Lodge Parking Ltd PCN - Delayed response, BPA Involvement - Where next?

rystaman

Hi all,

Need some help with the following issue and where to go next on this one. I'll try and keep the summary as short as I can

A PCN was received on a car from Lodge Parking Limited a BPA approved operator, on 11/11/22. I then raised the one-sized fits all appeal from the Newbies thread within the 28-day period on 06/12/22.

Despite repeated follow-ups, I didn’t receive any acknowledgement of my appeal within the 14-day period specified in the BPA's code of practice (23.8) or a response to my initial appeal within the 35-day period as also stated in the code.

I then received a letter from a debt collection agency called ZZPS on 20/01/23 looking to collect payment despite not having received a response to my initial appeal.

I immediately escalated this to the BPA (including Sara R on emails but have yet to receive any acknowledgement from her at all) on 20/01/23 but to this day, I still have not received any meaningful update or resolution apart from the assurance that it has been raised with the operator. 

I have also received a final warning letter from ZZPS, increasing the amount owed to £170 and stating “FURTHER ENFORCEMENT ACTION MAY BE TAKEN IF THIS DEBT IS NOT CLEARED.” They have also said in the letter that they are going to pass this on to GCTT Certificated Enforcement Agents, despite my appeal to Lodge Parking Limited and my ongoing emails to the BPA regarding this issue.

The BPA informed me that "there is no obligation for an operator to place the charge on hold,” however in this instance, the BPA requested this from the operator. However, as per the BPA Code of Practice point 23.6, the charge should not have increased in the first place as we were at that time 63 days into my initial appeal with no acknowledgement or reply. The code of practice clearly states - “When you receive a appeal about the issue of a parking charge, you must stop work on processing the charge immediately. You must not increase the charge until you have replied to the appeal.”

Then after another escalation to the BPA for multiple breaches in their code of practice, I received a response from iPayMyPCN today which says as follows:

“Thank you for your appeal against the above Parking Charge Notice (‘PCN’). We have carefully considered your appeal however after full consideration of all details relating to this PCN your appeal has been rejected. 

It is the driver’s responsibility to always ensure they are fully aware of and adhere to the terms and conditions when parking on private land. 

Upon consideration of your appeal we have concluded that this Parking Charge has been issued correctly. As this Parking Charge is compliant with the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012, we are able to maintain keeper liability. Even as a customer of the shop on site, you are still required to purchase a ticket. This is detailed on the signage approved by the British Parking Association. As no ticket has been purchased, we are unable to accept your appeal. “

So in their response 65 DAYS after the appeal, they didn’t include any data relating to the PDT and are saying that the £100 is the reduced cost owed. Is POPLA my only route now?

Thanks for any help

Fruitcake

Plan A is always a complaint from the keeper to the landowner and their MP.

Plan B is an initial appeal to the PPC.

Plan C is to ignore the IAS, or in your case, appeal to PoPLA using all the points available to you from the third post of the NEWBIES.

Post your draft appeal here before submitting it.

Was the NTK PoFA compliant?

Where did the alleged event occur? It may have cropped up here before, but Lodge are not frequent flyers and are rarely seen on this forum. They are a one man outfit and I suspect you were the victim of a self ticketing bounty hunter.

rystaman

Yeah so they very much are a one-man band and it was in Cannock at a car park by a hair salon. Essentially the card portion of the machine didn't work (this machine doesn't work very often, all of the workers in the salon say the same thing) so a note was put on the windscreen saying "Machine not working, in Salon as a legitimate customer" or something along those lines.

Came back out and a PCN was on the window...

The NTK arrived on 21/12/22 (dated 14/12/22) so seems it was compliant as it came within 56 days.

I've complained to my MP this morning after getting the Popla code so I know I'm now on a 28-day clock.

Fruitcake

Was the NTK PoFA compliant with regards to wording?

PoPLA codes last 32 days.

rystaman

It is indeed, Lodge Parking, unfortunately, use iPayMyPCN as an intermediary who seem well versed in this but I did just double check, it is compliant with regards to wording. 

Fruitcake

On to a landowner complaint it is then.

If a landowner cancellation is not forthcoming then get witness statements from as many people (salon staff) as possible stating that the PDT routinely fails. This will form part of your Frustration of Contract point to go with all the others.

Le_Kirk

You know what to do with letters from ZZPS or any other debt collection agency, it is writ in fourth post of NEWBIE sticky - but basically - take no action.

patient_dream

As Fruitcake says, get this rubbish cancelled

And as Le_Kirk says IGNORE the idiots at ZZPS

ZZPS known as the OSNER scam.   You see, the scammer OSNER owns ZZPS and not only that, he is on the board of the BPA and it was the BPA WHO APPROVED the great OSNER fake add-on 

Who would ever believe that government approved the BPA as an ATA .. the biggest scam membership club this country has ever seen

We don't hear much about Lodge Parking Limited and companies house tells us this is just a one man band

No doubt the BPA are very proud of Lodge Parking Limited for confirming to government that they, the BPA and the parking industry are NOT fit for purpose 

Government really do not want this rubbish and ZZPS, are only sewer living critters on the board of the BPA ..... 

If you have a good MP (most don't), then he or she must ask Mr Gove, the minister in charge of levelling up and the new government code of practice ....... what the hell is going on ??

Coupon-mad

I'd just ignore it.  One man band.  POPLA is useless.

rystaman

Fruitcake said:

On to a landowner complaint it is then.

If a landowner cancellation is not forthcoming then get witness statements from as many people (salon staff) as possible stating that the PDT routinely fails. This will form part of your Frustration of Contract point to go with all the others.

Unfortunately, it won't and hasn't been as the Salon is very much just a small local one that doesn't really hold much weight as they rent the place themselves. 

rystaman

patient_dream said:

As Fruitcake says, get this rubbish cancelled

And as Le_Kirk says IGNORE the idiots at ZZPS

ZZPS known as the OSNER scam.   You see, the scammer OSNER owns ZZPS and not only that, he is on the board of the BPA and it was the BPA WHO APPROVED the great OSNER fake add-on 

Who would ever believe that government approved the BPA as an ATA .. the biggest scam membership club this country has ever seen

We don't hear much about Lodge Parking Limited and companies house tells us this is just a one man band

No doubt the BPA are very proud of Lodge Parking Limited for confirming to government that they, the BPA and the parking industry are NOT fit for purpose 

Government really do not want this rubbish and ZZPS, are only sewer living critters on the board of the BPA ..... 

If you have a good MP (most don't), then he or she must ask Mr Gove, the minister in charge of levelling up and the new government code of practice ....... what the hell is going on ??

I've escalated this to my MP but yeah it's going to be a tough one to see any movement and get a response. But I can't believe in this cost of living crisis that they can get away with acting the way that they are. They can break the BPA code of practice multiple times but oh after 65 days they finally respond that means absolutely nothing...