One Parking Solutions Vantage Point Brighton - Advice, please!

confused_larchie

Help, please!

I'm not sure if it's too late and the more I read online of all the possible ways, the more I feel overwhelmed.

I loathe having to pay this horrible company £100 by 12/April/2024, but since the incident happened (11/11/2023) when I drove my son to his University Open Day in Brighton. 

After dropping him off, I found this car park, fumbled about with their app which did not work either in or outside, I got all my coins (approx. £3-4) then went to Aldi to change £10 more. I still have the £10 ticket but unfortunately not the first £3/£4 ticket. Does not having that first ticket mean I have absolutely no grounds for dispute?

On 22/Feb/2024, their PCN (dated 16/Feb/2024) arrived, more than 3 months after the incident.

I appealed and as expected, they rejected, but after reading so many posts about other people's successful appeals, I found that most of those people lived in Brighton. We live in Canterbury and I cannot see how it makes sense for me to fight them in court because of the travel costs, etc, despite how much I hate to have to give in to these unscrupulous vermin.

This 'fight' depresses me but I hope someone here can help me to see things more clearly.

Attached are their original PCN (dated 16/Feb/2024), then my appeal letter/form (6/March/2024) and then their rejection letter (15/March/2024).

Many thanks in advance.

P.S. If we ever have to park in Brighton again, I will never park in these horrible car parks again.

Fruitcake

What a shame you blabbed about the driver's identity in your appeal. The NTK was far too late to hold the keeper liable, so this would have been an easy win had the driver's identity not been given. Lesson learned, but there is nothing you can do about it now.
Were you given a PoPLA code, and if so, did you appeal to PoPLA?

If it went to court, you would choose a court convenient to where you live. 

Plan A is always a complain to the landowner and your MP, and it is never too late to do so.

Coupon-mad

No-one has to travel to a court away from their home area.  Defending would be easier than appealing, and local to you because you choose the court.

OPS do not sue everyone anyway.  I know three people cheerfully ignoring OPS and debt collector letters right now.  And a good six more who did the same after an appeal was rejected & they were never sued.  And time is now up.

Having said that, you have time to try POPLA and in your case you may as well.  Put them to proof of the TWO payments made by requiring them to show you & POPLA the machine payments log.  

Next time, come here first; that was 100% win guaranteed had you not said who was driving, as @Fruitcake rightly says.  It would have been a cinch for the registered keeper to appeal.

And in Brighton: use the Churchill Square Car Park, or Terminus Road - both NCP but you can't get a PCN as you pay on exit and the machines properly calculate your stay - or go to the Marina (free parking for 4 hours) and walk back along the seafront to the pier. Lovely walk and you can then eat at the Marina afterwards. 

confused_larchie

Thank you so much, @Fruitcake & @Coupon-mad, but I'm not sure I understand... The PCN was addressed to me, as the car is registered in my name. How could I have avoided 'blabbing' the driver's identity in my appeal letter? Please tell me so I can avoid doing so again.

Nothing like this ever happened to me before so I was at a complete loss and only stumbled onto this site when I entered the full name and address of this rogue car parking company.

If the POPLA code is the 10-digit Verification code, then yes, it is on their letter dated 15/03/2024.

Thank you both for your encouraging suggestions, which certainly have given me emotional strength to 'battle' on against this horrible parking company.  Before reading your comments, I was close to giving up and just pay the £100, as their due date of 12/04/2024 worried me.

I will now write to:

- POPLA to appeal, requiring the parking company to show their machine's payment log, to prove my 2 payments. (I've been searching under my car seats looking for the missing first ticket!)

- the landowner, and

- my local MP.

Thank you, @Coupon-mad, for your advice about where to park in Brighton. I've been thinking I'd never want to drive to Brighton again, but if my son does get accepted into university there, we will have no choice but drive him there with all his required possessions.

I will keep you posted.

Many thanks again.

paulstevens64

Other people are legally allowed to drive your car. I could, with your permission, and covered by my own insurance. Hence you are the "keeper" as indicated by the V5 document, but may not have been the driver on the day in question. I hope that makes sense.

The same issue occurs with lease/hire cars. The "keeper" according to the V5 is the lease company, clearly they are not the driver.

Fruitcake

confused_larchie said:

Thank you so much, @Fruitcake & @Coupon-mad, but I'm not sure I understand... The PCN was addressed to me, as the car is registered in my name. How could I have avoided 'blabbing' the driver's identity in my appeal letter? Please tell me so I can avoid doing so again.

The Notice to Keeper was sent to the registered keeper, not the driver. There was no reason to tell anyone about the driver's identity. It could have been anyone with permission to drive your vehicle. All it needed was something like,

"I am appealing as keeper. The driver's identity will not be given. Your Notice to Keeper arrived too late to hold me liable therefore you should cancel it now to save yourself money."

The driver did this, the keeper received a NTK. As far as the law is concerned, the driver, owner, day-to-day keeper, and registered keeper are completely unrelated entities/people. 

PoPLA codes last 32 - 33 days. Do Plan A first but don't miss the PoPLA deadline. Show us your draft first before you submit it.

confused_larchie

Many thanks, @paulstevens64 and @Fruitcake, for your explanations. I understand now why I shouldn't have given the driver's name, as well as how to do so; thank you, @Fruitcake

I didn't think about asking this forum to check, so I submitted the appeal to POPLA last night already, since OPS appeal rejection letter was dated 15/03/2024, and I have 28 days since then, which means this Friday, 12/04/2024, is the 28-day deadline.

Below was my letter to POPLA:
---------------------------------------------------------------

To POPLA

Please read my pdf letter to OPS, which will be easier to understand than my explaining now.

I would like OPS to give me proof of my TWO payments by showing me & POPLA their machine payments' log of 11/11/2023. I still have my second ticket, but despite how many times I looked under my car seats, I cannot find my fist ticket, but OPS should be able to see both of my payments on their log.

I also don't understand why it took them more than THREE months to send the PCN to me. Should it not be within 30 days?

OPS lack of maintenance of their own car park facilities (app) caused me quite a lot of stress on the day of my son's University Open Day in Brighton, then now, many months later, they caused me much more stress and depression. Thankfully, I stumbled onto help online, who advised me to stay calm and appeal.

I am asking you, please, to help me end this mental anguish. It is a stressful time for me financially, so £100 is not a small amount, but more than that, I do not want to be made to feel like a thief when I correctly paid my way.

Many thanks in advance,

confused_larchie

I've yet to write to the Landowner, as I've not found their contact details yet, but I wrote to my local councillor, as I've written to them about something completely unrelated before. Below is their reply...

''It is good to hear from you although I'm sorry about the circumstances that have made you turn to me. I'm afraid there's nothing I can suggest to you other than the things you have already done: you have explained yourself and what you did in good faith to pay in their car park - they have rejected that appeal. I think you may just have to accept the situation.

I know how much that will go against the grain - I had that happen to me once when my parking ticket slipped down the windscreen out of view and I got a fine that wouldn't be overturned. It really is most frustrating and feels so unfair!

Sorry not to be able to help.

All the best''

Coupon-mad

Your POPLA Code will run out soon.  Show us your draft (see the third post of the NEWBIES).

confused_larchie

Sorry, @Coupon-mad, as I wrote in my 10:37am post, I submitted an appeal to POPLA last night.

I have not written to the Landowner yet, should I send the same letter?

Below was my letter sent last night to POPLA:
---------------------------------------------------------------

To POPLA

Please read my pdf letter to OPS, which will be easier to understand than my explaining now.

I would like OPS to give me proof of my TWO payments by showing me & POPLA their machine payments' log of 11/11/2023. I still have my second ticket, but despite how many times I looked under my car seats, I cannot find my fist ticket, but OPS should be able to see both of my payments on their log.

I also don't understand why it took them more than THREE months to send the PCN to me. Should it not be within 30 days?

OPS lack of maintenance of their own car park facilities (app) caused me quite a lot of stress on the day of my son's University Open Day in Brighton, then now, many months later, they caused me much more stress and depression. Thankfully, I stumbled onto help online, who advised me to stay calm and appeal.

I am asking you, please, to help me end this mental anguish. It is a stressful time for me financially, so £100 is not a small amount, but more than that, I do not want to be made to feel like a thief when I correctly paid my way.

Many thanks in advance,

confused_larchie

From now on, I will ask for your thoughts here before sending anything to Landowner, etc...

Sorry, last night, my panic button was set in motion!

@Coupon-mad, I'm new to these Forum chats, could you please show me an easy way to... (see the third post of the NEWBIES)'.

Thank you.