SIP Parking PCN for a misleading parking ticket sign

ChirpyChicken

palegreenghost said:

I might as well email and post it to them considering the bad luck I've had with stuff going missing. 

zero need to post them

palegreenghost

ChirpyChicken said:

palegreenghost said:

I might as well email and post it to them considering the bad luck I've had with stuff going missing. 

zero need to post them

Okay I'll try my luck with just email. Thanks all! 

palegreenghost

My WS deadline is on the 5th of January, and my hearing date is on the 9th of February. 
I thought I'd collate everything I have so far so it's a bit easier to find. 
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My defence is essentially this: (on a separate note I should mention that even though I appealed to the IAS, and stressed that I couldn't understand why my £5 didn't cover the 12 hours of parking, no one bothered to tell me that they'd raised the parking fees and that's why my £5 didn't cover (the time I thought I was supposed to get) until after they'd sent me a LBC and only because I emailed the SiP legal email to address to essentially say "what are you playing at?". So I'd argue that I didn't even have the full picture of what the issue was until after the LBC came through).

3. In November 2022, The Defendant looked online to research a place to park for a visit

that would take place on 2/12/2022. According to a few websites they advertised that the

Essex Street car park charged £5 for 12 hours or £4 for 6 hours which would comfortably

cover the time required for the visit.

4. On 2/12/2022, the Defendant and the Defendant’s friend/passenger parked in a spot

at the Essex Street car park and paid £5 for a ticket at 15:31 which was then displayed

in the Defendant’s car window. It was dark at the time and the visibility near the ticket

machine and parking spot was poor, the Defendant returned later that evening and left

the car park at 22:22.

5. The Defendant wasn’t aware that the tariff had changed significantly in November

2022. After the parking charge had been issued, the Defendant later discovered that the

12 hour parking option had increased by 50 pence to £5.50, and the 6 hour option for £4

had been completely removed. Had the 6 hour option still been in place the ticket would

have been valid. The Defendant and the Defendant’s friend/passenger did not see any

signs to inform them that the tariff had significantly changed in November. Extra

prominent signs informing drivers of significant changes to tariffs are required by the IPC

CoP.

6. The private parking sector single Code of Practice states: “3.4 Material change –

notices. Where there is any material change to any pre-existing terms and conditions

that would not be immediately apparent to a driver entering controlled land that is or has

been open for public parking, the parking operator must place additional (temporary)

notices at the site entrance for a period of not less than 4 months from the date of the

change making it clear that new terms and conditions/charges apply, such that regular

visitors who might be familiar with the old terms do not inadvertently incur parking

charges”.

7. Photographs of the updated signs that were provided to the Defendant by SIP Legal

do not show any additional notices.
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Here's the documents and photos I have

I remember there was a minor issue with their VAT number being incorrect, which I pointed out to them and they handwaved like it was no big deal.
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Coupon-mad

Very good.

And I see they added £60 to the claim, as if that was the PCN. Disproportionate rip off double recovery; not allowed under Beavis or POFA.

Car1980

Would be surprised if they didn't discontinue and thought it was worthwhile to travel all that way to try and snaffle £200 for a 50p underpayment. They might just have a policy of making claims against claims lost at IAS because most will just pay up.

A bit puzzled how you managed to pay £5.00 though. If they are managing to obtain "underpayments" their machines and the app should not be able to deviate from the current tariff system. Surely you put the time you want to stay until and it works out the correct fee? If not, it sounds like a honeytrap setup. 

Castle

I remember there was a minor issue with their VAT number being incorrect, which I pointed out to them and they handwaved like it was no big deal.
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The VAT number should be 197219474 which belongs to a totally different company; SIP Car Parks (1) Limited.

Coupon-mad

Castle said:

I remember there was a minor issue with their VAT number being incorrect, which I pointed out to them and they handwaved like it was no big deal.
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The VAT number should be 197219474 which belongs to a totally different company; SIP Car Parks (1) Limited.

A big deal. Wrong claimant.

palegreenghost

Car1980 said:

Would be surprised if they didn't discontinue and thought it was worthwhile to travel all that way to try and snaffle £200 for a 50p underpayment. They might just have a policy of making claims against claims lost at IAS because most will just pay up.

A bit puzzled how you managed to pay £5.00 though. If they are managing to obtain "underpayments" their machines and the app should not be able to deviate from the current tariff system. Surely you put the time you want to stay until and it works out the correct fee? If not, it sounds like a honeytrap setup. 

I paid cash (coins) and it let me put in £5 and then printed out a ticket, it was an older ticket machine from what I remember. It was dark, almost pitch black at the back of the car park so I couldn't even see the details on the ticket itself. 

This is from the horses mouth when I asked them why it printed out a ticket when I hadn't put enough money in:
"When purchasing a parking session using coins you have to insert the
amount of coins for the hours required.As you only entered £5.00 and not £5.50 the machine will only give you a ticket for the tariff you have
fully inserted the money for in this instance 4 hours."

palegreenghost

Castle said:

I remember there was a minor issue with their VAT number being incorrect, which I pointed out to them and they handwaved like it was no big deal.
------

The VAT number should be 197219474 which belongs to a totally different company; SIP Car Parks (1) Limited.

Coupon-mad said:

Castle said:

I remember there was a minor issue with their VAT number being incorrect, which I pointed out to them and they handwaved like it was no big deal.
------

The VAT number should be 197219474 which belongs to a totally different company; SIP Car Parks (1) Limited.

A big deal. Wrong claimant.

This is what I asked them in an email:
"I would also like to enquire as to the reason why the VAT Number printed onto the parking ticket receipt that was provided by the machine at the Essex Street, Birmingham car park location is not valid. The VAT Number on the ticket is as follows "GB19721947". A valid VAT Number should be 9 or 12 digits long. What does this VAT Number on the ticket that your machine provided refer to? Why is there an invalid VAT Number printed onto the parking ticket receipt that your machine provided at the Essex Street, Birmingham location?"

They responded:
"The VAT number on the ticket is missing one digit thank you for bringing

this to our attention the correct VAT number can be found on out[sic] website should you require."

palegreenghost

I forgot to say that the court has asked the claimant for 
A. A copy of any written terms of the contract between the parties 
B. A copy of the agreement by which the claimant is authorised by the landowner to conduct parking operations 
C. Details of the location where the contract was made
D. Photographic evidence, colour, A4 size
E. Detailed allegations of any breach of the contract relied upon by the claimant and
F. An explanation of how the amount of the alleged debt is calculated under the agreement