advice for Elite parking management following on from failed first appeal

edbowles86

Hi

I received a pcn for parking outside Sainsburys in Eddington, Cambridge, somewhere I've parked probably around 60 times and never had an issue. 

I got the PCN because I hadn't signed into Just Park to register to access my free first hour of parking. This is in very small print on the signs where the 'free first hour' is a lot clearer to see. 

I appealed to say that I was unaware of the need to sign into Just park and was an honest mistake, I was only 20 minutes into the free hour, etc and it got rejected.

Just wondering what people would recommend I do if now that I've already tried to appeal and failed. I've heard credit rating can be impacted and in a few months I need to remortgage (joy!)...any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Gr1pr

This is nowhere near a court claim or affecting any credit report, probably years away if at all. !

Plan A is always the best option here, complaining to the business or landowner or retail park management company and getting it cancelled ASAP 

Elite are not going to cancel the pcn UNLESS somebody tells them to, or they lose in the future 

Presumably you were given a Popla code. ?

LDast

Stop panicking. There is no way your credit rating can be affected. You are imagining something that is just not possible. The ONLY way your credit rating would be affected is if the alleged debt wen all the way to a small claims hearing in the county court, you lost the argument and then didn't pay the judgment amount within 30 days.

Did you reveal yourself, the known keeper, to also be the unknown driver? Do you know if the NtK you received from Elite was PoFA compliant? If you're not sure, shows a redacted version of both sides of the NtK but make sure all dates remain visible. However, if you did reveal yourself, the known keeper, to have been the unknown driver, inadvertently or otherwise, then don't bother showing the NtK.

The unknown driver is always liable for any PCN. As long as the known keeper does not reveal the unknown drivers identity and the NtK is not fully compliant with the requirements of PoFA 2012, then they cannot transfer liability for the charge from the unknown driver to the known keeper, you. If the driver is known, then PoFA does not really matter at this stage.

As mentioned above, Plan A is always the best and easiest way to get a PCN cancelled.

For now, please have a thorough read of the Newbies/FAQ thread where most of your questions are already answered.

edbowles86

Hi, yes I did complain / appeal to Elite Parking Management - I think the landowner will be Cambridge University. 

The response from EPM was to either pay the 60 quid or continue the appeal to POPLA and risk it being rejected and needing to pay £100 if that happens.

I suppose in my initial appeal attempt, due to saying 'I', it suggests I was the person driving.

Thanks

LDast

If you have admitted to being the driver, inadvertently by using language that gives you away or otherwise, then it does not matter whether the NtK is PoFA compliant or not. As mentioned, the driver is always the liable person.

If the NtK was not PoFA compliant then you threw away a "golden ticket" which would have been a simpler resolution to this. Forget about the £40 bribe discount because that is just to make their life much easier and for you to pay into their scam. They rely on low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to be conned into paying into their scam.

You should certainly complain to the landowner, especially if you now it is the university. They are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents.

You should definitely appeal to POPLA, especially if the signs are rubbish, not prominent, do not adequately bring to the attention of the driver the charge for breaching the terms of parking and so on. Also, you should demand proof that they have a valid contract with the landowner that allows them to issue PCNs in their own name. There are plenty of recent examples of POPLA appeals that you could look at to get an idea of how to progress.

Just remember that POPLA are not interested in any mitigating circumstances. The will only look to see if the PCN was issued correctly using relevant law and the BPA Code of Practice.

Coupon-mad

edbowles86 said:

Hi, yes I did complain / appeal to Elite Parking Management - I think the landowner will be Cambridge University. 

The response from EPM was to either pay the 60 quid or continue the appeal to POPLA and risk it being rejected and needing to pay £100 if that happens.

?

There's no risk of paying £100.  When people lose at POPLA nobody pays.

edbowles86

LDast said:

If you have admitted to being the driver, inadvertently by using language that gives you away or otherwise, then it does not matter whether the NtK is PoFA compliant or not. As mentioned, the driver is always the liable person.

If the NtK was not PoFA compliant then you threw away a "golden ticket" which would have been a simpler resolution to this. Forget about the £40 bribe discount because that is just to make their life much easier and for you to pay into their scam. They rely on low-hanging fruit on the gullible tree to be conned into paying into their scam.

You should certainly complain to the landowner, especially if you now it is the university. They are jointly and severally liable for the actions of their agents.

You should definitely appeal to POPLA, especially if the signs are rubbish, not prominent, do not adequately bring to the attention of the driver the charge for breaching the terms of parking and so on. Also, you should demand proof that they have a valid contract with the landowner that allows them to issue PCNs in their own name. There are plenty of recent examples of POPLA appeals that you could look at to get an idea of how to progress.

Just remember that POPLA are not interested in any mitigating circumstances. The will only look to see if the PCN was issued correctly using relevant law and the BPA Code of Practice.

So are you saying that if the PCN was issued 'correctly' (I think it was based on what their signs say', I would simply lose the POPLA appeal? I've written to the landowner as well.

Attached is the letter I received after my first appeal was rejected, as well as a photo of the signage.

Zbubuman

Read the NEWBIE Thread- Yes you can definitely appeal to popla. those signs are rubbish ( Small font, £100 is hidden within the small font. The fact that you need to register for parking is hidden in even smaller font, etc). 

As mentioned read Newbie thread on popla appeals , also you can read my thread "Quarterly gift from my partner" which has my popla appeal in there and subsequent reply to the evidence supplied by the parking company - this should give you a good idea on how to proceed. 

fisherjim

Whose photo of the signage is that, if it is the attendant's it is awful, that's good, it's blurred and not date stamped.

However, who ever took it I cannot see any easily readable reference to logging in anywhere, all I can read is "up to one hour free".

Don't take what a PPC states as being correct, they lie all the way to the bank!

Follow the advice on here.

If the signage still looks like this it's deficient in my view:

Coupon-mad

But either way it doesn't matter because losing at POPLA is unimportant.