Misleading sign appeal

theanorth

Hi , I parked in a roadside parking space with restricted parking.

The first hour was free but you had to get a ticket or register by phone as 
well .  I looked at the sign which said pay at the ticket machine or Pay by Phone - which I assumed was the parking firm (it was actually literally ‘pay by phone ‘ followed by a number whicH I did not use as I had the pay by phone app) and I registered my car and location with this company, getting a text back confirming this .  I then got a ticket saying I had a charge 
to pay ,’ apparently (though not on the sign ) it was a council site run by Ringo. 

I had not even parked for an hour so never actually owed any money .   I’ve lost the first appeal , what should I argue in the next stage ?  Any advice please ?  It was a genuine mistake caused by a very misleading sign and I’m being asked to pay £80 for parking which was free anyway!

JerryJ64

Which PPC? Location?

theanorth

The council is london borough of Redbridge but I think it said on the parking ticket that it was run by Ringo and the location number matches Ringo .
On the sign it makes no mention of Redbridge or Ringo and only says Pay by Phone (capitals as used on sign ) which is why I used the Pay by phone app ! 

theanorth

It’s the council who are chasing me for payment.

theanorth

You can see why I used the Pay by Phone app in error , it’s so misleading .  The receipt text ive still got from pay by phone which confirms the location number but not it’s geographical location - hence I had no idea I’d been mistaken until I got a parking ticket .

GrumpyDil

Sorry but I can't see why you paid by app when there was no mention of using an app on the sign. It says pay by phone and provides a phone number or pay at the machine and tells you where. 

As it's council you could try appealing the ticket (although I can see you lost the first stage appeal already) but I don't see you winning here. 

Coupon-mad

Post on pepipoo where the LA penalty experts are; they'll tell you if it's worth continuing or not:

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showforum=30

400ixl

If you put that code into the PaybyPhone app it comes back as Gilbert Court, West Berkshire which would have been a good clue that something was wrong as it is nowhere near the London Borough of Redbridge. You see that before choosing which car you are parking, so very early in the process.

Unfortunately that could be the undoing on any appeal based on thinking you should use the PaybyPhone app rather than as the sign says call the number displayed to pay by phone.

JerryJ64

The CRA 2015 may back the OP up. If a sign in a car park states "Pay by phone," and the consumer interprets this to mean using a specific app called "PayByPhone", there might be room for ambiguity.

Ambiguity arises when contract terms are open to more than one reasonable interpretation. In this case, if the sign doesn't explicitly specify the app or method to be used, it may be subject to interpretation. The consumer's understanding and expectations, especially if they reasonably believe that "Pay by phone" refers to a particular app, could be a factor in assessing ambiguity.

KeithP

...and Section 69 of the Consumer Rights Act supports that argument...

69 Contract terms that may have different meanings

(1) If a term in a consumer contract, or a consumer notice, could have different meanings, the meaning that is most favourable to the consumer is to prevail.

Not sure how you make that work though.

400ixl

Hopefully they can, would be great if they did, but is somewhat of a stretch.

If not some other way to not let the leaches get their way.