When POPLA rejects an appeal, are there other options available?

ToadRoadie

Hello all,  this is my first post here.   I am writing to gain some insights from you as how I can take my case to a different level  (court of civil jurisdiction or some other regulatory body)  now that POPLA has refused to review my case.   POPLA alleges that as the PCN was paid by the registered keeper of the vehicle (a rental car company),  that acceptance of the contravention was therefore given.  Me the driver / renter had no say in the payment matter.  I had no opportunity to even accept any liability.  The rental car company then stuck me with an invoice for the PCN payment and their own administrative charge.   I appealed the matter to the parking company, they adjudicated it, ruled it unsuccessful and gave me a POPLA verification number.  I submitted it to POPLA within the required timeframe.  Within a day POPLA advised that my appeal was withdrawn due to the paid PCN,  and that there can be no appeal at its level.   Feeling very squeezed in this whole matter.

pogofish

This is fully covered in the Newbies Sticky.

ToadRoadie

Thanks Pogofish,  I have consulted the Newbie site and there is definitely a wealth of info on there.   However I am not finding specific answers to a few of the issues I have in this case.   1)  The Rental Car company received the Parking Operator PCN,  paid it right away and then sent me their own invoice for same.   2)   I objected to the Rental Car company and they told me to submit my evidence & appeal directly to the Parking Operator and if successful,  the Rental Car company would request a refund.   3)  When I tried to submit my appeal to the Parking Operator,  their online system blocked it as the PCN had already been paid.  4)  I contacted the Parking Operator Refunds Department and explained the iproblem,  and they consulted their own Appeals Department who agreed to receive my written appeal.  5)  The Parking Operator Appeals Department reviewed and then rejected my appeal on very faulty grounds which did not even address much of the evidence I had submitted,  but they did issue me a POPLA Verification Number.  6) I submitted my appeal to POPLA but within the required timeline.  7) Within one day,  POPLA withdrew my appeal, citing the fact that the PCN had already been paid.  8)  I have been trying to communicate to POPLA that I did not personally make payment and that I accept no liability;  and that highly relevant is that the Parking Operator had in fact accepted to receive my appeal, adjudicate it and refer me to POPLA for the next level of appeal.   9)  POPLA won't budge on this...they advise that liability was accepted as soon as payment was made,  and there is nothing I can do....they also characterize my dealings with the Rental Car company in this matter as a "third party dispute".   MY QUESTIONS GOING FORWARD.......a)  Is there any recourse whatsoever possible in such a case?    b)   Is there any case law or precedent which absolutely states that a payment of a PCN totally invalidates an appeal process?   Grateful for any readers'  input on this issue.

Half_way

There are some options, but please don't type in big blocks of text as its extremely hard to read.

At this stage do not attempt to guess as to the identity of the driver on the day, there are three entities here:

 You - the Hirer

The Hire company as registered keeper

The driver on the day/at the time

keep them em seperate

Next: Why and where did the vehicle pick up a parking charge notice?

What was/is the name of the parking company?

What is the name of the hire company?

Did the hire company just pay the charge then forward it to you as hirer complete with an admin charge?

If you have access, please post the terms and conditions for the use of the hire vehicle, in particular any reference to fines penalties etc ( note a private parking charge is neither)  exact wording is important

It would appear that your complaint should be with the hire company, but again and its important what are the terms and conditions?

Umkomaas

Is the hire firm a member of the BVRLA?  If they are, they should have followed an agreed process, which isn't to have paid the charge then land you with the bill for it plus an admin charge. If they are a member, there is an arbitration process that you could invoke. 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9b0iavad3aqeh28/BPA%20BVRLA%20MoU.pdf?dl=0

ToadRoadie

Thank you both for your responses.  Sorry Half_way for the large block of text.  Will split messages into paragraphs in future.   

Here are responses to the questions above:

Vehicle was captured by ANPR at a Heathrow Drop Off Zone,  but never stopped nor parked, only transited through.

Parking company is APCOA

Car Hire company is SIXT and I see that yes they are indicated as a member on BVRLA website.

APCOA's notice to SIXT  is dated a full 7 days after the alleged infringement.   SIXT marked that PCN as received 2 days later.   Then another 4 days later,  SIXT sent me an email containing their letter / invoice plus a copy of the paid PCN.  

So, in response to the question above,    YES,   SIXT went ahead and paid the parking charge and then advised me after via email with attachment.    In SIXT's letter,  they state the following:    

"PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:   Sixt has already sent out the payment for this fine.  Please do not pay any amounts to the issuing body to avoid double payments".

SIXT's letter / invoice to me contains the 40 GBP PCN charge plus a 40 GBP administrative fee for a final amount of 80 GBP.

Here is a relevant excerpt of SIXT's Terms & Conditions as they relate to parking charges:

"15.   Speeding, parking and traffic fines and charges

15.1 You are responsible for all fines and charges issued as a result of you or any driver using the Vehicle. Fines and charges could include: all parking fines or charges; toll charges; towing charges; clamping costs; traffic fines or charges; speeding fines; and any other charges or fines.

15.2 If a fine or charge is sent to us because you haven’t paid a charge or complied with the law, we will take payment for: (a) our administration fee of 40.00 GBP for every transaction handled by Sixt which is notified to you at the time of booking and can be found on our website....to cover our costs of dealing with the fine or charge; and (b) the fine or charge itself (if we have to pay it).

15.3 By signing the Rental Agreement, you give us permission to collect these payments. We will charge them to your payment card.

15.4 By signing the Rental Agreement, you agree to us giving your details, as well as a copy of the Rental Agreement to the authority or private company that has issued the fine or charge if we consider they have a right to the information and the law allows us to do so. We will charge you a processing fee for doing this.

15.5 If we are not able to lawfully pass on your information in accordance with clause 15.4, we will pay the fine or charge on your behalf and then invoice you for the fine or charge, and our administration fee.

15.6 If you want to appeal, contest or dispute a fine or charge, we will give you the details of the fine or charge and, the organisations who issued the fine or charge. You must deal directly with the issuing organisations to get a refund and/or compensation."

---------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you Umkomaas for the link to the BVRLA arbitration process....I will review it in depth to ascertain if there might be a possibility for me to invoke it in this case. 

Again,   thanks to both of you for your assistance on these points - all very helpful.

Fruitcake

APCOA PCNs are incapable of holding a vehicle keeper liable as they are never PoFA compliant, so the hire company could have either ignored it, told APCOA they are not liable, or passed the hirer's details to APCOA.
By failing to do any of these, and by paying it and charging you for the privilege, the hire company has breached the BVRLA's guidelines and denied you your right to appeal, which you would have won because APCOA could not have held you liable for the charge.

Your beef is with the hire company so you need to complain to them and the BVRLA stating you will invoke a charge back if they don't refund your money. If they fail to do that then warn them that you will issue a court claim against them because they were never liable for the charge and therefore had no reason to pay it, and APCOA could never have held you liable either because their PCNs do not comply with the PoFA 2012.
In addition, no parking event occurred so the charge was issued without reason, and APCOA unlawfully obtained and processed your personal data from the DVLA, which is a DPA 2015 and a GDPR 2018 data breach.
The hire company were therefore complicit in unlawfully processing your personal data which is also a data breach.

You should also complain to the BPA that yet again one of their members unlawfully obtained and processed your personal data because APCOA's ANPR cameras pick up vehicles that drive through the Heathrow drop-off without stopping.
They have been notified of this before on previous occasions but have failed to instruct APCOA to sort this problem out.

You should also complain to your MP.

KeithP

15.6 If you want to appeal, contest or dispute a fine or charge, we will give you the details of the fine or charge and, the organisations who issued the fine or charge. You must deal directly with the issuing organisations to get a refund and/or compensation.

That term in SIXT's contract is useless isn't it?

Here's a quote from the BPA's Code of Practice...

The last sentence there reads "If a motorist pays a Parking Charge Notice and then appeals, you do not have to consider the appeal unless you opt to do do".

I wonder how many parking companies ever opt to consider an appeal after having been paid?

The IPC's CoP isn't relevant here but I bet it has something similar in it.

Fruitcake

With reference to the above, the motorist didn't pay the charge; the hire company did.

ToadRoadie

Thanks Fruitcake & Keith for your insights.   So far I haven't yet paid the invoice to SIXT as from the very start of this matter, I had written them several times asking if the invoice could be held in abeyance / suspended,  pending a final resolution of the appeal process.    

SIXT finally addressed that point 2 months later in a recent message to me advising that I must pay the invoice to avoid "dunning" charges.  SIXT has now advised that If my appeal is successful and if the parking operator refunds the penalty charge back to SIXT,  SIXT would reimburse me.

SIXT has also offered to appeal on my behalf to the parking company APCOA and is asking me for an evidence package for that purpose.  However I am not confident that they would have any more success than I did with APCOA,  as I am sure the latter will cite the same grounds it used to reject my appeal to it. 

I am not even sure SIXT could actually appeal the matter to APCOA given the time period already elapsed;  the fact that I already appealed on the same matter;  and again,  the fact that the PCN payment was already made. 

I do see now that I might have a possible avenue with BVRLA to dispute SIXT's invoicing of me,  given that SIXT paid the PCN without advising me first.   I need to study this aspect more though....

As for my appeal to APCOA,  as they did consent to receiving my appeal even though they were made well aware of the fact that the PCN was already paid by SIXT;   and given the fact that APCOA then adjudicated it and then referred me to POPLA;   would that not be a grounds to challenge the withdrawal of my appeal at POPLA?   (POPLA rationale for withdrawal was that the PCN had been paid and therefore liability admitted, BUT not by me however)    I contend that APCOA's consent to accept my appeal, review it, rule on it and then refer me to POPLA,   made APCOA a knowing, willing, party to a further appeal process.   To now have the whole thing negated based on the PCN paid issue does not appear transparent nor fair.

The whole APCOA and LHR Drop Off Zone issue is another one which I have put much work into......it is my understanding that the Departures Level roadway which runs through the DOZ is a public roadway for which road traffic enactments apply under the Airport Act 1986,  and therefore any PCN issued to a mobile, transiting vehicle is not valid.  In my appeal I also raised issues of unclear and ambiguous signage,  and issues of improper contract.   Unfortunately,  none of that will get an airing in an appeal process at POPLA it seems.

I complained to BPA about POPLA's dismissal of my appeal in this matter, however they advised me that they are unable to get involved in any appeal process at POPLA.

I am pushing back at POPLA on this matter....they have advised that my complaint has been heard and that it would be "inappropriate"  to correspond further on the matter.   I disagree as this is far from resolved.   I have the impression that POPLA will probably not respond to any further representations I make to it though.   That is why I am looking to elevate this case to a higher level...whether a court of civil jurisdiction,  or some other Ombudsman service that might have oversight over POPLA.   Not sure at this point how to proceed on all this.

As for reporting this whole matter to my local MP....unfortunately that option is not available to me as I am not a UK resident.

Half_way

This is not a penalty charge, and its vital that you do not call it that even more so when dealing with hire/ lease company's