Is a motorcycle 'outside of parking area' worth challenging?

Darkslider

Bought a motorbike last weekend and we decided to stop in Cheshire Oaks five guys for lunch before travelling home. It was reasonably busy so infuriatingly I do what I quite often do in these situations and parked the bike in one of the alcoves of the restaurant rather than occupying a full car space.

 I'd like to stress this is purely from a public spirited point of view, I'm young and fit and would have been quite happy to walk 30 yards from the nearest available spaces but I always feel quite guilty removing a full space with a vehicle that only occupies 1/4 of it at most!

But it seems no good deed goes unpunished and a Premier Park traffic warden has snapped a shot of the bike (from some distance away to avoid giving me the chance to move it as I was sitting literally the other side of the glass and could have done so in an instant) and I've been charged £100 or £60 if paid within 14 days. 

(Second picture was mine on the day)

Obviously I'm bang to rights here, I'm sure the signage states to only park in marked bays and I clearly haven't. So I'm just wondering does that make my case more futile than the more common overstay by a few minutes I've found in my searches? I've not found a similar parking charge discussion like this so I'm wondering if I should just take it on the chin this time and pay the extortionate charge, and consider it an expensive lesson for the future?

Thanks 

Fruitcake

Of course it is worth fighting these unregulated private parking companies.

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

You case is no different that anyone else's, so if a cancellation is not forthcoming, send the initial appeal in blue text you will find in the sticky Announcement for NEWBIES. Send it unaltered from the keeper.

There were obviously no signs where the bike was parked, therefore any signage in the car park can only have been relevant to the car park and not applicable to any other area.
The parking attendant (they are not wardens) failed to mitigate her/his company's loss by asking for the vehicle to be moved, and despite obviously being present at the site, failed to issue a notice to driver, and instead the company concocted a NTK by using the made up method of MNPR.

Whilst the dates on the NTK are PoFA compliant, is the wording also compliant and capable of holding the keeper liable?

Coupon-mad

Of course you don't pay private PCNs, all the time that this industry remains out of control & unregulated.

You just appeal it as keeper, not saying who was driving/riding.  Nor implying it.  This is what we have a template appeal for, in the top sticky thread 'NEWBIES PLEASE READ THESE FAQS FIRST.'

Look at the recent POPLA win reported last month in another sticky thread: 'POPLA DECISIONS'.  Does your NTK have the same wording omission?  Easy to win.

Darkslider

Thanks for the replies both of you, I just wasn't sure as my case obviously differs from the majority I've read through on here whether it was still worth pursuing or not. I do feel even the lower rate of £60 is extortionate to be honest. 

Is there any mileage in getting in touch with the branch of five guys the bike was parked in the window of in case they can offer any support somehow?

KeithP

Darkslider said:

Is there any mileage in getting in touch with the branch of five guys the bike was parked in the window of in case they can offer any support somehow?

Yes of course that is worth doing.
It is exactly what @Fruitcake suggested, where he wrote...

Fruitcake said:

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

mark1959

If you're not parked in the car park, and you clearly are not it's got nothing to do with any parking attendants or whatever they want to call themselves. I'd have thought only the police could book you for blocking the pavement.  If you were,which you clearly weren't as the pictures prove. 

Fruitcake

Darkslider said:

Thanks for the replies both of you, I just wasn't sure as my case obviously differs from the majority I've read through on here whether it was still worth pursuing or not. I do feel even the lower rate of £60 is extortionate to be honest. 

Is there any mileage in getting in touch with the branch of five guys the bike was parked in the window of in case they can offer any support somehow?

I see no difference between your case and any other we see here on a regular basis, which is why I said  Plan A is always a complaint from the registered keeper to the landowner and their MP.

Plan B is an appeal using the template in blue text, unaltered, from the keeper.

Darkslider

Fruitcake said:

Darkslider said:

Thanks for the replies both of you, I just wasn't sure as my case obviously differs from the majority I've read through on here whether it was still worth pursuing or not. I do feel even the lower rate of £60 is extortionate to be honest. 

Is there any mileage in getting in touch with the branch of five guys the bike was parked in the window of in case they can offer any support somehow?

I see no difference between your case and any other we see here on a regular basis, which is why I said  Plan A is always a complaint from the registered keeper to the landowner and their MP.

Plan B is an appeal using the template in blue text, unaltered, from the keeper.

Apologies I assumed by landowner you meant the owner of the car park who presumably were the ones who contracted premier park in the first place, which is why I asked whether Five Guys would have been worth contacting as well as it was their restaurant alcove I parked in. I'll follow the templates and procedure as advised and see how I get on, thanks for everyone's help!

GrumpyDil

I've managed to avoid being hit by these sharks but both my wife and daughter have been caught this year. In relation to my wife's we got a cancellation via the restaurant she was eating at.

In relation to my daughter's we are currently explaining to the gym she was at that she will happily make it known to all the students at her university that attending their gym carries an additional 60.00 charge. In other words, absolutely ask the place you were at to get it cancelled. 

BikingBud

Over officious muppets, did they put a ticket on the push bike as well?

Does it say vehicles 

I remember when they tried to stop bikes parking on the sea front and the carnage that then ensued when each bike took up a slot and there was nowhere for cars and families to park.

B789

Darkslider said:
Apologies I assumed by landowner you meant the owner of the car park who presumably were the ones who contracted premier park in the first place, which is why I asked whether Five Guys would have been worth contacting as well as it was their restaurant alcove I parked in. I'll follow the templates and procedure as advised and see how I get on, thanks for everyone's help!

Of course you complain to Five Guys whether they are the landowner or not. Even if they are not the landowners, they will be paying the landowner, either directly or through their Managing Agent. As the landowner or their Managing Agent is liable for the action of their agents (the PPC) Five Guys may want to get them to get the PCN cancelled because an unregulated, ex-clamper, private parking company that they have contracted is ruining their business by penalising their customers without cause.