Partial Success with NCP via local MP

MrsBrush

I received a PCN from NCP in September last year dating back to an "offence" in a local train station car park from June last year, where my elderly and disabled parents were being collected for an onward journey. We arrived earlier than the planned meet, stopped in one of the car park's disabled bays, with my Dad's blue badge on full display. We checked with the ticket office about whether we need to pay to park for a short stay, and were advised that blue badge parking is free. We were there for around 40 minutes in a totally empty car park! End of story, so I thought at the time. 

Anyway, 3 months on, one of the lovely NCP PCN letters arrived, with its usual array of demands etc. It transpires that NCP had installed APRN Camera's during the pandemic and managed to keep this little gem under the radar - blue badge holders can still park for nothing, but they have to be registered online prior to parking... at the time there were no signs up anywhere and these magically appeared in August 22! 

There is nowhere at the station where blue badge registration can be done easily, and with two elderly people who don't have a clue about how the internet works and even less chance of understanding the (at the time non-existent) signs for disabled parking, it is obvious to me that this is all totally weighted in the favour of NCP. It is unfair, unjustified and incredibly annoying that government hasn't issued a huge mandate to sort this out and put limits on the charges they can demand. 

So I followed the usual advice of the POPLA, had that turned down obviously, appealed again, very quickly followed up with 2 debt collection letters and threats of being taken to court. On one level, bring it on - because the final demand was £170 (from an original £60 PCN). 

I then wrote to my MP, who has been up in arms about this company's tactics at the local train station anyway. My MP intervened on my behalf, and I have today accepted a £20 "gesture of goodwill" payment of £20 to cover their "admin fees". Obviously, I know that I can probably fight this further, and not pay a penny but I quite honestly have more important things taking up my time and energy. So it is a win, of sorts. I have paid the £20 without prejudice (having never told them who was driving).

I will be following up with my MP again, because this particular Rt. Honourable member is quite rightly outraged as it is discriminatory towards many members of society who are not smart phone or internet users, and those people who struggle to read miniscule signs and decipher, and understand gobbledegook signage! I firmly believe that this whole private parking industry is corrupt and morally bankrupt!

I just thought it would be helpful to share this.

B789

Well done and you can be thankful that you have an MP who is bit more understanding than many others and intervened on your behalf. However, if you'd been fortunate enough to have discovered this site at the time of your parking misdemeanour, you wouldn't have had to pay a penny.

As railway land is not relevant land, POFA does not apply. If your PCN was a "Parking" Charge Notice, then as long as you didn't reveal who was the driver, no liability could have been transferred from the driver to the keeper. 

£20 may seem like a worthwhile sum to pay but it still goes to fuel the profits that these scummy PPCs use to enhance their targeting of users of the car parks. You could have wasted their time and not paid a penny.

Coupon-mad

Well worth sharing, thankyou.

But had the rk sent an appeal saying the PCN was non-POFA, (or just used the template appeal from the NEWBIES thread) they'd have won!  They'd have paid nothing.

It was impossible to lose at POPLA, had the appellant not said who was driving...

I am guessing the driver appealed without asking you first?  Shot their toes off at first appeal?

MrsBrush

None of the above. To be honest, even the terminology on this site (brilliant though the advice is) is baffling, and the whole process of defending an invoice such a huge faff - which is obviously what these sharks prey on! 

We did the POPLA appeal, and did not specify the driver in any part of the correspondence, even with the MP. We followed the template and shared a copy of the blue badge, to no avail. I then went on holiday (first time in 3 years!), and the debt collectors letters started rolling in. It was just too time consuming to try to follow every step and take account of each nuance, even though it is all in the sticky's. But you still need to take the time to read through, try to understand all of the acronyms etc, and get everything in the right order. I am fairly resilient, but I didn't have the energy for this. At least my MP has got a result that works, with minimal cost and effort. It would have cost me a lot more to take the necessary time off work to sort this out! 

As an aside, my Dad panicked and was going to pay the whole thing until I stopped him. He was in such a state when I got the registered keeper letter, as he is always careful about this sort of thing, and he has never had a parking ticket, a speeding fine or anything else at all. Now he is too frightened of not being able to pay for parking in loads of places, because the signage and T&Cs are nonsensical in many cases, and with the rise of the "pay by phone" or online only payments, he doesn't want to drive anywhere that doesn't have unrestricted and free on-street parking - which is basically no-where! With limited mobility and poor local public transport, he needs his car to get around, and this has really hit his confidence. That is the reason I asked the MP to intervene as this industry is ruining people's lives, even if indirectly.

Coupon-mad

It's directly ruining people's lives.

That's why we do what we do and why I'm on the Govt Steering Group to change the law on private parking by 2024.  Regulation is coming.

MrsBrush

Coupon-mad said:

It's directly ruining people's lives.

That's why we do what we do and why I'm on the Govt Steering Group to change the law on private parking by 2024.  Regulation is coming.

Thank goodness!! It is totally insane - seems to me it is legalised blackmail and extortion all wrapped up in one. the quicker these people get closed down the better for everyone. Maybe my MP is aware of the steering group, and understands the issues, so found the easiest route to close this one down down quickly for everyone's sake.

I am so glad that you know what you are doing @Coupon-mad and thank you for being part of the Govt Steering Group. i wish you all the best of luck! 

Coupon-mad

MrsBrush said:

Coupon-mad said:

It's directly ruining people's lives.

That's why we do what we do and why I'm on the Govt Steering Group to change the law on private parking by 2024.  Regulation is coming.

Thank goodness!! It is totally insane - seems to me it is legalised blackmail and extortion all wrapped up in one. the quicker these people get closed down the better for everyone. Maybe my MP is aware of the steering group, and understands the issues, so found the easiest route to close this one down down quickly for everyone's sake.

I am so glad that you know what you are doing @Coupon-mad and thank you for being part of the Govt Steering Group. i wish you all the best of luck! 

 

You & your driving family can help get this over the line.  We sincerely hope that you are au fait with the need to respond to the final Government Public Consultation?

We all need to ram the nail in the coffin of the false £70 'DRA fee' add-on, that actually funds the court claim and toxic CCJ culture, as well as the DRA and roboclaim 'legals' gaslighting of people.

The new Code also (quite rightly) proposes to start most parking charges at £50.

Please come back here when it opens.

If you are not a regular reader, to be alerted you'll need to bookmark the thread by MSE_JC at the top of the forum and enable (on your profile) email alerts for bookmarked threads.

Then join us when the Consultation opens in a few weeks.