Paid on JustPark but selected wrong car from dropdown

alexmahone24

Hi all,

Have just had an unsuccessful appeal for a parking ticket. Had used the newbies post to structure my appeal but it has been rejected and have been sent the £60 now, £100 later or £170 thereafter. 

The reason for the ticket was I used JustPark to pay for parking but sadly selected the wrong car on my account. I appealed noting this was a keying error and that I had paid for the allotted time just in a different vehicle, using screenshots from the account of both cars together (I am the registered keeper of both cars) and bank statement for the parking payment. 

Next stage is the IAS (as has been noted on here, an unlikely source of any cancellation) so believe we're looking at Court after the inevitable debt collector threats. 

I plan on writing to the MP and am trying to find contact for Landowner (looks like might require asking Registry as nothing helpful online). 

I'd seen this article: https://inews.co.uk/essentials/lifestyle/cars/car-news/drivers-who-enter-wrong-car-details-to-be-spared-parking-fines-383097
and thought they may come back with a reduced £20 fine as it was clearly a keying error but no. 
Is this correct that they don't have to issue a reduced £20 'fine'? 

The company was Alliance Parking and there's a host of articles relating to their conduct so not surprised. 

It was in a Car Park which has had about 3 different parking scandals in the last year all with news articles so I'm in good company at least. 

Coupon-mad

Is this correct that they don't have to issue a reduced £20 'fine'?

That is correct.

The Good news:

The new statutory Code of Practice (already published) is going to be even better for consumers, as it says ALL keying error cases must be cancelled on appeal (the £20 was dropped, presumably because the Govt wants parking firms to use systems that don't set consumers up to fail which would allow the PPC to bank £20 a pop).

The Bad news:

The new CoP isn't coming in until 2024.

The company was Alliance Parking and there's a host of articles relating to their conduct so not surprised. 

Oh dear.  Truly horrible company IMHO.  No chance of winning at IAS, especially as the guy who runs that reportedly awful PPC is named on an influential IPC 'people' board on the IPC website.

Definitely no paying this reputedly terrible company - you are quite right about their online reputation.

Defend in court.  The truth will out.

Come the glorious day, I think we all expect Alliance Parking to be one of the first to fall and lose DVLA KADOE status.  

alexmahone24

So AP have come back with the usual £170 outstanding balance request in 30 days in order to avoid County Court. 

They've sent a letter stating that 'in order to comply with pre-action protocol, the County Court requires us 'The Claimant' to provide you 'The Defendant' with a 'Response Pack' - then they link to said generic response pack. 

They've then said should I wish to defend the claim via a County Court hearing in order to comply with pre-action protocol I need to return the 'Reply Form' within 30 days of this letter, explaining my reasoning for withholding payment (ha!) and evidence for defence. 

Alternately I can 'appeal' via IAS as AP are IPC. Obviously no point doing that. 

Presumably I ignore this letter and await letter from the actual County Court?
They state that paragraph 6.1 of County Court Pre-Action Protocol requires both parties to attempt to settle out of court via ADR. But again presuming this is more nonsense. 

In my case I'd paid for parking but had selected the wrong car on the dropdown on my JustPark app.
Have all necessary records from app & bank and believe CoP would throw this out when it comes in 2024 so happy to take to court but don't want to make a mistake in not replying to something I need to reply to. 

KeithP

alexmahone24 said:

Presumably I ignore this letter and await letter from the actual County Court? 

I would suggest not.

To me, it looks like you have received a Letter of Claim.
The first few paragraphs of the second post of the NEWBIES thread offer guidance on how you should react upon receiving such a letter.

Coupon-mad

KeithP said:

alexmahone24 said:

Presumably I ignore this letter and await letter from the actual County Court? 

I would suggest not.

To me, it looks like you have received a Letter of Claim.
The first few paragraphs of the second post of the NEWBIES thread offer guidance on how you should react upon receiving such a letter.

Seconded. Always respond to a LBC.

Remember this is the stuff you want a Judge to read and be persuaded by.  You want to look reasonable and maintain the moral high ground.

Reiterate your position, quote from the new statutory Code and say it is shameful and disingenuous that the parking industry has failed to adopt the uncontentious clauses such as 'keying errors' which form a statutory Code published a full year ago and this Appeals Charter clause not being the subject of the Judicial Reviews.

Add a quote of the IPC's Tweet in 2022 where they said operators must act reasonably re keying errors and that motorists should not be marginalised.

alexmahone24

Thanks both - really helpful. Have just written to local MP about their conduct.
Annoyingly the Car park doesn't have info on Land Registry. All the places around it but no ownership info about the land itself.
Will start prepping using newbies help and your advice. 

KeithP

alexmahone24 said:

Annoyingly the Car park doesn't have info on Land Registry. All the places around it but no ownership info about the land itself.

Where exactly is this car park?
Has it been mentioned before on these boards?

alexmahone24

Sea View Car Park in Polzeath. The car park itself has been mentioned as it was the subject of a series of news reports where people were driving into car park not finding a space then driving out and getting hit with tickets. 
I've emailed the local MP about this, my own case and another dodgy ticket my parents-in-law received where they paid £100 as they were afraid of the £170 threat. I can find all properties around it including the bar on the beach but can't find anything for the car park itself. Have bought the registry access for a similarly named title (Seaview - all one word) but that is located a few streets from the beach and don't believe the name on the deed is connected. I've put a request in fro who pays business rates to the Local Authority so waiting to hear back on that. 

alexmahone24

To clarify, the articles were posted about this car park but haven't seen a specific case regarding this car park in this forum. 

Bellow

Yep just had the same keying error happen to me from Alliance Parking and refusing my appeal and demanding £60 &100 £170. Just rogue and  outrageous. Can’t face another appeal or court. 

B789

Bellow said:

Yep just had the same keying error happen to me from Alliance Parking and refusing my appeal and demanding £60 &100 £170. Just rogue and  outrageous. Can’t face another appeal or court. 

So, are you just going to fund the scammers?