Parking fine with no working machines

pablo200384

Hi all,
Apologies in advance as I know there are lots of questions on this issue.

A very brief overview of my scenario. Parked at St Peters retail park mansfield, operated by CP Plus. 45 mins free parking, I was there 1hr 7 mins. Tried to pay by machine, not working. Tried to pay by text, received error messages with service not working.

I left unable to pay.

Fine came through and I appealed, expected it to be resolved relatively easily but its been upheld by CP and by Popla.

The main argument seems to be that there are other machines in nearby car parks that I could have used. The site is split in to 3 car parks with 3 separate entrances and sets of cameras. I was in the sports direct car park.

I feel strongly that is unfair that I would have to drive to another car park, park and check if the machines there are working. But I am conscious this may have little legal grounding and CP will argue its all one site? Fyi I had two young children, under 5, in the car so couldn't have left them.

Welcome thoughts, had the decision yesterday so it's either pay or stick with it....

Coupon-mad

You certainly don't pay!  POPLA is not independent snd you wasted your time on it.

CP Plus are not litigious and only sued a batch of very old cases via DCB Legal In 2020/21 to get them income during Covid times, IMHO.  Haven't seen much/any court activity from them since.

My advice is ignore them but obviously you must tell them/their debt collector timewasters, if you move house with 6 years.  DO NOTHING.

Read post 4 of the NEWBIES thread.

pablo200384

Thank you that's a big help. I appreciate this may not be possible to answer, but have you seen or heard of any cases with a similar argument re classing multiple small car parks as one site, with pay facilities not working at some sites? I'd feel more confident knowing that worse case scenario I have some level of defendable case. But understand that may not be known or have been tested before

Coupon-mad

Yes we have seen cases with little or no delineation between car parks.

We've also seen cases where the machine wasn't working.  If there's nothing to point you towards the next nearest machine then it's meaningless snd the alleged contract was void for impossibility.

A court claim is certainly not the worst case scenario. It's the point when you win.  Think of it as the only fair dispute resolution on offer. You want that.