CPM Parking Fine - Worth Appealing?

Carbo94

Hi All,

First time poster here, I've received a parking fine from CPM. Before paying I thought it would be worth getting some advice as to whether it would be worth appealing the fine.

I've attached a photo of the parking fine. A bit of background. My car is the black car in the photo, I had parked here while I popped into Greggs....could turn out to be an expensive lunch! As you can see there is a red and white barrier running along next to the cars which was covering the double yellow lines. I think therefore I might have grounds for an appeal?

Any help or advice on this would be great!

[Image removed by Forum Team]

Fruitcake

It is not a fine.

Yes it is worth appealing.

Is the vehicle hired or leased? If so, how did you get the NTK? Was it forwarded to the hirer/lessee from a lease company?

It is a very bad idea to tell anyone who was driving, especially if this is a hire/lease vehicle because it will be so much easier for the hirer/lessee to win if the driver has not been identified.

Carbo94

Thanks for responding!

Apologies I'm not familiar with these, is it not a parking fine? Is there a difference?

The vehicle is a lease vehicle, the letter has been forwarded onto us from the company in which we lease the vehicle from. So I think that they would have told CPM it wasn't them driving?

Do you think I'd have any leg to stand on because of the red and white barrier? Or is it better to go down the route of not accepting liability?

Half_way

There is a lot of traffic on this forum, so at times replies that are blunt may come across as rude , the general aim of the game is for people such as yourself (Carbo95) not to pay these so called parking charge notices and hopefully leave with a better understanding of things, with the money the parking companies are demanding form you still in your bank account , and hopefully with the ability to help others or at least point them in the right  direction.

The private parking industry is not regulated, in other words they make up their own rules to suit themselves, and that is to try and make as much money as possible..

So yes, you may get some terse and at times blunt to the point of being rude replies  , but if you work with the regulars on here you can defeat these charges.

My advice from your opening post would be to remove the pictures, and any identifying stuff , while these are not fines the parking companies can and do use complex terms that can bamboozle people and make them pay up, something that we do not want to happen, as they prey upon the vulnerable as well, and paying only helps their cause .

So, remove the pictures, do not use terms like I did this or I did that - do not identity the driver , however state why the vehcile received a parking charge notice, and if needed where the location was, the name of the parking company, time spent parked and a few other bits .

Best advice would be to delete the pictures and start again with a new username , replies may be blunt and to a point terse but they will be trying to help you retain your much needed money

Carbo94

Thanks Halfway, extremely useful advice. I'll do exactly as you said.

Fruitcake

At the moment, the lease company is liable for the charge unless and until they pass liability to the hirer/lessee by informing the PPC of the hirer/lessee's details, or somebody is daft enough to tell the PPC who was driving. The lease company do not know who was driving unless someone is daft enough to tell them, or an employee of the lease company was present at the time of the alleged event who knows the identity of the driver. I think the latter very unlikely.

You should therefore tell the lease company not to pay the charge on the lessee's behalf, but instead to pass the lessee's details to the parking company, and that they must not assume they know the identity of the driver. Point out that unless they transfer liability, they will remain liable for the charge, not you. If they fail to transfer liability, and fail to pay the charge, warn them that they could be taken to court by the unregulated private parking company.

Check if the lease company is a member of the BVRLA. If they are, this trade association has instructed all its members not to pay parking charges but to pass the hirer/lessee's details to the parking company. You should include this information in your instructions to the lease company.

Please note that we get about a hundred cries for help every day. We are all volunteers, all bring our own knowledge and expertise to this forum, and all give our time for free. This is a self help forum and posters are expected to do as much of that as possible by reading the sticky Announcements that already answer many of your questions. Skim reading them just does not work, and it does not help anyone, so please, help us to help you by doing your homework.
We are all on the same side here.

Carbo94

Thanks fruitcake for your help, appreciate we are all on the same side here. And I appreciate the free advice I'm being given. Appreciate I should have done more than skim reading, the response I had previously, while blunt came across as rude so it got my back up. 

Thanks all for your help, I've taken it onboard and read the newbie post properly.

Hopefully I get the outcome I'm after in terms of the charge.

Fruitcake

As well as instructing the lease company not to pay the charge, the lessee now has the option of waiting for an NTH in their own name then appealing, or appealing now. In either case, using one of the edna basher letters from the NEWBIES. Personally I would do the latter.

Coupon-mad

Carbo94 said:

Thanks fruitcake for your help, appreciate we are all on the same side here. And I appreciate the free advice I'm being given. Appreciate I should have done more than skim reading, the response I had previously, while blunt came across as rude so it got my back up. 

Thanks all for your help, I've taken it onboard and read the newbie post properly.

Hopefully I get the outcome I'm after in terms of the charge.

Either way, don't pay it. There is never a point to pay a private parking charge except after a Judge says so (very rare here. No risk at all).