Parking Eye POPLA Appeal

Mquamo

Hi All,

I have had my Parking Eye POPLA appeal refused, unfairly in my opinion. I've received an email from Parking Eye to pay the full parking charge. Can someone please advise how i should proceed?

Please see case summary below;

Operator Name

Parking Eye Ltd including Car Parking Partnership (CPP) - EW

Operator Case Summary

OP Case Summary

Decision

Unsuccessful

Assessor Name

Rebecca Appleton

Assessor summary of operator case

The parking operator has issued the Parking Charge Notice (PCN) due to not purchasing the appropriate parking time.

Assessor summary of your case

The appellant has raised the following points from their grounds of appeal • Both them and their husband had a day off together without their 3 youngest children. • They decided to travel into Liverpool and found the site in question. • On arrival they noticed a sign advising there was 3 methods of payment. Phone, via the app or by the website. • They took a photo of the sign so they could make a payment whilst walking into the city centre. • They attempted to call the number numerous times but was cut off from the call. • They then attempted to download the paybyphone app but were unable to register. • They say they tried to pay using the website but again had similar issues. • They spent around 20 minutes attempting to pay but as they were unable to they decided to move their car to a car park around the corner and made a payment in cash. The appellant has provided screenshots of the error messages from the app and website along with the calls made, as evidence to support their appeal. The above evidence will be considered in making our determination.

Assessor supporting rational for decision

When parking in a car park that is subject to specific terms and conditions, a motorist who uses the site does so under contract with the parking operator. The terms and conditions should be stipulated on the signs displayed within the car park to allow the motorist to decide if they wish to accept or not. In assessing this case I have reviewed the signage on site to confirm if the terms and conditions of parking were made clear. The parking operator has photos evidence of the signs within the car park which state: “Parking Tariffs Apply… Up to 24 hours £3.00 Parking tariffs apply, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.. Failure to comply with the terms & conditions will result in a Parking Charge of: £100” The operator has provided photographic evidence of the vehicle entering the site at 11:19 and exiting at 11:45. A total stay of 26 minutes. The British Parking Association (BPA) Code of Practice, paragraph 13.1 states: “The driver must have the chance to consider the Terms and Conditions before entering into the ‘parking contract’ with you. If, having had that opportunity, the driver decides not to park but chooses to leave the car park, you must provide them with a reasonable consideration period to leave, before the driver can be bound by your parking contract. The amount of time in these instances will vary dependant on site size and type but it must be a minimum of 5 minutes”. This site offers a consideration period of 10 minutes, which is double the requirement of the BPA and I consider is reasonable for the size of the site. I acknowledge that the appellant says that they were trying to make payment, but I do not consider 26 minutes to be a reasonable time for a motorist to remain on site if they could not make payment. Whilst I appreciate and recognise the efforts made by the appellant, they could have left site within the 10-minute consideration period if they could not make payment via any of the payment methods and they would not have been bound by the terms and conditions. By remaining at the site after the consideration period, the appellant accepted the terms and conditions of the site and also the possible consequences of breaching any of these. When parking at a site, it is the motorist’s responsibility to ensure that they are complying with the terms and conditions. As the appellant failed to pay for the duration of their stay, the terms of the site were breached. Ultimately, it is the motorist’s responsibility to comply with the terms and conditions of the car park. Upon consideration of the evidence, the appellant failed to make a valid payment and therefore did not comply with the terms and conditions of the car park. As such, I conclude that the PCN has been issued correctly. Accordingly, I must refuse this appeal.

Trainerman

PoPLA are a joke anyway. Was it really written with that appalling grammar? Making 'judgments' and can't even string a sentence together !

Fruitcake

PoPLA decisions are not binding on the motorist so there is no requirement to pay unless a judge tells you to.

Debt collectors are powerless and can safely be ignored, but not a letter of/before claim or a court claim.

ParkingEye/CPP will take people to court if,

1) The landowner contract permits it. They don't always
2) They believe they will win. They don't always.

The ten-minute grace/consideration period is intended to allow a motorist to decide if they want to comply with the parking conditions and park.
It is not intended to be spent trying to get a faulty payment system to work that cause a frustration of contract.
The motorist was offered nothing of value and therefore cannot have agreed to the parking Ts and Cs and therefore cannot have formed a contract, 
In addition, dealing with a vicissitude of some small duration is not parking as defined by the judge in the Jopson v Homeguard appeal case. I would suggest that trying to use a faulty payment system constitutes a vicissitude of some small duration.

Hopefully PE/CPP will realise this and do nothing more than send requests for money. It is often thought that if this company does employ a debt collector, then it means they are unable or unwilling to issue a claim.

I suggest you wait to see what the PPC does next before you decide to do anything.

Do complain to the landowner and your MP in the meantime.

Coupon-mad

I agree this is wholly unfair and a wrong decision.

I'd be confident of your chances in court because I think most Judges would be with you. The only thing you risk by not paying, is being ordered by a Judge if you lose, to pay £110 extra in court fees.

Given we think you have a case to still dispute this, I'd sit tight. I assume you are in England/Wales?

Mquamo

Thanks all for your replies.

I've now received a LBCCC from Parking Eye with 30 days to respond!

I've submitted a SAR via their Privacy webpage requesting the info recommended in the NEWBIES section and am about to email enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk for a final appeal. Any advice on how to draft this appeal? Should it be similar to a POPLA appeal or just a brief statement of events with supporting evidence?

Grizebeck

Mquamo said:

Thanks all for your replies.

I've now received a LBCCC from Parking Eye with 30 days to respond!

I've submitted a SAR via their Privacy webpage requesting the info recommended in the NEWBIES section and am about to email enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk for a final appeal. Any advice on how to draft this appeal? Should it be similar to a POPLA appeal or just a brief statement of events with supporting evidence?

What do you mean a final appeal?
You will get a court claim regardless so why bother 

Mquamo

The NEWBIES thread recommends emailing their litigation team to try to resolve the dispute...

'Treat the ParkingEye email as your 'last gasp' chance to appeal, because ParkingEye can and will stop a case and revert to appeal stage'

Grizebeck

Mquamo said:

The NEWBIES thread recommends emailing their litigation team to try to resolve the dispute...

'Treat the ParkingEye email as your 'last gasp' chance to appeal, because ParkingEye can and will stop a case and revert to appeal stage'

Nope you have already appealed so that isnt relevant to your case

Mquamo

Grizebeck said:

Mquamo said:

The NEWBIES thread recommends emailing their litigation team to try to resolve the dispute...

'Treat the ParkingEye email as your 'last gasp' chance to appeal, because ParkingEye can and will stop a case and revert to appeal stage'

Nope you have already appealed so that isnt relevant to your case

So ignore the LBCCC and wait for the court claim to land?

Grizebeck

Mquamo said:

Grizebeck said:

Mquamo said:

The NEWBIES thread recommends emailing their litigation team to try to resolve the dispute...

'Treat the ParkingEye email as your 'last gasp' chance to appeal, because ParkingEye can and will stop a case and revert to appeal stage'

Nope you have already appealed so that isnt relevant to your case

So ignore the LBCCC and wait for the court claim to land?

Yes thats right

Coupon-mad

I wouldn't.  Looks better if you reiterate your reasons to dispute.  Send to:

enforcement@parkingeye.co.uk

That is a different team than appeals so nothing to lose by briefly restating your disputed position. Don't call it an appeal. Call it a dispute.

If you didn't already use POPLA then ask for it - but I see you did!  

You could make an offer to settle. Maybe £30 and they might offer £60.