Civil enforcement pcn at co-op

hypochondriac

Good afternoon hopefully someone can help me. My wife has received a pcn because a month ago I browsed a coop and then ate a sandwich in my car before driving off. I overstayed by 11 minutes but I was a legitimate customer. I rang the store and spoke to the manager who checked the cctv to confirm my story and was subsequently sympathetic. She has emailed the company to try to get it cancelled but she has thus far had no response. My question is what should my next step be? Today is the last day to pay the reduced amount and I wasn't sure what my next course of action should be in this case. Thanks very much in advance for any assistance or advice you can provide. 

Coupon-mad

Read the NEWBIES thread.  One of the FAQS tells you why the 14 day bribe is wholly irrelevant to you.

hypochondriac

Coupon-mad said:

Read the NEWBIES thread.  One of the FAQS tells you why the 14 day bribe is wholly irrelevant to you.

Thanks I will have a look. 

hypochondriac

OK so turns out it is Southern Co-op which is possibly different from the normal co-op so I have spoken to their customer service woman who was rubbish and said that I need to appeal and that it's a third party company that deals with their car park (although I don't see how that is relevant as they are the landowners and employ the company to manage the car park!) The manager of the store agrees with me and is happy to get the charge cancelled but is supposedly powerless to do anything if the Parking charge company won't talk to her? How is that in any way correct? Anyway as well as emailing the Southern co-op and asking the customer services lady to contact the manager at the store I am researching how to appeal as it seems from reading that I should be doing that as well. 

The other thing I forgot to mention is that I was driving and my wife is the registered keeper so it seems that may have relevance to any appeal process. I just need to figure out how to word it. 

Coupon-mad

Well obviously she is appealing it, not you.  See the NEWBIES FAQS thread.

hypochondriac

The manager of the store just rang me- she has had a response and they have said that "as a gesture of goodwill" they will reduce the charge to £20. My wife was making noises about paying it just to make it go away but I've said no both out of principle and also because I don't want to fund cowboys. I said to the store manager I think it is crazy that the Southern Co-op employs these people but are seemingly powerless to get fines cancelled. I explained to her that if I did pay the charge that the reputational and financial damage from me actively choosing to avoid Southern Co-op stores in the future would far outweigh a £20 charge and she agreed but said there is nothing else she can do. Very frustrating. 

hypochondriac

Coupon-mad said:

Well obviously she is appealing it, not you.  See the NEWBIES FAQS thread.

Thank you yes I did read about the importance of appealing as the registered keeper. Any appeal I make will be from her and using her email address so thanks for that. I just need to get my head around the newbie thread, the amount of options are a bit overwhelming. 

hypochondriac

OK so looks like my next course of action is to appeal. It looks like I can just send a generic appeal online like the one contained in the newbies thread. 


Re PCN number: ***********

I dispute your 'parking charge', as the keeper of the vehicle. I deny any liability or contractual agreement and I will be making a complaint about your predatory conduct to your client landowner.

There will be no admissions as to who was driving and no assumptions can be drawn. Since your PCN is a vague template, I require an explanation of the allegation and your evidence. You must include a close up actual photograph of the sign you contend was at the location on the material date as well as your images of the vehicle.

The allegation involves an alleged overstay of minutes so your evidence must include the actual grace period agreed by the landowner.

Then the address of the registered keeper. 

One thing I would ask is that the PCN does already include photographs of the vehicle and the words "Maximum 20 minutes free parking" so is it necessary to request the actual grace period agreed by the landowner or is that something else?

Reading further, it sounds like I can subsequently send in a POPLA appeal stating that the keeper is not liable once we get to that stage. 

nopcns

Perhaps going higher up the management food chain at Southern Co-Op with a complaint about the manager who does not appreciate who is the organ grinder and who is the monkey in their contractual relationship with the PPC.

Pointing out that not only will they be losing more than the £20 that you will never spend again at their stores, they will also be losing much more as you advise all your family, friends and acquaintances not to risk patronising their stores as it comes with the hazard of an additional invoice for £100 from an unregulated private parking company.

Do we know which PPC is involved here? Is the NtK PoFA compliant?

D_P_Dance

Have you written bad stuff on Co-op's website?   They hate it when that happens. 

-

hypochondriac

nopcns said:

Perhaps going higher up the management food chain at Southern Co-Op with a complaint about the manager who does not appreciate who is the organ grinder and who is the monkey in their contractual relationship with the PPC.

Pointing out that not only will they be losing more than the £20 that you will never spend again at their stores, they will also be losing much more as you advise all your family, friends and acquaintances not to risk patronising their stores as it comes with the hazard of an additional invoice for £100 from an unregulated private parking company.

Do we know which PPC is involved here? Is the NtK PoFA compliant?

Thanks for the message. I have rang the customer service and spoken to someone there and I've emailed them with a complaint. I am not sure if there are contact details of anyone more senior. I think a complaint against the manager is a little strong as she said she is relatively new herself and is doing her best to assist me but clearly hasn't been trained correctly. If I can find any other contact details of someone more senior at Southern Co-op then I will certainly try to speak to them too.