the width of a car.

Double yellow lines removed indicating no restrictions other than the surface markings.

Please show us the contract.

jrc123

Image for the contract is : https://ibb.co/WxcXCD8

Car was in the first space which has a different sign to the second space.

Thanks for the points above - extremely helpful.

jrc123

just wondering if there were any other points i should add?

many thanks

KeithP

jrc123 said:

just wondering if there were any other points i should add?

many thanks

Point out any arguments you have made that they have failed to challenge - thus indicating that they agree with you.

jrc123

they argued every point basically saying the sign were there, their poor signage.

I'll probably use Fruitcakes points which were great!